Google vs. Bing vs. Yahoo: The Search Engine Wars Unveiled

Okay, so everyone knows about Google. Even I say to my parents or brother, "Just Google it." Google has become a generic term for using a search engine. But why do people like Google so much? Many say it's a very simple engine, but most use it because they don't know of any other search engines. Yes, Google is the most popular, but there are others too. So here's the big question: what is the best search engine?

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The front page

Yahoo's is the WORST. (I'm sorry, Yahoo, you still have some good products.) The top of the screen looks really empty and you can't even tell if you're logged in or not. I mean, at least include that little blue gradient at the top so it looks like something... The placement makes the search area abnormally wide. This is simplicity a step too far.

Google's is better. When I visited their page, it displayed just the logo and the search bar. When I moved my mouse, it displayed the rest of the page. (I don't really understand why.) Now you see all of their services in the top left, your login status in the top right, and the search in the middle. It's well-placed and simple except for the images access; you have to search first to get to it. Very simple. It's boring but it gets the job done.

Obviously, Bing is the most colorful. Bing's front page showed me a town called "Broome, Australia" and provided a lot of facts hidden on the page in secret areas. It gives easy access to all of the different types of search. The colors match and all is well. Even people who like simplicity will be dragged in with this simple but colorful design. You have easy access to their Hotmail service in the top left (use Gmail for email), account settings in the top right, and the content in the middle. It has by far the best splash page.

All of the search engines were fast and had auto-complete.

The search query

Yahoo's is still the worst. With a thin layout and distracting backgrounds, this is the worst out of the three.

Google's is somewhat better. It's simple and fast. The thing is, it doesn't look all too great. It's very bland and boring but is functional.

Bing's is great. With the search history on the side, you can easily get back to previous searches. The logo is not boring at all. There is a little "preview" arrow on the side to show the text content from the pages. (Well at least part of it.) You can add Facebook friends easily with this tool.

Image Search

Yahoo's image search is good. It shows recent images and the like. For some reason, it has ads. It's functional, but not all that good. It has the options of the other two with a checkbox-like selection menu.

Google has a very large database of images. When searched with "ian macalinao," it showed a lot of pictures from my blog. It's comprehensive but simple. It doesn't have the huge amount of options like...

Bing. Bing lets you choose whether you want to show just the images or the full details. When showing just the images, hover over the image and it shows the details. It has the same options as the other two, but it's easier to find the options.

Conclusion

Bing is definitely the best search engine of 2009. It improved a lot off of Live search. Google is still the search engine king, but if people decided to just switch to Bing and stick with it, Bing will grow on them. Google has the most market share, though, so it should be checked when doing SEO etc.

Bing, however, is very relevant.

Bing rules. Google drools. ;)