On Monday, Microsoft revealed their database project called “Catapult”. The project aims to increase the speed of Bing’s search result delivery by using FPGA’s (field programmable arrays), processors that will increase the speed of all online Microsoft services.
Load speed has always been a top priority for Google. The site shows how long it takes for your results to be found in the top right corner of the screen. Bing, which ended 2013 with 18% of the search engine market share, should always be a part of your search engine optimization strategy. Catapult will most likely start being used in select datacenters in early 2015.
Improved performance speeds will be of benefit to Bing’s desktop searches, and will also help Bing’s mobile searches. Windows Phones use Bing as their default search engine. Faster load speeds on Bing mobile searches could serve as a selling point for Windows phones. Regardless of the impact Catapult has on Bing’s market share, the Microsoft search engine should not be ignored. Websites should always be optimized for Bing searches as well as Google searches.