Firstly, you have to consider the kind of money that Microsoft is pouring into Bing at the minute. The world’s biggest software company are notorious for very aggressive marketing, that kind of a push is going to lead to a spike in anyone’s numbers.

Secondly, the numbers of Bing users are still so low in comparison to the number of overall Internet users that an increase of 169% on one individual part of the system, whilst impressive, is not exactly worth what it might appear at first glance.

And finally, I don’t want to say that I don’t trust statistics from Microsoft but… Well, actually, no I don’t trust statistics from Microsoft. The final straw for me was when it was reported that Bing was clicking on its own ads, thereby polluting advertisers’ stats. It’s even possible that these Bing figures are the result of something similar.

Related posts:

1. Is Google really worried about Bing? Recent press reports – notably the New York Post’s ‘Fear...
2. Microsoft Clicking on its own Ads A webmaster working on Microsoft Bing has admitted to SE...
3. Different Search Engines Need Different Approaches For a while now I’ve been talking about the dangers...

Sounds unlikely doesn’t it – this is why Sergey Brin may just have handed Microsoft the biggest PR win they’ve had in many years, by appearing so worried about the new offering from the company. According to the Post and others, Brin is leading a special group of technicians to find out how the Bing algorithm differs from Google’s and figure out a way to undermine it.

It’s apparently quite rare for the Google founders to get so involved in day to day operations, leading many to believe that Bing either poses some threat or offers some kind of significant advantage over Google. The Post has an unnamed source stating, “New search engines have come and gone in the past 10 years, but Bing seems to be of particular interest to Sergey.”

Perhaps what has Brin worried is nothing to do with the search engine itself, rather the $80 – $100 million dollars that Microsoft is planning to spend on advertising Bing in the coming months. Google’s budget is dwarfed in comparison at a relatively anaemic $25 million for the whole company. The Google founder could simply be looking for a way to figure out what claims their rivals are going to make and prepare a response.

The arrival of Bing has already given Microsoft a bump in numbers from 9.1 to 11.1 on the week of launch though this was to be expected. As the politicians like to say, even a dead cat bounces. The trick will be keeping these new novelty-inspired users.

Related posts:

1. Bing’s Shopping Tool showing progress… Apparently Bing Shopping, the product comparison tool that makes up part...
2. Is Google worried about Twitter? The explosion of Twitter usage this year has taken many...
3. Verizion chooses Microsoft Microsoft have pulled off what many are describing as a...