Very good interview. I think it's smart that he is not underestimating Bing. Mr. Schmidt also has great comments clarifying Google's position on the net neutrality announcement with Verizon (about 12:00 mark).
Eric Schmidt: “Our competitor is Bing”
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Re: Eric Schmidt: “Our competitor is Bing”
#12On my first day of giving Bing a go (I used it for about two weeks to try to fairly assess) I ran into a problem: It can spellcheck words, but it cant get it right contextually. Let me give you an example: http://www.google.com/search?q=how+I+won+the+waer http://www.bing.com/search?q=how+I+won+the+waer I meant to type "how I won the war" and only Google picks up on this. "waer" alone into google instant will bring up…
Sounds like Bing uses just spell checking rather than n-grams on search queries as Google does.
That's a pretty big whole for Bing to miss. Probably doesn't track as well since it requires a mistyped query -- most people doing comparisons of relevance compare correctly typed queries. But a big hole for real world usage... at least I'd think so.
Re: Eric Schmidt: “Our competitor is Bing”
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I never understood why people think they are positioned against FB.. Google and FB don't solve very many of the same problems They don't, but they share one common goal: Get money from advertisers, who are targeting people looking for some thing. This "some thing" is obvious on Google, its users are in buying mode even before entering the query term. Now, if (and that's a big if), FB can connect advertisers and buy…
If you think of advertising as "traditional advertising" and "internet advertising", then FB and Google are certainly rivals. However, in pure marketing terms, they are actually very different. Google search ads EXCEL in "Demand Fulfillment" - say you want need a plumber now since your toilet is overflowing. I don't think Facebook will ever beat Google here. Google sort of created this niche where they were better th…
Google has AdSense / Doubclick network. This is a huge number of eyeballs with many banner types. And Google knows my basic browsing history via cookies and my entire search history. At least for me, Google knows exactly what I'm interested in, tend to purchase, and tend to click on. Facebook knows my basic demographic profile, which isn't really that valuable. I'd say the value of Google's data is about 50 times Facebooks.
Re: Eric Schmidt: “Our competitor is Bing”
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sounds like Bing uses just spell checking rather than n-grams on search queries as Google does.
That's a pretty big whole for Bing to miss. Probably doesn't track as well since it requires a mistyped query -- most people doing comparisons of relevance compare correctly typed queries. But a big hole for real world usage... at least I'd think so.
I can't tell if that whole is intentional.
Re: Eric Schmidt: “Our competitor is Bing”
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I never understood why people think they are positioned against FB.. Google and FB don't solve very many of the same problems They don't, but they share one common goal: Get money from advertisers, who are targeting people looking for some thing. This "some thing" is obvious on Google, its users are in buying mode even before entering the query term. Now, if (and that's a big if), FB can connect advertisers and buy…
Ah, this is a very good point you bring up here. Had not thought in those terms, but you are very right. Advertisement, however tends to be very pan-platform if you will. Even more so these days, integrated, vertical marketing seems to be the name of the game. The big money will continue to make ad buys on all platforms that deliver eyeballs, not just one or the other.
Yes, because the more venues you broadcast your ad, the more chances you have to find a customer.
But not quite, because of one thing: ROI.
On the web, you can easily measure the return of your investment. Match your spent money with the server visitor logs, and you know instantly if your campaign is profitable. With "brand" advertisements, the game is different, you can't see immediately that 1 dollar spent on ad generated 2 in sales. But it's a tried and proven method of advertisement, basically all we had until the internet.
Enter the web, you can reach a precisely targeted audience, and easily measure the return.
If you know Google delivers more ROI than Facebook, you're going to spend your money on AdWords. This is specially true for the long tail of ad money, businesses with smaller budget for ads. Google has this market locked tight, anyone can start an AdWords campaign, and the truth is that everybody does.
Don't get me wrong, Facebook makes money from advertisement, but they will never (in its current incarnation) match Google's offers: AdWords, Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Optimizer, etc.
What Facebook has to do to connect advertisers and consumers is so much more complicated than Google. Build a "social graph", find their preferences, match with their friends, plus putting their users into buying mode. BUT, if delivered, it's way more powerful, because the product has been proven with your circle of friends and with stuff that you have actually said you like (Facebook knows a lot about everyone).
Re: Eric Schmidt: “Our competitor is Bing”
#16It's funny, in my mind I always think Eric Schmidt looks like Egon from the Ghostbusters, and whenever I see his picture I always think to myself, 'Who is this guy?!'
Re: Eric Schmidt: “Our competitor is Bing”
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I never understood why people think they are positioned against FB.. Google and FB don't solve very many of the same problems They don't, but they share one common goal: Get money from advertisers, who are targeting people looking for some thing. This "some thing" is obvious on Google, its users are in buying mode even before entering the query term. Now, if (and that's a big if), FB can connect advertisers and buy…
If you think of advertising as "traditional advertising" and "internet advertising", then FB and Google are certainly rivals. However, in pure marketing terms, they are actually very different. Google search ads EXCEL in "Demand Fulfillment" - say you want need a plumber now since your toilet is overflowing. I don't think Facebook will ever beat Google here. Google sort of created this niche where they were better th…
Agree completely, in fact I sort said some of these things at another message on this thread. An like I said in the parent, Google vs. FB is not a fight that I particular believe, but I was hoping to shed some light on why people make this connection.
Google has money in abundance, they're putting millions on social projects, hoping to have some of FB's thunder (and data). While I don't know if Google will ever succeed, every social feature added by Google is a point of conflict with FB, thus feeding the "there's a war going on" opinion of some people.
Re: Eric Schmidt: “Our competitor is Bing”
#18To me Bing sounds too much like "bling". Does anyone else have that silly word association stuck in their head?
Re: Eric Schmidt: “Our competitor is Bing”
#19can somebody explain how being on facebook stops people from searching on google?
Re: Eric Schmidt: “Our competitor is Bing”
#20Google needs Bing to be moderately successful to avoid an anti-trust lawsuit.
Bing is a win for Microsoft either way. If it gets about 30% market share, then Bing makes Microsoft money and forces Google to invest more in search. If even the largest software company after investing billions can't stop Google's growth in search, then Microsoft and others will claim that that Google is a monopoly. So it should be subject to anti-trust laws.
In the old days, when General Motors completely dominated the car industry, they made sure to keep their market share under 25%. They believed, probably correctly, that a higher share would bring anti-trust sanctions.