Hanson Takes the Bing it On Challenge

Have you seen the Microsoft TV ads suggesting Gmail users are being “Scroogled”? Or the ones where people on the street are given blind tests to reveal whether Bing or Google is their preferred search engine?

Over the last year, the war between Microsoft and Google has been rather heated, with Microsoft mostly on the offensive. The latter of the two Microsoft attacks on Google has taken the spotlight lately, with Microsoft publishing studies showing that 52% of users tested prefer Bing organic search results over Google.

Being heavily vested in the Search Engine Marketing and Optimization industry, we here at Hanson decided to take the “Bing it On Challenge” ourselves. We asked employees to visit www.bingiton.com (the site set up by Microsoft to house the blind test), type in five search terms of their choosing, select their preferred search results, and then complete an in-house survey to reveal which search engine came out on top at Hanson.

And the results? Google took the cake!

Hansonites preferred Google 61% of the time, while Bing was preferred in 30% of searches and 9% were deemed a draw.

Does this disprove Microsoft’s published findings? Nope. Our sample size is way too small. Plus, we’re a technology-focused company, and a Google Analytics Certified Partner. With so many of us here using Google daily, it stands to reason that we’ve picked up on the subtle differences between the search engines and just prefer the one that we’re familiar with on a day-to-day basis.

So here at Hanson, it seems that for now Google rules the search engine landscape. But don’t take our word for it. Try the Bing It On challenge for yourself. And then leave a comment here—we’d love to know which search engine suits you best.