I “Bing”ed my name today. Alright, maybe “to Bing” doesn’t sound as nice as “to Google.” But Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, released at the beginning of June, has made many Internet users reevaluate how they search the web’s ever-growing content.

“I started using Google because it’s very dependable, very clean” and “refreshingly simple,” says recent Brown University graduate and employee of Cisco Systems Andrew Brindamour. “In general, it works really, really well,” he continues.

Google has long held the lion’s share of the global search engine market: 61.6% of all searches in April 2008 according to ComScore. Its integration into the web browser Mozilla Firefox has only consolidated Google’s lead over other search engines, such as Yahoo!, Lycos, Excite, Altavista, and Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves).

Yet the introduction of Bing has urged many, myself included, to ask whether Google still deserves to be the biggest name in search engines. For students in particular, the utility and power of a search engine are important considerations when conducting intelligent and successful Internet research.

I decided, in a spurt of narcissistic pragmatism, to search for my own name as an informal test to compare Google with its competitors. After all, there are a limited number of pages which can possibly turn up as a result, all of which I’m familiar with.

Lycos displays a thumbnail preview of each result, but those images barely liven up a rather barren website, in both design and number of results. Excite also didn’t find several of the nine pages which feature my name. Dogpile, a meta-search engine which compiles results from Google, Yahoo!, Live Search, and Ask, somehow missed a few pages which were included in Google’s results.

Ultimately, Google did offer the highest number of and most accurate results in the most organized manner.

A patented technology gives Google its competitive edge. To trawl the Internet, Google not only searches for the frequency of the word searched, but also uses a unique PageRankTM algorithm to calculate the relevance and relative importance of each website according to its place in the web’s vast link structure.

One of the many reasons for Google’s global success is its versatility. For those who just need the basics of Internet searching, Google is easy to use and yet, Brindamour notes, “to a power user like me, it was great to have something simple to use, but also had all these hidden options.”

The leader in search engine technology is not without its weaknesses. The PageRanking system means that if enough people link to a site using certain text, that site will show up on a results page which is out of context, a practice known as “Google-bombing.” Google has recently taken steps to eliminate such online mischief as the “miserable failure”/George Bush “bomb” through a secret algorithm change.

Microsoft’s new Bing presents a viable alternative to the search engine giant. While it missed one page which appeared among Google’s results, Bing’s results page is well-organized and aesthetically pleasing, with a pop-up preview of each website available when you pass your mouse over it. Some queries produce specially-formatted results pages—for example, a search for accommodations in a certain area will include a sidebar with ratings, prices, and details.

Despite the fact that all of these search engines are very easy to use, it is important to remember that there are further techniques to successfully specify your search. It is also important to realize that search engines and the companies that own them are founded not solely on altruism and love of knowledge. They are for-profit companies, and as such, can only run their businesses in such a way that makes them money.

The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University has a website with lots of great information and advice on Internet research (and academic writing in general). The writers at OWL remind us that some search engines list not the most accurate results first, but those which are “sponsored” by companies which have paid to have their websites prominently displayed. “This means that you may end up clicking on something that is not relevant to your search, but instead actually advertising.”

The trick to using any search engine effectively is using search terms specific enough to weed out irrelevant results, yet broad enough to include all sites applicable to your search. One way to do this is through the use of Boolean terms. Named after the system of logic developed by George Boole, it involves the addition of the words “AND,” “OR,” or “NOT” to one’s search terms.

The use of “AND” refines and narrows the scope of a search to only those results which contain both terms; for example, a search for “King Lear AND criticism” will helpfully exclude the news “Al Pacino to star in King Lear” and only consist of results which involve both terms. “OR” is useful when you are less sure of what to search for, as it will amplify your results to include either, but not necessarily both, terms. “AND” and “OR” can be used in conjunction for even further specificity. “King Lear OR Hamlet (AND criticism)” will yield results pertaining either to King Lear criticism or Hamlet criticism. “NOT” will exclude the term which follows it. “King Lear NOT baseball” will exclude sites regarding Charles Bernard “King” Lear, former pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, and include only those concerning the less sporty version.

Another useful tool limited to Google is the “Scholar” search mode, which limits results to online books or academic articles. This is a great free tool to use in conjunction with the subscription services such as JSTOR or PubMed provided by many colleges and universities. Each result is accompanied by a tag stating whether it is an online book, PDF, full article, or just a citation.

Whether you Bing it, Google it, or Yahoo! it, knowing the tools and techniques that are at your disposal allow you to weed out the junk and find what you need.