Google’s new initiative for its shopping section turns all results into paid ads, instead of actual search results. The search engine moved to the new model in May in which merchants pay either per-click or per-transaction to be listed in Google Shopping results.
Mike Nichols, Bing’s corporate vice-president and chief marketing officer, took to the company’s blog to promote Scroogled and take a few shots at chief rival Google.
“We think that too many shoppers who use Google for their shopping searches are getting ‘Scroogled’ when they should be getting fair, honest, open search,” Nichols writes. “It’s like Ebenezer Scrooge met Google Shopping. We think consumers should be aware what they’re seeing when they’re shopping online and to understand, without any hidden text or traps, the fine print of what their ‘search engine’ actually searches.”
According to Nichols, Scroogled is an effort to help holiday shoppers get “real” search results with Bing.
“We are also calling on Google to stop this pay-to-rank system for their shopping results and give shoppers what they expect — an honest search,” Nichols said.
The Scroogled page also directs visitors to Bing’s Facebook page to share their stories about how they’ve been “scroogled.”
Many of the Facebook visitors have bashed Bing for the campaign:
“Scroogled? I tried a search for microsoft surface on the Bing shoppings site and one in Google shopping. The result? All of Bing’s results are worthless, none of them is the actual Surface tablet. Google has relevant results and that is what matters,” reads one post.
“Get a life please with your scroogled. This is a lame campaign,” reads another post.
“Bing is bad and you should feel bad. Terrible marketing. Truly pathetic,” yet another reads.
This isn’t the first time Bing has taken on Google. In September, Bing challenged Google with its Bing It On! campaign.
The company launched the campaign in a bid to prove consumers prefer its new website ‘Bing It On’ over Google. The campaign gave consumers the ability to compare search results side-by-side. Microsoft maintains, in blind side-by-side comparisons, people chose Bing two-to-one over Google.
Post from: SiteProNews
