Since Microsoft launched its new Bing search engine out of the ashes of Windows Live back in May, it hasn’t made many inroads on Google‘s dominance of the search market.

That could be set to change, if a new deal between Microsoft and media giant News Corp announced today comes to fruition. In a bold move, Microsoft has held discussions with Rupert Murdoch’s firm around a deal which could see News Corp “de-index” its news sites from Google, granting exclusivity to Bing.

News Corp owns some of the world biggest newspapers, including the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal in the USA, and The Sun, The Times and the News of the World in the UK.

If information is power (which it certainly is when it comes to seach engines) – this move to effectively censor the information Google can display in its SERPS could be a key move in winning market share for Bing. Market share for Bing is currently around 10-12%, which is embarrasing compared to Google’s share of over 50%.

In terms of service – at present Bing doesn’t really offer anything that Google doesn’t already have. This new line of attack is about taking away from Google, rather than adding anything new or innovative to Bing.

Rupert Murdoch has made his intent to charge for online content clear for some time, using the argument that “quality journalism doesn’t come cheap”. Most  major newspapers currently publish the majority of their content online for free, which has had a major impact on sales of papers from newsagents.

The argument over for whether news should be made availalbe free online or not will continue, but what is clear is that if the way we consume our news online moves to a “paid-for” model, the search engine with the publishing rights to the major players’ content will hold a distinct advantage.

Could this be the beginning of a turn in the tide for Bing’s fortunes?

Let us know your thoughts on this…

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Bing, Censorship, course, de-listed, Deal, google, Google Analytics Training, Microsoft, microsoft certified training, microsoft training, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, training

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