'Google' is most searched word on Bing • Hacker News Board

Re: 'Google' is most searched word on Bing

#51

Post by rjh29 » Fri, Oct 01, 2021, 9:53 AM UTC

makerofthings wrote: post #47

pverghese wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Searches coming from domain

Good point! I guess that would give them the number of people searching for google on bing. Maybe there is enough public information about the totals to say this was the most searched term.

In addition they have Google Analytics on a huge % of pages, so they can track referrals from Bing to those pages, and if the referrals to Google's homepage eclipse those, that's a strong indication.

...assuming Bing isn't preventing that behaviour.

Re: 'Google' is most searched word on Bing

#52

Post by trabant00 » Fri, Oct 01, 2021, 9:55 AM UTC

Thev00d00 wrote: post #41

trabant00 wrote: post #36

I find weird to say, but I actually like Bing. It has a LOT less bullshit compared to google. It searches for what I asked it, not about what it thinks I actually want, image search and in general the interface has less dark patterns. My main SE is duckduckgo, but using Bing out of curiosity I was surprised to say "not bad". Compared to google without adblocker which is just awful.

AFAIK duckduckgo is mostly powered by Bing. Do you see a substantial difference?

I see no difference in results, only in interface, Duck being even cleaner than Bing, reason why I use it (the privacy part sounds nice but is not actually verifiable)

Re: 'Google' is most searched word on Bing

#53

Post by cblconfederate » Fri, Oct 01, 2021, 9:58 AM UTC

reedf1 wrote: post #49

cblconfederate wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i must be doing something wrong. I get a list of suggested web searches, not a list of results. like "search for 8*9", "search for 8*96" etc

Huh - when I type 8*9 I get a search pane (that shows what you are describing) and a web pane. The web pane shows bing results.

i seem to have turned that off somewhere - better, i think that interface is too much information. Neither of us gets 72 though

Re: 'Google' is most searched word on Bing

#54

Post by icemelt8 » Fri, Oct 01, 2021, 10:11 AM UTC

makerofthings wrote: post #44

Reading the article, the worrying question that jumps out at me is how do google know what the top search on Bing is?

Google analytics, most sites have it installed, plus Chrome is also sending telemetry, so they know when any site is opened, what was the referrer search engine.

Through some stats magic, it can be inferred

Re: 'Google' is most searched word on Bing

#55

Post by dspillett » Fri, Oct 01, 2021, 10:17 AM UTC

I'm sure most of it isn't people searching for google though, it is people using the default search box in Edge or where-ever else Bing is the default search provider as if it is a smart address box, hammering in “google” without the .com (or other tld) and getting what they want as the first answer.

I bet “facebook” is a very popular search term too for the same reason.

Re: 'Google' is most searched word on Bing

#56

Post by altacc » Fri, Oct 01, 2021, 10:17 AM UTC

notimetorelax wrote: post #39

mattowen_uk wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something I've noticed with my work machine. The homepage in Edge is some mangled mash up of Bing News tiles and my works' SharePoint activity, and is just branded 'Microsoft'. Non technical people stuck with this homepage are very likely to just type 'Google' into it to "get them out onto the Internet".

And technical people might prefer faster loading lightweight pages to Bing’s. Target audience for bing is weird.

The target audience for Bing's homepage is a bunch of product owners in MS who want their crap on the homepage to try to increase their interaction metrics.

Re: 'Google' is most searched word on Bing

#57

Post by MomoXenosaga » Fri, Oct 01, 2021, 10:19 AM UTC

I don't use Google on my phone because of the ridiculous US copyright law that destroyed their image search. Still upset over that.

Luckily Startpage doesn't care about Getty.

Re: 'Google' is most searched word on Bing

#58

Post by flohofwoe » Fri, Oct 01, 2021, 10:29 AM UTC

cblconfederate wrote: post #34

Dear Microsoft, You fools, you own a gate to the internet. When i search 8*9 in the start menu, show me the result of the multiplication instead of a link to "search web for 8*9". Make the menu auto-complete with the titles of the first 5 web results instead of random ads. Make it work well as an actually useful extension of search. Forget about edge and bing.com, you will care about the brand name later. (You can th…

No thanks, I'd rather have a simple and obvious checkbox to disable all this sleazy web crap in the Windows UI. If I want to search the web, I use a web browser. If I want to search my machine, I would like to use the Windows search feature (if it would actually work).

Re: 'Google' is most searched word on Bing

#59

Post by MomoXenosaga » Fri, Oct 01, 2021, 10:31 AM UTC

Jaruzel wrote: post #25

xaxaxb wrote: post #10

[flagged]

Excuse me?! It is disingenuous to infer that a complete demographic doesn't know about how the Internet works. For some late-age Boomers, I would agree that a large percentage of them would do this, but Gen-Xers are in their 40s and 50s, and most of them have literally grown up surrounded by technology.

Old people arent idiots they can learn. My 66 year old mom is cashless, does her banking in an app and orders groceries online.

Re: 'Google' is most searched word on Bing

#60

Post by OJFord » Fri, Oct 01, 2021, 10:33 AM UTC

blunte wrote: post #2

People go to the name they know. Since for many (most?) people, the word “google” is a verb meaning to search the web, they naturally will prefer that service even if they don’t know why it might be better than whatever is the default. Meanwhile, it reminds me that we developers don’t understand users or don’t provide understandable interfaces for them. Observe many people and you’ll see a maddening pattern of browse…

> Since for many (most?) people, the word “google” is a verb meaning to search the web

I've started to really oppose that, and avoid it in my own speech. ('search' is fine.)

It may sound like a stupid trivial thing, but language is so.. powerful/important, and I don't need Google ingrained in mine. It was difficult/didn't come naturally at first, but now I use 'search' without thinking about it, and if anything it sounds weird to me when others say 'google'.

I also think if I were Google ('s lawyer, or in some appropriate/ly-senior position or whatever) I wouldn't feel great about it - it's surely quite damning in any competition law cases on search?