( CNN ) -- Microsoft 's search engine Bing is copying results from Google , the dominant search engine on the internet , has claimed . Suspicious of their new rival , Google engineers set up random results on their site for a series of unlikely search terms , such as `` hiybbprqag . '' ( Google arranged for the nonsense word to point to a Los Angeles theater seating plan on its search engine . ) `` Within a couple weeks of starting this experiment , our inserted results started appearing in Bing , '' Google said in a statement on its official blog Tuesday . Google said it welcomed honest competition , but sneered at Bing 's `` recycled search results from a competitor . '' Bing did not deny that it took Google into account when producing its own search results , but suggested they were only one factor among many . They also accused Google in turn of a `` spy-novelesque stunt '' that would only affect very unusual search terms . `` We use over 1,000 different signals and features in our ranking algorithm , '' Bing vice president Harry Shum said Tuesday , referring to the mathematical code that search engines use to choose their results . Each company develops its own search algorithms , and the quality of the results depends on them , making them the key to a search engine 's effectiveness . Bing gets `` a small piece '' of the data for its algorithm `` from some of our customers , who opt-in to sharing anonymous data as they navigate the web in order to help us improve the experience for all users , '' Shum said , saying many internet companies used `` collective intelligence '' gathered online the same way . He shrugged off Google 's sting as `` a creative tactic by a competitor , and we 'll take it as a back-handed compliment . '' Google had more than 70 % of the U.S. search engine market as of the end of August , when it started running its sting , according to Experian Hitwise , which monitors web traffic . Bing had just under 10 % . CNN 's Per Nyberg contributed to this report .
The search giant set up random results for odd searches to catch its rival . Google 's results started showing up on Bing `` within weeks , '' it says . Bing does n't deny using Google results but suggests they are one factor among many . Comment: