Do you think Bing has a chance to challenge Google?
Aaron O'Leary
85 replies
Bing, since its release, was never taken seriously, I feel, at least not when compared to Google. Now with ChatGPT implemented and the potential to further integrate OpenAI into the Bing-sphere, do you think it has a serious chance to challenge Google?
Replies
Julian Green@juliangreensf
Headroom
I would bet on the company whose primary focus is on Search and AI.
Share
With Google, I see Google Bard augmenting and supporting its existing legacy PageRank model where Google will provide an alternative or updated 'view' of its homepage so users can search (normally) or 'chat' to to the conversational user interface (CUI).
Sundar Pichai has already shared the vision for this: https://blog.google/technology/a...
Besides early adopters, I think the majority of users will continue to use Google as is. It will take a few years for the majority of users to interact in a more conversational way of course. Even when using the new CUI AI within Bard, featured and rich snippets will appear displaying featured product pages and content from Websites. Key to success for Web Designers, Developers and SEO gurus will be effective schema, markup and of course unique integrity and credibility of content (e.g. sources like the BBC that are highly regarded and have multiple inbound links). Additional 'Lighthouse' type indicators around sustainable and accessible content will also play their part in what Bard priorities and does not.
Naturally rich media will be key to all of this and this is where bots will struggle and will ultimately be complimented by Website data and media. Its worth considering that many users search for content and information in a more visual way and chat will not suit their needs.
With Bing, Microsoft and ChatGPT, I am unsure if they will be able to compete with Google as the average user will prefer to stick to what they know. My concern with Microsoft is how they traditionally try and shoehorn applications that they acquire. If you look at Skype for example, it was all very promising but lacked an innovative integration into its other products.
Waitroom
It all boils down to whether they can make money out of it or not. Running ChatGPT is not cheap. Google currently makes $26 per user per year. Sure economies of scale will help, but running such a vast LLM and scaling it to millions of users is going to be hard without a good financial model around it. So the bigger question is, how does Bing monetise ChatGPT queries.
The other discussion point is that they are different use cases. I use ChatGPT to answer questions - which makes things like Siri and Alexa seem really stone age and useless. I use Google to find websites and products.
Making Product Sense
Genuinely, no I don't think so. Sure, Bard was a bust because it was released so quickly but Google has...
- Dominant market share with Chrome for guaranteed distribution
- Deal with Apple to be the default search engine on Safari which is the second largest browser after Chrome
- 25 years of iteration to perfect their search algorithms which the LLMs are trained on which means better results
- the term "Google" is equated with "search" in the zeitgeist. No matter how hard you try, that's gonna take a while to switch in people's minds.
Bing has a few aces up their sleeves too though. I wrote about all of it here:
https://www.makingproductsense.c...
Shadow
Nooooooooo. Not a chance. (Alphabet share holder)
Google has shittified the user experience for years in pursuit of profit. You have to wade through reams of ads and read thousands of words of SEO optimization just to, perhaps, find the answer to a question.
That's a huge part of the reason why more and more people look at TikTok for answers instead of google.
For me, the question isn't, will Bing challenge Google, the question is what should the next search UX look like.
moji AI wearable
@andreasduess The way GPT-3 is currently implemented gives the impression that it is simply like an extension on Google Chrome.
Warmup Inbox
I was actually asking the same question in SEO topic: https://www.producthunt.com/disc...
Getting an answer from ChatGPT is a different experience than a standard search: you need to write a full sentence rather than just a few keywords. So for many queries, I think that google will stay relevant.
My main questions is: how will this impact the SEO industry?
@fabian_maume this is not true, for example if you type 'wwii date' it will give you this:
'World War II (WWII) began on September 1, 1939, when Germany, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. The war ended on September 2, 1945, when Japan officially surrendered after the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.'
If you use my plug-in DuckDuckGPT (featured 2 days ago) it will even show it in search sidebar:
So clearly the query experience is same, but engine more powerful
Warmup Inbox
@fabian_maume I don't think it will impact the SEO industry, but it may bulid a new industry, AISO, hah, because ChatGPT may not provide correct answer but a understanding from robot.
@fabian_maume Wow cool trick, lemme try it out! !DuckDuckGPT
@fabian_maume I failed :(
I don't think Bing might challenge google in terms of being the next big search engine but I do think that Bing might just become a totally different important component in a new way.
Example : - Internet being a car, Google would be the ever standard engine and Bing with its new AI functionality would be like a new feature that's being implemented into that car.
Now what Features ? Only time will tell. But it might be something used with google in parallel...
Absolutely yes. For what we see so far, the welcome adoption of Chat GPT is the proof that Microsoft / Bing have patiently wait and learnt, then slowly build their own AI technology (well perhaps ...just acquired)...in any case, is difficult to dispute the worldwide reaction to Chat GPT...this sort of "viral success" doesn't happen very often, but when it happens...then we face situations such as the Yahoo VS Google we have all witnessed many moons ago...perhaps is time for some great competition so that we (the user-base) all get great products that work and plenty of innovation.
Yes , definitely. ChatGpt's natural application is to be converted into a search engine.
-> I no longer have to click 10 links , read them only to find an incomplete answer to my query. Less time, accurate answer = Better UX.
Bing has a very clear edge and if integration done correctly, it will improve our lives. User will once again be at the center.
Yes, it may also put an end to an Industry (SEO) built around "a" bug of a software (Google). The job of a search engine is to find an answer without being manipulated. So many sites are built around to manipulate Google results and all this while Google ignored its core values and its purpose to exist in first place.
Definitely
Yes and no, depends on the context.
Yes -> Bing could challenge Google with the help of ChatGPT if we're talking about giving crisp and clear answers with respective links to URLs that were leveraged to answer the said question without spamming the user with ads and promoted pages. Note that we're talking about combining Bing and ChatGPT with the latter being upgraded significantly.
No -> Google is fast, free, and generates millions of up-to-date and historical responses in seconds. The drawback is that the first several pages are ads or promoted pages that aren't necessarily the best source of information. On the other hand, ChatGPT in the current mode is like a confident liar or plagiarist, providing you with an eloquently articulated answer that could be wrong or not completely true. Also, it was officially stated by Open AI that ChatGPT has limited knowledge of the world and events after 2021.
Will be extremely interesting to follow, but I think Google has more headway than we estimate.
Booomerang
I think they should have rebranded and launched with a new name.
It's hard (or it takes a very long time) to change people's perception of a brand or name.
People like ChatGPT and dislike Bing.
moji AI wearable
Booomerang
If Google doesn't bring an AI-enabled chat within a few weeks, let's say a month, Bing will take some more of the market share. It won't pose a threat any soon, though.
I've already switched to Edge+Bing a year back, and I don't miss a thing. Except for occasional in-depth searches, where I need more data, I go to Google (even DuckDuckGo) but for the rest of the day, I'm with my Windows default.
I really hope it is... Google has been a monopoly for too long
It will take time for mainstream users to change their comfortable habit of searching on Google. Even if Bing + ChatGPT is better now and in the short term, Google can always launch their own AI Google search enhancement. Remember how Snapchat 'Stories' were quickly copied by Instagram and Facebook? Google has the AI resources to develop a worthy competitor for Bing + ChatGPT. I expect the true competitor to Google Search is a switch of people's attention from Search to Discovery ala TikTok. Online is a battle for people's precious little attention. What happens when AI predicts what you want to search for before you even go to Google or Bing?