This is the Friday Website Review edition of the Daily Golden Nugget. The goal of this review is not to single out any particular jeweler or store, but to examine a website for educational purposes. Hopefully we can all learn something from the reviewThis week I'm searching for a review candidate in Newport, RI. I always use the Chrome web browser in incognito mode to search for a review candidate. I do this to help prevent my personal browser history from interfering with search results given by Google. That said, today I'm going to compare a search between Google and Bing, and explain the differences between the results we get.
These are the results I see when searching Google for "jewelers in newport ri":
These are the results I see when searching Bing for "jewelers in newport ri":
The specific differences between the two:
1.
* Google shows 1 organic result above the local list. They show breakell.com.
* Bing has no organic results above their local list.
2.
* Google has 7 local stores in their list.
* Bing has 5 local stores in their list.
3.
* On Google, each of the local store listings link to the store's website when clicked. This gives a one-click jump to each website for more information.
* On Bing, 4 of those 5 local store listings link to a Bing directory page with Yelp reviews. Even though the websites can be found, Bing is linking to a dead end profile page for those businesses.
4.
* In Google, the first organic result after the local listings is portobellojewelers.com.
* In Bing, the first organic result after the local listings is portobellojewelers.com. (same as Google)
So which result is better in this case, Google or Bing? I think it's clear to see that the local list of stores is better on Google since they all link to the appropriate websites, and there are no duplicates. Meanwhile, Bing shows 2 listings for Portobello Jewelers in their list of 5.
Speaking of Portobello Jewelers, both search engines show that site as the first option after the local list. Is this the best jeweler in Newport, RI? Maybe, maybe not.
Notice how Google is offering a different local store as their top pick, in fact it's way at the top...breakell.com
Here's the home page for Portobello Jewelers located here:
http://www.portobellojewelers.com/index.asp
(click to view larger)
Here's the home page for J.H. Breakell located here:
http://www.breakell.com
(click to view larger)
The obvious difference is that J.H. Breakell is an ecommerce website, and Portobello isn't. But there's more to it than that. Here's what I also see:
* The Breakell website is updated often. At the time of this review the home page had been updated only 3 days prior.
* The last time the Portobello website was updated was April 12, 2005.
* The Portobello website is using the same page titles for every page of their website, which is not a good practice.
* The Breakell website has different page titles for every page of their website.
But there's one big difference that you can see here:
(click to view larger)
The Portobello website uses Adobe Flash, which you can't see on any portable Apple or Android device. This seriously limits the usability of the website.
Although no one can say for certain, my expert opinion is that Google recognized the Flash elements of the Portobello website and intentionally placed the Breakell website at the top of their search results because it clearly has the better user experience. Breakell is updated often and it's usable across all devices.
I'm often asked if we should worry about how Bing ranks their website. My answer is no. It seems like Bing will never gain a large share of search business until they figure out how to better serve the needs of the everyday user.
That's it for this week's basic review.
FTC Notice: I randomly choose this website and won't be telling the retailer jeweler that I'm doing a review. Unless someone else tells them, they will only find out about this review if they examine their Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools. I'm not doing this to solicit business from them, but rather as an educational exercise for everyone. This review is completely impartial and all my comments are listed in the order that I discovered them.
