Bing catches up with Google, but still only slightly

Is there any way for the No. 2 player in web search to ever catch up with Google?

Microsoft has been betting for a number of years that there will be a way. But its progress in gaining ground seems to have slowed to a glacial pace.

It's true that thanks to its hard work in developing the Bing search engine - streets ahead of its MSN / Live predecessor - has paid some dividends. Together with the tie-up deal with Yahoo! search, its efforts have seen the software giant finally begin to claw back some market share from the company whose name is still synonymous with search

Nevertheless, it remains a distant second. And according to one investor with first-hand experience, there may never be a way to truly stand toe-to-toe with Google.

Could this be a lesson for companies using IT services in Bristol who are up against a firmly entrenched competitor?

Ask Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist in California's Silicon Valley, the wellspring of America's Internet powerhouse companies. He backed an ambitious search start-up that had hoped to compete with Google. The company eventually admitted the struggle was too great and sold out to Microsoft.

Why? According to Thiel, search is "a classic natural monopoly business" in which the barrier of entry is way too high. That obviously wasn't the case in 1999 when Google itself launched against established competitors.

But to beat an algorithm that has been more than 12 years in the making, effectively delivering results while weathering the influence of web spam and commercial manipulation of search results, could prove too high a hurdle.

Is there any better evidence than market share figures that refuse to be significantly swayed? According to research group Comscore, in America Microsoft ended 2010 with a 12 per cent share of  web search - up from 10.7 per cent a year before, but well below Google's 67 per cent. And combined with the diminishing Yahoo, the two companies together have failed to lift their combined 28 per cent share of the US searche market and its lucrative advertising opportunity.

The key takeaway: however strong your technical resources, don't place your hopes and dreams on building a rival to Google!