Search engines have replaced encyclopedias, dictionaries, reference books and trips to the library, having become, over the last two decades, everyone’s resource for finding answers and information. By far, the most used search engine in the world is Google. It’s been around since 1997 and is constantly improving with new features and algorithms. In fact, Google’s search engine is so dominant, with approximately 65 percent of the country’s search market share, that the word, itself, has become a verb: to Google something is to search for it online; much like the brand name Xerox once became the active word for photocopying something.

Never to be outdone, computer behemoth Microsoft has had several search engines over the years, including Windows Live Search and MSN Search. Today, it has Bing, which in addition to powering its own searches also powers Yahoo search. Thus, Bing serves the other third of U.S. internet searchers.

Why is Google twice as popular as Bing? It may simply be a matter of habit, since it’s been around longer, because, in reality, both search engines are very similar. They both search the Web and deliver images, news, and product information in easy-to-read formats. But since both sites also serve as hubs for the other web properties that their respective parent companies own, both Microsoft and Google stand to gain monetarily by keeping web surfers using their engines. So there has been a brisk competition between them, and when comparing the two search engines (although Bing refers to itself as a “decision engine”) some differences do appear.

The first noticeable difference is the two search engine’s home pages. Google’s is pretty much a blank canvas, while Bing’s sports a colorful home page, with downloadable images that change daily. Along the top of Bing’s home page are links to more images, videos, maps, news, etc. and along the bottom are dozens more links that can immediately take a user to current news stories and other interesting sites. According to Microsoft, all of this was designed to simplify search tasks and make it easier for users either find what they’re looking for, or to encourage serendipitous searches. And when clicking on one of the images at the bottom of the screen, Bing takes its users to pages filled with a lot more information, a lot more images, and a lot more videos than Google.

In addition, the general consensus is that Bing’s video search is significantly better than Google’s. Bing gives the searcher a grid of large thumbnails that can be clicked on to play without leaving Bing, itself. For some videos, it even gives a preview when a mouse hovers over it.

Conversely, most PC experts believe that for informational searches Google comes out slightly ahead. As time goes on, though, it remains to be seen whether Bing’s more elaborate bells and whistles will allow it to whittle away significantly at Google’s market share. It’s the cyber battle of Coke versus Pepsi and as of now, Google is still the one that most users reach for.