Google vs. Bing – how do they compare?

When looking for information on any topic on the internet – whether it’s work-related or personal – 63% of us are most likely to use Google as a search engine. Yahoo currently runs second.

Now  Microsoft is hoping to compete with its new search engine called Bing. Canadian Consulting Engineer did a search using both Google and Bing to compare the results for two questions related to consulting engineering. The search reaped similar answers in one case, and much better results for Bing in another.

Searching for “solar energy,” Canada pages only, brought up three of the same listings in the top 10 from both Google and Bing.  Both search engines started off with an encyclopedia definition, though Google uses the Canadian Encyclopedia. Both came up with the two main solar industry associations, although Google also had the important resource of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), while Bing did not. Bing listed a not-so-useful U.K. and an Ireland site related to manufacturers in its top 10.

When we searched “consulting engineers structural,” Canada pages only, Bing came up trumps — at least if you were a client looking to find a consultant. Google only showed the home pages of four Canadian consulting engineering companies in its top 10 listing. Bing had 7 Canadian consulting engineering companies in its top 10, ranging from firms in B.C. to St. John’s, Newfoundland.

There appeared to be no logical (say alphabetical) method for the selection of the firms that came up in either of the top 10 listings.  Only one firm emerged on both sites in the top 10 — and oddly this was a small firm in Toronto that specializes in structural design for small buildings and residences.