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).
Context & Ripple Effects
The discovery lands four days after Search Engine Land's head-to-head comparison of Siri and Google Voice Actions, which framed the new iPhone 4S assistant as a consumer-facing rival to Google's own voice offering. What Danny Sullivan found tonight adds a supply-side wrinkle: when Siri is asked to 'search the web' or hits a question it cannot answer itself, it routes to Google by default — but Bing and Yahoo are reachable through it as well.
That default is not accidental. Back in January 2010, Business Week reported Apple and Microsoft discussed giving Bing top billing on the iPhone, and Chitika's analysis of Bing's iPhone app traction showed how hard it is to buy mobile search share without default placement. Siri's multi-engine behavior suggests Apple left itself room to shift that routing without a new deal.
First-order effects
- Google keeps the valuable position for now: every Siri web-search command and unanswered question defaults to Google, so the bulk of voice-initiated query volume flows to it at no incremental cost.
- Bing and Yahoo gain a small but real secondary referral path on the newest iPhone — presence inside Siri means they are one phrasing away from voice users, something neither had before the 4S shipped.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft's long-running push for iPhone placement gets a fresh lever: instead of negotiating only over Safari's default box, it can argue for a larger share of Siri's query routing, where Apple has already demonstrated flexibility.
- Yahoo, largely absent from the mobile default conversation since the 2010 Apple-Microsoft talks, can point to Siri support as evidence it still belongs in any future iOS search arrangement.
Third-order effects
- If assistants like Siri route queries by context rather than locking to one paid default, the economics of search distribution start to shift: the 'default' premium that Google pays for could erode as the assistant becomes the real gatekeeper of which engine sees each query.
- For Apple, keeping multiple engines reachable preserves negotiating leverage over whichever partner holds the default — a structural hedge that matters most when the current search revenue deal comes up for renegotiation.
The trend: Voice assistants are emerging as a distribution layer sitting above the browser's default search box, letting device makers arbitrate which engines see queries and weakening the fixed-default model.