Bing, Yahoo! Surpass Google in 'Search Success'

For the majority of those who scour the Internet for information, Google's search engine continues to be a favorite tool. But a new report is showing that Google's success rate is slipping, even being surpassed by rivals Yahoo! and Bing.

Google remained the most popular search engine in July, commanding 66 per cent of all searches for the month. But of those searches, only 68 per cent were deemed successful. In comparison, more than 80 per cent of searches conducted on both Yahoo! and Bing were considered successful.

Link Usage Renders Search "Successful"

The most obvious question coming out of these reports is just exactly what constitutes a "successful search"?

Experian Hitwise, the online competitive intelligence company responsible for releasing the figures, defined a successful search as one that "results in a person actually clicking through to a website."

In other words, the individual used one or more of the links suggested on the search results page. (Source: computerworld.co.nz)

Microsoft Considered Selling Bing Pre-Report

The timing of this good news could not have been better for Microsoft, as the company has been debating whether or not to sell off Bing for quite some time now. Analysts have long expressed their concern over the fact that Bing, which accounts for 27 per cent of the US search market, has "become a distraction for the software giant."

Computerworld has responded several times in the past, stating that 27 per cent is still a tremendous revenue opportunity and that "if Microsoft abandons Bing, it might as well just about abandon its entire online presence, because aside from Hotmail, Bing is its only substantial Internet service." (Source: pcworld.com)

Bing Search Stats Increase for Third Straight Month

The search success figures were not the only bit of good news Experian Hitwise had for Microsoft. The report went on the say that July was the third straight month that Bing-powered searches had increased, accounting for 28 per cent of the online searches conducted last month.