Microsoft is gaining share in both searches and paid clicks with the release of Bing. In-line with the statistics we have seen from comScore and other 3rd parties, Efficient Frontier data show a 19.8% lift in Microsoft's share of impressions in the week Bing launched (6/1-6/7) as compared to the week prior (5/25-5/31). Microsoft's lift in share of impressions indicates that new users are trying Bing or existing Microsoft search users are increasing their volume of queries.
Importantly, Efficient Frontier data show that Microsoft's paid click share also rose with the launch of Bing. Data show a paid click share lift of 8.1% for the week of the Bing launch as compared to the week prior. If this share lift holds we can expect advertisers to allocate additional budget to Microsoft over the coming months. Paid click growth lagging search query growth could be due to organic listings in Bing delivering stronger relevancy. Bing's new "decision engine" features, such as query-specific drill-down categories available on the top left of the results page, may be allowing consumers to more easily find a relevant organic result.
One week does not make a trend. New Bing users may just be exploring the engine after the hype of launch. But it is undeniable that the needle moved in a positive direction for Microsoft. We'll watch closely as the coming weeks data tell us whether Bing gains additional traction, sustains the lift of launch, or falls back to prior levels.
by Justin Merickel
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