We reported over the weekend that the Google vs. Bing battle was heating up, as we learned that Google has been researching and exploring what threat its new Microsoft competitor poses to its market dominance. Now, Google seems to have made a rather thinly veiled counter-attack in the renewed search engine wars.

If you visit the Google homepage today, you will find, beyond the nifty Firebird ballet logo, a link

that says “Discovering the web: Explore the world of Google search.” The resulting page, “Explore Google Search,” explains an array of Google’s blended search capabilities. It’s almost certainly a reminder by Google that it is also a “decision engine” with features to match.

The “Explore Google Search” page itself is useful for novices and experts alike. It succinctly explains, with accompanying video, 16 different Google search features. See the image below for the full list:

Most Google searchers know of some of these features, but probably didn’t know about all of them.It’s a smart reminder by Google of what is possible within its search engine. On top of this, it also has a section for meeting Google’s engineers (who tell you about even more features) and one for reading some fairly hokey success stories of using Google search to get things done. Heck, there’s even easy-to-use buttons for sharing the page via Digg, Facebook, and Twitter.

To be honest, we think Search Engine Land hit the nail on the head with its analysis: that this is a direct attempt to remind potential Bing switchers that Google search has “decision engine” features as well. And you know what? Using the Google homepage to broadcast that reminder definitely works.

Is this search battle escalating? Well, if Bing keeps growing, it almost certainly will. What are your thoughts? Did you learn about any new features from Google’s reminder?

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