Is Bing a sort of poor man’s Google? There is always a temptation to compare any search engine with Google, but each has its own strengths and shortcomings.

Something I really like about Bing is that when you enter a search term, and click on Search, as well as the search results it suggests other searches. In this screenshot, you can see that I did a search on the term self-publishing. As well as the results, I’ve also been presented with other, related, search expressions I might like to try.

The sidebar's important too

You’d think this would be a bit distracting, but it’s actually quite useful. For example, on this occasion I discovered the existence of the Self-Publishing Magazine, which I hadn’t heard of until now.

Something else I like is the history of my recent searches. When using Google, I find myself hitting the Back key countless times to retrieve a previous search, so this facility is a real time-saver.

Ratings out of 5

Look and feel: 4 -- although I like the photo backdrop.

Consistency of results: 4 -- it seems to be very sensitive to the order in which you place the words in the search term

Quirkiness Factor: 4

Overall: 4