This year’s Search Engine Strategies conference was a mix of young and old, experienced and novice search marketers that got together to discuss the state of the industry, what’s to come, what’s working, and who to watch for.
Of course, one of the big topics of the conference was the recent introduction of Microsoft’s new Search Engine, Bing. The highly anticipated launch of the site was actually somewhat of a surprise to many, as it wasn’t a typical Microsoft launch. What we saw was a fresher, gentler giant come out and quietly release its new offering that, well … didn’t quite look like Microsoft. It had more resemblance to Google — both aesthetically and how it was introduced.
I had the privilege of spending time with Microsoft’s Search Lead, Stacey Jarvis, whose enthusiasm about Bing actually started to wear off on me. And, if I’m really honest, Stacey actually surprised me; I had pegged a typical Microsoft speaker as someone in a blue shirt and khakis talking technical but Stacey was anything but. Both as a speaker and a personality she came across differently then most anyone at SES, and broke my mold of how I perceived someone talking about Microsoft Search.
Microsoft created custom ringtones specifically for Bing. Stacey shows off 3 versions she used for the internal launch.
Microsoft’s step to obsolete Microsoft's Live Search and migrate users and advertisers to Bing is no small gesture, but one that seemed to happen quietly. According to Stacey, Microsoft’s development and launch of Bing was so stealth that most employees weren’t aware of the initiative. Even her boss was unaware of exactly what she was working on, what it was called, or when it was launching. (A cue from Apple?) Several names were considered, different teams were working on the project, all under NDA, extensive research was conducted, and the end user experience was refined to produce something that at first glance, bears resemblance to something we’ve already seen, but upon use has some terrific features.
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