Google vs. Bing: Bing holds its own in search-off

Bing is big on travel. Clicking "Travel" brings up a site that resembles Expedia. You can search for flights, hotels, cars, etc. Bing will predict whether airfares will rise or fall for certain cities, helping you determine to buy now or wait.

•Michael Jackson. Google and Bing posted news stories first. Google put links to the Wikipedia entry for Jackson and the official michaeljackson.com site, above images and videos. Related searches (songs, jokes, kids not his) were at the bottom. Bing listed similar sites but put videos and images higher up. The pane to the left of the Jackson search on Bing let me narrow the search by news, songs, biography, downloads, merchandise and more. Bing claimed 101 million results compared with 85 million for Google. I didn't count.

•Ford Fusion. Bing delivered helpful stats near the top — price range, fuel economy and user ratings. The side panel categorized searches by dealers, reviews, forum, manual, recalls and images. You have to poke around a bit to uncover that information on Google.

You rarely go wrong Googling something. But for a search that sings, you may want to Bing it.

The bottom line:

Google

www.google.com

***1/2 (Out of four)

Pro:Fast, comprehensive — you rarely go wrong with a Google search.

Con:Some powerful search tools are buried.

Microsoft Bing

www.bing.com

***1/2 (Out of four)

Pro:Attractive. Gives you a lot of information without the need for you to navigate elsewhere. Plays videos inside Bing. Excellent on travel resources. Good on presenting related searches. Has cash-back discount shopping program when you buy through a link.

Con:Not as comprehensive as Google on some searches. Not as strong as Google on news. Occasional video glitches.

E-mail: ebaig@usatoday.com