Since Microsoft opened up its new search engine Bing earlier this month, there has been a nonstop flood of people comparing Bing to the current search juggernaut, Google. Does Bing have a better interface? Is it an improvement over Microsoft's Live search? And most importantly, does Bing provide better results than Google?

While there are a few tools out there that already compare the two search engines, none take the scientific approach quite like BlindSearch does. The experiment, formed by Michael Kordahi, provides search results from Google, Bing, and Yahoo and asks you to vote on which results are best. However, BlindSearch takes your biases out of the equation by stripping away the branding and logos. The experiment is both elegant and simple. Perform a search and three columns of results will appear. Each column has a button that allows you to vote for which set of results are the most accurate and useful. The logos will then appear to show you what you voted for. The system randomizes which column will have Google, Yahoo, or Bing results. Take a look at a search for Mashable:









Can you tell which one corresponds to Bing, Google, and Yahoo? Here are the answers:









If you are curious, I voted for Google in this instance.



Next, we tried it with one of my favorite things to eat, the baked potato:









To my surprise, my vote ended up being for Bing:











Finally, just for fun, I asked each engine "What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?"









And while the results were close, I (to my surprise) ended up voting for Yahoo.









Now, while my three searches may not have been definitive, BlindSearch is using everybody's votes to provide a running tally of which search engine is best. As of publishing, Google is in the lead with 44%, with Bing in second at 32% and Yahoo last at 24%. This isn't a completely random sampling, as tech-savvy users are likely the ones doing the most searches on BlindSearch currently. Yet it provides for a good approximation and will only increase in accuracy as the sample size increases.

So does this put the Google vs. Bing question to rest? The answer depends on how you choose your search engine. If you care only about results, this might be a deciding factor for you. However, if you care about branding, user experience, design, and integration with other social media tools, then these results are only part of a much larger equation. In any case, the consumer will end up deciding which search tool is best.