Not Just Google: Siri Searches Bing And Yahoo Too

Earlier tonight Danny Sullivan discovered that Siri will also search Bing and Yahoo, though it searches Google by default. If you say, “Search the web for . . .” or you ask Siri a question it can’t answer it will search Google (the iPhone’s default search engine). But if you say, “Search Bing for Steve Ballmer News” or “Search Bing for weather” or “Search Bing for Search Engine Land” you get the following:

The same is true for Yahoo. If you say, “Search Yahoo for Wilson Phillips” or “Search Yahoo for Google Earnings” you see these results:

Who knew? Well, if you launch Siri, click the little info button, then select the Web Search option, you’ll find an example listed at the end of how you can ask “Bing Alicia Keys,” it turns out. But most people probably haven’t done this.

Of course if you change your search settings to make Yahoo or Bing the default, Siri will search either of them instead of Google. In that scenario, you could still get to Google by saying “Search Google . . .”

Siri thus emerges as a very efficient way to compare search results or to use a second engine if you don’t like what you get the first time.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He researches and writes about the connections between digital and offline commerce. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.