Since I set my default search engine to Bing in mid-August, I've been using it for all the little look-up queries that we hardly think about (until we find ourselves offline):
- Who wrote that report on the high cost of not finding information? (answer: Sue Feldman @ IDC; just Bing the phrase)
- What's a succinct definition of "contingent value"?
- What are three key metrics used by a product development team?
- How do I turn off that darned beep when my Prius is in reverse gear? (OK, so that one wasn't for business, but it was critical to me)
For all of them, I found my answer within the first 5 or 6 results. Interestingly, when I re-ran the searches on Google, there was very little overlap between the search results of Bing and Google. Both had information that answered my question, even though the information came from different, and equally reliable, sources.
I'm getting to like Bing better for these kinds of searches, primarily because the search results page is more helpful when I'm doing quick reference searches. The left side panel of the SRP has recommended alternatives to my search phrase, based on common searches and my search history. While I find the suggestions virtually useless for more in-depth research, they were spot on for these kinds of quick searches.
I also like Bing's default to show a live thumbnail of the web page when I mouse over a title and, more importantly, the ability to search that page from within the Bing search results page. Google displays a larger screen shot; good for getting a first impression of a site, but not interactive, and definitely not as helpful when I am looking for a quick answer
I still miss Google's one-click ability to limit results to the past year as a quick-n-dirty way to filter search results, but I'm sticking to Bing for quick-reference searches.