Microsoft's Bing; A Great Seach Engine Experience

It is not my habit to regularly endorse products or services. Something has to stand out before I want to tell others about it, either because it is a good value and/or has great quality. In the case of Bing.com, Microsoft's entry into the search engine industry, I can readily say that it meets both of these criteria. It is free to use, after all, and I've found it has aided my research numerous times as a freelance writer.

I've not yet used Bing for searches such as online shopping or looking for travel information, but when I have those needs, Bing will be the search engine I use. For shopping, it even has a cash back program in which more than 1000 online merchants participate. If you decide to purchase something via your Bing search that is sold by one of these merchants, you'll receive a discount on the price of the item(s).

For me, personally, I've found that the search results that Bing displays help me to get to independent sources of information faster and easier than other search engines. When I am researching a topic in which I have little background, Bing's "related searches" help me to pinpoint a direction to go.

Another useful tool is Bing's tool that brings up categories of topics when you have searched a general topic item. If you search on a general topic in health, the categories Bing will suggest will be things such as symptoms, treatment, etc. Under each of these categories, Bing shows a few search results. You can choose to look at any of those results, or if you know you are most interested in learning about symptoms, just click on that heading and the new search results will be all those related to symptoms.

As with any new tool, it takes some getting used to the features of Bing. My first few visits there were uneventful. I didn't notice much difference from my other search engine experiences--I was always in a hurry to get to my research information and didn't pay much attention to Bing's features. It was when I took the time to look around the site that I began to see the difference, which for me has been a positive and rewarding ($) experience. I hope you'll take some time to explore Bing, too. I'd like to know about your experience there.


This will take you to About Bing, where you'll find helpful info on Bing's tools and services.