By Elyse Jarvis, Account Coordinator
Bing adds personalized search results to its search capabilities and, once again, attempts to catch up with Google.
Google has offered user-personalized search results since 2009, and Bing is now jumping on the bandwagon. Still in the testing phases in the U.S., Bing’s more personalized features will rank listings based on physical location and past search behavior.
In ways similar to Google, Bing’s personalized results will be based on information gleaned from stored cookies, IP address and the information personally supplied via the engine’s preferences page. According to an official blog post by the Bing team, Bing will also store data based on time and date of search and on browser configuration.
Despite the amount of data Bing projects it will store, they argue that for the most part, they will be able to personalize using “a minimal amount of personal information.” The company proposes that search result hierarchy will mainly be based on the understanding that searchers use the engine to find a specific website, and will thus base results on what searchers have clicked through to previously. For example, if a searcher has previously searched on the term “DIA,” and the top results were “Denver International Airport” and “Defense Intelligence Agency,” and the searcher clicked on the “Defense Intelligence Agency;” in future searches, Bing will offer “Defense Intelligence Agency” as the top result.
Bing continues to increase its market share and the engine carries its weight with select users. According to Paul Freibott, the Director of PM Digital Research, Bing maintains the largest share of users in the 45+ age demographic and the bulk of middle-income searchers.
Although Google was the first to market these features, the increased efficiency of Bing’s search will be important for online marketers to track—particularly as the demographic divide between the two search giants continues to grow.
