Bing Still Stinks In Local Search

I want someone to give Google a run for their money. I really do. Competition would be great for everyone. Right now, though, there is simply no contest and that's too bad. It's also distressing if you are a Microsoft shareholder because it looks like they are literally flushing millions of dollars down a search black hole. Sure they look innovative on the surface and people get all giddy about their show but they are all show and no go especially on the local front. If you make things look pretty but your core product is faulty then everything is broken. You know the old adage that if you put a turd in box with a pretty bow on it, when you open up that box it's still, you guessed it, a turd.

Here's a few examples of why I am on this little rant. I was with a client today and he was frustrated by bing local results that had nothing to do with the keywords especially as they relate to the local nature of his business. Instead of real companies that are competing in his vertical (gyms) the results were just one directory after another. That's bad for the end user because you really just pushing them to another search experience rather than giving them direct answers to their question.

The second instance is even more egregious in my opinion.

Look at the following map results for the search Mexican restaurant Wake Forest, NC in bing. Aside from the first results there are no, as in zero, other results that are located in the town of Wake Forest. Instead the next eight results are for restaurants in Raleigh which is about about a 12 mile ride with the number 9 result being 19 miles from Wake Forest.

Now look at the result set for a search using the same search term in Google.

Now, Google is not perfect here. They do give me 10 options with 8 being in Wake Forest (although one is not a Mexican restaurant). It falls down on results 9 (out of business) and 10 (in Raleigh) but at least they covered every possible option for Mexican food that carries a Wake Forest, NC address.

My question is how in the world bing doesn't give a similar result set if it claims to be a real search engine? What level of confidence should a searcher who could be out and about and looking for a Mexican dining option using a smartphone have? Based on this I would say zero.

As much as I don't want to say it or have to admit it at all but now that we know how much bing stinks then Yahoo smells it up at the same level. So basically 27% of all searchers who are using these inferior products are getting cheated in their search experience.

While Google is far from perfect it's a shame that they have no one really pushing them to get a lot better. Instead they have competition' that really only gets most of its traffic because it is the default search option in a popular browser that pretty much sucks too.

So here's to Google having free reign to dominate the local Internet marketing landscape. It won't always be because they have built better mousetrap but more likely that bing can't even find its way to get into the same search neighborhood as Google.

Rant over and the lesson for all SMB's: If you have limited dollars don't waste your time with bing or Yahoo (which are now one in the same). People who want to find you will need to use Google to find you anyway.