Is Microsoft’s Bing copying search results from Google?

Here was Microsoft’s initial response:

We use multiple signals and approaches in ranking search results.  The overarching goal is to do a better job determining the intent of the search so we can provide the most relevant answer to a given query. Opt-in programs like the toolbar help us with clickstream data, one of many input signals we and other search engines use to help rank sites,” said Stefan Weitz, Director, Bing.

(Update: According to ZDNet.com, Matt Rosoff at Silicon Alley Insider has some good historical perspective on how Microsoft has been using its toolbar add-on for Internet Explorer to keep tabs on search terms and topics.)

“I went back and asked the Bing folks again, noting that I couldn’t figure out if this was a verbose way of admitting Bing was copying or a denial,” wrote ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley.

Here’s the new statement, attributable to a company spokesperson:

We do not copy Google’s results.

Microsoft is expected to issue a more detailed statement today.

So how did Microsoft pull of this little bit of cheating? Well, we can’t be exactly sure how they were doing it, but it seems likely that either Internet Explorer or the Bing Search Toolbar was being used to collect search queries made on Google, by its users. with the info collected, it was simply a matter of copying the results over.

Google of course, decided to come up with a plan to catch them in the act and it would seem they managed to do just exactly that. According to a variety of sources, the set up around one hundred different random search queries that has not real meaning and would produce little or no results. Then of course Google created specific pages of their own and placed them in the number one position for those queries, even when they had absolutely no relevance to the original query whatsoever.

Google’s Evidence: