Search Results

I wanted to see how the “big three” internet search sites give results, if they are competition agnostic or not. I decided to do a search for “Dancing Bears Video” to see what the results would be. I used MSN, YaHoo, and Google. They all compete with each other, all have their own video service, etc.

First up, Google. They are the kings of search, so what would they link to? The first result was for DancingBear.dk, a website. No idea what that is, I did not bother to click the link. But it makes sense, the URL matches the search term. The second result was from metacafe, a rival video service to Google. In fact, they have MSN ads on their site. The forth result was to a YouTube video, something Google actually owns. I would have to give Google very high marks for being search agnostic.

Next up, YaHoo. They, of course, have been in the news as of late about a possible merger with Microsoft. Or is it simply MS buying them? I don’t know, but I know they have been friendly as of late. For this test, the first four results were all to Google videos, either video.google or YouTube links. I don’t think you can get any more search agnostic than that! Super high marks from me!

Microsoft was last, in both results and testing. On the entire first page of search results, nothing was linked to Google or YouTube. With Microsoft making so much noise about Google being their chief competitor, and no Google video results until the second page, I think this is very telling.

So there you have it! My unofficial, unscientific Search Agnostic test results.