Bing Got Its Butt Kicked By Google During The Holiday Shopping Season

Bing, the search engine developed by Microsoft, got its butt kicked in the Q4 2013 holiday shopping system according to data from The Search Agency. (We first saw this on Search Engine land.)

Bing, a perennial also-ran in search, had been gaining share of ad spending from Google until recently. But in Q4 it saw a reversal of fortune as Google sucked up 83.7% of all ad dollars:

The reason: Google's new shopping ad format, "product listing ads," which show photos of retailers' available goods and allow quick price comparisons, SEO Land says:

"Bing posted strong numbers early last year, but we saw a marked cooling of growth last quarter," said Delia Perez, senior vice president of marketing strategy, The Search Agency. "As advertisers ramped up their activity around holiday shopping, Google's Product Listing Ads got a boost, which took its toll on Bing."