Google Superbowl ad = Bing?

I’m going to come right out and say it – when I saw the Google Superbowl ad, it made me think of Bing. Not because I work at Microsoft and I was thinking wow, nice ad I wish we did that (okay, maybe a bit…) but seriously, more because it showed me what I dislike about search - the constant search and re-search. Having to manually refine each time I want to find the next part of my quest. Surely we can do better than that?

That’s where I think the Bing guys are on to something. Like when you search for a camera and it says in the left side bar “hey, were you looking for the manual perhaps, or where to buy a camera or check reviews or see the specs?”

I’m not saying Bing magically does a better job of the queries that are in the Google video…more that our Bing team seems to be working to make the journey in the video much more enjoyable, much less about entering a new search all of the time. I’m sure I’m not the first person to notice this?

Taking things one step further in many ways is Microsoft Pivot which has the potential to truly bring serendipity back to the web by taking you on a journey through information – from broad to narrow and broad again. Reminds me a need to go play with Pivot some more.