Bing.com appears to be Microsoft's answer to a more universal and user friendly search platform. I have never been a big follower of the Microsoft online search platforms such as MSN and LIVE, mainly because I found them to be a little rudimentary when compared to Google search and Yahoo search. On top of that, they like to change algorithms making the life of an SEO a little harder; just when you think your one step ahead in achieving top placement they your top placement drops to the the second or third page is the snap of a finger for no reason at all.



Either way, I have never been overly concerned as the level of traffic produced from Microsoft search platforms is limited when compared to Google. In other words, I don't even try to optimize for MSN/Live anymore (personal opinion).

Lets examine a little more into what is Bing.com Bing.com has now replaced Live.com, Live.com is now thing of the past. Keep in mind that Live.com come search features fed of MSN.com; basically one search engine with two exclusive names. The new Bing.com appears to provide a wider range of search services by cross analyzing data per the searches query and providing the most useful information (or so they say); basically a type of universal/blended search.

Just to be a little more descriptive as example; if you were to perform a search query to define a word or phrase related to weather, Bing.com's ?rich media? and structured data will also provide weather forecast results in your results page. What this means is that Microsoft is jumping into the universal/blended search game by following the footsteps of Google and Yahoo through Bing.com If I were to go to Google and search for ?Batman?, I will get YouTube videos and other media relating to Batman by means of universal/blended search. All of which in geared to enhance the users experience.

What is Bing.com's take on SERP features? Well, they have decided to include a preview feature which allows a user to preview a portion a results page site without actually visiting the site. I found this to be quite helpful when searching for information. Bing.com is stating that they provide ?Best Match? results in delivering highly relevant information, which I am investigating a little further.

Assuming that like Live.com, Bing.com will piggy-back on MSN.com search algorithms, the results will remain a little more fine tuned towards content relevancy. I say this because I performed a quick search on a recent article I published and searched for the key phrase on both Bing.com and Google. On Google my page could be found on the second page of Google SERP and on Bing.com my page was found on page one in the second position. Not bad for a new page with no site authority and linking. Bad news is that I doubt it will provide ample traffic levels as overall search usage on MSN/LIVE/Bing in minimal.

What I find interesting is that Bing.com has set up a webmaster and developer section. Here you can submit your business listing, product information, site URL's, videos and more. Since Bing.com has not even been online for two weeks, I still have a ton of research to perform. www.bing.com/webmaster

At this point I can only hope that Microsoft has developed a winner; however I remain slightly skeptical as they do not have the greatest track record in my opinion. For all we know Bing.com may ride into the sunset just as fast as Cuil.com! You remember Cuil.com right? LOL

Anyway, what is Bing.com? Long story short, Bing.com is Microsoft's newest attempt in providing universal and blended search to its users.

To read more about Bing, SEO and online marketing please visit: http:/shockwaveprofits.com/online-marketing-solutions/seo/what-is-bing/