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Google Accuses Microsofts Bing of Cheating
By AMIR EFRATI

Google Inc. accused rival Microsoft Corp. of copying its Internet search results, the latest salvo in the competition between the two technology behemoths.

Google made the claim Tuesday after releasing the results of a test it carried out purporting to show how Googles results for search terms were copied weeks later by Microsofts Bing search engine. Amit Singhal, who helps oversee Googles search engine algorithm, called Bings behavior "cheating."
Associated Press

Microsoft Online Services Division President Qi Lu spoke in the Galileo Auditorium at Microsofts office in Mountain View, Calif., on Oct. 13, 2010.

In response, Harry Shum, a Microsoft corporate vice president, wrote in a blog post that Googles claims were misleading and amounted to a "spy-novelesque stunt to generate extreme outliers."

"We do not copy Googles results," a Microsoft spokesman said.

The verbal volleys are the latest in the ongoing rivalry between Microsoft and Google, which for years have battled on multiple fronts including online advertising and Web browsing, among other things.

In its claim Tuesday, which was first published on a tech blog called Search Engine Land, Google said it ran a "sting" by altering its results algorithm in order to see whether Bing would do the same.

For example, Google changed its algorithm to show a link to the website for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. if users searched for "mbzrxpgjys." Later, the same result showed up on Bing, Google said. It found such copying in about seven to nine out of 100 different search queries it tested, according to the blog post.

Late Tuesday, Mr. Singhal posted a detailed post on Googles official blog describing how the company came to the conclusion that Bing was copying the Google search engine, adding that he wanted to see that practice stop. Google wants to compete with "algorithms built on core innovation, and not on recycled search results from a competitor," he wrote.

Stefan Weitz, director of the Bing search engine at Microsoft, said in an interview the company studies how certain users interact with Google in order to improve Bing. It does this by looking at "clickstream data," or information that users of Microsofts Internet Explorer or the Bing search toolbar voluntarily share with the company. But Mr. Weitz added such data is just one of more than 1,000 "signals" that Bing uses for its own search results algorithm. Thats the reason why Google only found a handful of alleged copies, he said. "Competitors are all trying to see what the best ideas are out there," Mr. Weitz said.

Google in the past has been accused by some technology observers of copying Bings user interface, including its home page, a left-hand navigation bar on the results page, and the look of its image search feature, among other things. Google didnt immediately respond to requests for comment about whether it copies Bing.



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