After noticing curious Bing search results, then run a covert operation to find out more, Google has concluded that Microsoft is copying the Google search results on your own search engine.
That’s the report from Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land, on Tuesday, who spoke to both companies and provided evidence about Google. According to the report, a mechanism could be the Suggested Sites feature of Internet Explorer and Bing toolbar for browsers, which can get data about what people click on links when running searches.
The story started with the Google team to correct typographical errors in the search terms, which controls its own performance rivals close. Typo fix that could lead to Google search results based on the correction, but the team found Bing also lead to the search results without saying that it had corrected the typo.
Then came the sting, creating a “trap” to capture the operation in action. Google has created a “time code to enable it manually classify a page for a certain period”, then wired the results of specific terms, very dark search as “hiybbprqag” and “ndoswiftjobinproduction,” Sullivan said. With hand coding, typing search terms recognizable produce Web pages in Google results not shown in search results differently.
Then, Google was kind used in the search terms from home using Internet Explorer with the two suggested sites and Bing toolbar enabled, clicking the first results on the fly. Before the experiment, and Bing and Google returns the results of manual coding, but two weeks later, Bing Google displays the results of which were coded by hand.
Microsoft did not say today whether it plans to continue to practice, but clearly not considered “cheating”, as Google does.
In a comment to sister site ZDNet Asia ZDNet blogger Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft said flatly: “You can not copy the Google results.” However, that denial is more a matter of interpretation.
A blog post Harry Shum, Microsoft corporate vice president of Bing, offered few details about what Microsoft did. Recognized control what users click on links, but basically described as letting humans to gather information through crowdsourcing.
We use more than 1,000 different signals and features in the classification algorithm. A small piece of navigation data obtained from some of our customers, who choose to share anonymous data as they navigate the web to help improve the experience for all users.
To be clear, we can learn from our customers. What we have seen in today’s story was a fictional spy maneuver to generate extreme outliers queue query [query rare] ranking. It was a creative tactic by a competitor, and we take it as a compliment back of the hand. But do not accurately represent how the use of opt-in data customers as one of the many contributions to help improve our user experience.
The history of the site and improving a wide range of consumer experiences and business is really the history of collective intelligence, exchange of HTML documents with hypertext links to click on data and beyond. Many Internet companies through the collective intelligence used to make their products better every day.
Google made it clear he is not happy.
“I have no problem with competition, the development of an innovative algorithm. But copying is not innovation, in my book,” Sullivan cites researcher and expert search Google daily Amit Singhal. “You’re kidding me, because we work very hard and have done for years, but only reached on the basis of our work … Another analogy is that it’s like running a marathon and lead someone on his back, jumping just before the finish line. ”
And in a statement of ZDNet sister site CNET News Asia, Singhal added that Google does not agree with the position of Microsoft, speaking so strongly as Microsoft denies copying:
Our tests have concluded that Bing is the copy of results from Google website.
Google strongly believes in innovation and are proud of our search quality. We hope to compete with search algorithms really new there, Bing and other – algorithms based on innovation in central and recycling search results copied from a competitor.
Google did not respond to questions about whether plans CNET actions spread beyond the trap.
Google their concerns to Sullivan, shortly before an event Bing search today. Coincidence or not, Google just changed the agenda of the event significantly. In fact, the problem of finding a copy to become the focus of a debate between representatives of Microsoft and Google in the conference.
Stefan Weitz, director of Microsoft’s search engine Bing, Sullivan share this response with “Opt-in programs such as the toolbar [Google] will help with navigation data [information that shows that Microsoft links people click in], one of the input signals from many other search engines use to help sites rank. This “experiment of Google seems to be a trick to confuse and manipulate some of these signs.”
Hack, experiment, or trap, is very revealing. Google has created about 100 of the code by hand the results, Sullivan said, so it’s hard to imagine the results that distort the act of finding a meaningful way. The next important question will be whether Microsoft concludes that it is time to update its search algorithm for the search itself Bing “hiybbprqag” will not lead to information on tickets for the Wiltern Theater more.