Bing & Google Offering New Search Tools For 2014 Election Season

With the November 4th elections looming ever so near, both Bing and Google have launched search tools to help voters stay informed. From news and analysis, to predictions and voter registration information, each site is doing their part to help voters stay in-the-know during the 2014 election season. Here’s a quick overview of what Bing […]

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With the November 4th elections looming ever so near, both Bing and Google have launched search tools to help voters stay informed. From news and analysis, to predictions and voter registration information, each site is doing their part to help voters stay in-the-know during the 2014 election season.

Here’s a quick overview of what Bing and Google has put together for the upcoming national and regional races.

Bing Elections

Bing’s election website includes a host of news from all sides of the vote, predictions on national congressional races and governor elections, along with a personalized Voter Guide to provide side-by-side comparisons of candidates from major metropolitan markets.

[blockquote cite=”Bing Search Blog”]Politics aside, our goal with Bing Elections and the personalized Voter Guide is to arm voters so they can make decisions based on the most comprehensive and best information available.[/blockquote]

Bing’s election website offers an interactive map, allowing users to drill down by state to see Senate, House and gubernatorial race information, including incumbents, polls and election forecasts from “Bing Predicts.”Bing voter map

According to Bing, users can hover over a state or zoom into a district to see candidate match-ups, along with each candidate’s chances of winning. Bing says it will also provide real-time exit polls on election day.

Bing said it will also be launching a “My Ballot” option, displaying location-specific ballot information, along with nearby voting stations.

Bing My ballot

“How do I vote, Google?”

Google users simply have to search [how do i vote] or [register to vote] to find state-by-state voter information.

[blockquote cite=”Google Politics & Elections Blog”]What is my registration deadline? How do I vote? What forms of identification do I need? All a voter needs to do is ask Google.[/blockquote]

Google vote

Voters can also sign up for election reminders using the Google App.

Real-time news and analysis – including candidate debates and trending political videos – can be found via YouTube.com/Elections and Google.com/Elections.

And while Bing offers race forecasts via its Bing Predictions technology, Google users will be able to see which candidates are getting searched most often at Google.com/+GooglePolitics, where Google will list the most popular politically charged search trends during the final 26 days leading up to the election.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Amy Gesenhues
Contributor
Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.

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