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When Bing launched their updated search function incorporating ChatGPT features earlier this year, there was much discussion about whether this could provide Microsoft/Bing the leverage to outdo Google.
The overarching question for us in the SEO space was, if at all, should we should start pivot our optimization strategies towards Bing? The current numbers, however, tell a less-than-hopeful story.
Bing = Stagnant market despite ambitious projections
Upon a deep dive into recent data, the outcomes aren't painting the rosy picture that was expected post-launch.
Even though Microsoft ambitiously projected that this move could add a staggering $2 billion of revenue by pulling even a single percentage of the market share away from Google, the current situation seems somewhat stagnant.
By July's end, analytics firms like StatCounter reported Bing's global market share to be a mere 3%.
This figure is identical to what it was in January, merely a month before Bing's revamped launch.
To give you a clearer perspective:
We're talking about a stagnant market share over a span of six months, after much hyped focus in almost all online media outlets!
This underlines the point I made earlier when first debating whether ChatGPT would be a threat to Google back in January, as many suddenly believed. And why Google would not just be toppled by new platforms;
- Google's efficient interface allows users to explore numerous answers effectively - not just a Chat interface - ideal for more complex searches.
- Its proven speed and user interaction provide a quick and familiar search experience - and moving users is notoriously tricky.
- Google excels in delivering real-time data and news, a challenge for historical-data-based models.
- Google showcases credible sources, unlike models that lack transparency about information origin.
- Google's strong AI expertise, including resources like DeepMind, ensures continuous improvement.
- Google's advanced algorithms deeply understand queries, offering tailored and diverse results - they spend decades in understanding search intent and queries.
A separate report from analytics giant Similarweb highlighted that Bing's monthly visitors in July amounted to roughly 1% of Google's. The number? Unchanged since January.
What does this indicate?
Microsoft's innovation in the search market, while a commendable leap forward in search functionality, hasn't made the expected splash. Or it has, but not on its search market share.
The partnership with OpenAI has fueled Microsoft's shift towards becoming a fully-fledged AI company and continuing its journey away from it's position as just a "Windows platform", allowing fast integration of AI features across its product suite. And the stock market is applauding this.
So they might not be winning market shares, but it might be a winning recipe for Microsoft anyway.
In summation, we as SEOs should still have our main focus on Google for optimisation. It's where the search traffic is.
While Bing's endeavors are noteworthy, Google continues to hold its ground as the titan within the search landscape, and also rapidly launching new AI features like SGE (Search Generative Experience) etc after its "Code Red" as follow up on the emergence of ChatGPT.
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