For most of us, online search engines are the first place we go when we’re searching for information. We trust them to provide us with the most relevant results, but those results are not always consistent.
Search algorithms are constantly changing, and each search engine uses different criteria to determine what is relevant. How do Google and Bing, the two biggest search engines, stack up?
Google’s search algorithm has undergone a lot of changes in recent weeks. The biggest and most recent change to the algorithm is the suppression of results from what Google refers to as content farms.
Content farms are essentially websites that post copious amounts of information and articles that often aim to attract ad revenue and, in Google’s eyes, do not generate any valuable information. This includes sites like ezinearticles.com and associatedcontent.com.
Google is hoping that by tweaking its algorithm it will produce more relevant results of higher quality. The algorithm uses more human-like understanding to search the Web. Google is also searching the most recent Twitter activity to come up with real-time results.
Bing
Bing calls itself a “decision engine,” meaning instead of searching for results that could be relevant, it claims to know what you’re searching for and finds it.
Bing is more of a social search engine than most. It takes into account what sites were shared or “liked” by your friends on social networks and shows you those results, which are often most relevant.
Searching the same topic on two different engines, or even from two different locations can yield quite different results, although all of them may still be relevant.
To learn more about the recent changes to Google, check out this New York Times article.
