Microsoft launched its Bing search engine business less than four years ago and now the engine looks like it has finally made some inroads in competing with Google, at least here in the US. Today, Microsoft launched a new series of articles on its Bing blog that promises to offer up more information on how Microsoft develops the search engine.
The series of articles has the umbrella title "Bing Your Brain" and are being written by Bing behavioral scientist Matt Wallaert. In today"s blog post, Wallaert says that his job has him working "at the intersection of psychology and technology." That leads into the first blog entry which talks about how Bing handles all of the different choices that it can make when someone types in a search string.
Wallaert gives an example of how too much choice can be a problem. He says:
There are over five million pages for the search “best salad dressing” and each one is a potential option. A search engine’s job is to determine the few that may be most helpful: we reduce the number of choices from millions down to the few that matter most. In search technology, this is often called “relevance”, and it is something that search engines are always looking to improve.
Wallaert says that Bing"s link with Facebook allows for normal search results to add information from experts and even friends who might be able to offer more help on a specific search string. However, Wallaert couldn"t resist taking a dig at Google, saying near the end, "It is one of the important ways we’re trying to make your search better and since we never share your social network data or use it to sell advertisements (unlike some other search engines), why not give it a try?"
Source: Bing blog | Image via Microsoft