Live Search 411 Beats Goog-411
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Written By Sepideh Saremi | October 16, 2007 | Share This
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Microsoft today announced its final updates to Live Search. They include better maps/directions and the introduction of Live Search 411, which is intended to compete directly with Google’s 411 service.
I’ve just done a quick, unscientific field test of both free services, searching first for pizza delivery and then for party supply stores in my area. Neither services are perfect, but surprisingly, Live Search 411 blew Goog-411 out of the water.
Though Live Search 411 (1-800-CALL-411) didn’t understand “pizza delivery” at first and gave me courier services instead, a second try garnered three local pizza joints, with the option to hear more. Goog-411 (1-800-GOOG-411) talked through eight listings, giving me garbled street names with each one, which was tough to sit through. Moreover, about half of Google’s top eight results were Pizza Huts. That speaks well of Pizza Hut’s SEO work and their market saturation of my neighborhood, but I wish Goog-411 was smart enough to give me more unique options, rather than different locations for the same company. I don’t really need to know about all four Pizza Huts around if I’m getting my pie delivered anyway. So Live Search wins for “pizza delivery.”
Searching for party supply stores was similar; Live Search 411 was faster because of the three-business listing with the option to hear more, and Google cycled through too many options, again garbling their names and locations. But ultimately, Goog-411 tanked this round because their results included a psychic, which is definitely not a relevant result.
For all results, Google will connect you, text you the info, or send you a map. Live Search connects or texts you, and gives you the really useful option to text the details to someone else as well. Live Search also features a far more professional-sounding voice (apologies to the Googler whose voices was used for Goog-411), and spells things out when it can’t pronounce them, both of which make for a better user experience. Finally, when you call Live Search, saying “other services” after the city name brings you info on weather, movies, travel, and traffic maps - all common searches for which Goog-411 does not yet (as far as I can tell) have easy shortcuts. Trying to search for “movie times” or “movie listings” on Goog-411 was futile.
So while both Live Search 411 and Goog-411 are in their infancy, and Live Search has likely learned some things by watching Google, the number I’ll be saving on my phone for now will be that of Live Search 411.
Topics: Microsoft, Search: Local, Wireless & Mobile |
You’re right! I tried Microsoft’s 1-800-CALL-411, Google’s 1-800-GOOG-411 and 1-800-FREE-411 about 10 times today. Google’s worked 6 of 10 times. Free 411 worked 5 of 10 times. Microsoft worked 9 of 10 times, sounded the best, and had great features especially for really hard stuff. I saved it in my phone and have already told 6 friends to do the same!
Its exciting to watch the advances in voice-based services. However, there seems to be a lot of “me too” activity. Goog-411, Live Search 411, and Jingle advance the “input” of local search and are getting better at: “Find me the number for Bill the Barber.”
One break-out taking a new approach is FastCall411, which launched at DEMO last month. The company helps with category searches and recommendations: “I need a haircut today.” FastCall411 focuses on the recommendations of local merchants or service providers and connects the consumer to merchants who are available. Today’s directory assistance services use text-to-speech to read phone numbers. The consumer is then left on their own to be connected, or not in the case of busy signals, not answered calls, disconnected numbers or barbers who do not have haircut appointments open today.