In a desperate bid for Bing users, Microsoft is creating a deceptive Google-like search interface

You have to give Microsoft some credit for not giving up on the search space, but Bing doesn’t seem to be quite as successful as it hoped. Google remains the world’s largest search engine, despite some sentiment that its quality has declined in recent years. Meanwhile, Bing remains the butt of jokes, and most of its traffic likely comes from users who haven’t changed the default settings on their Windows computers.

Since losing the mobile wars, Microsoft has had to ask Windows users to stick with its services — the Edge browser is installed by default, and while users try to install Chrome or switch to Google, pop-ups implore them to please give Edge and Bing a chance. Microsoft is now trying out a new, subtle user retention strategy: When someone types “Google” into the Edge search bar, they’re presented with a redesigned version of Bing that’s designed to look exactly like Google. Visit Bing and try it for yourself.

This type of strategy is sometimes called a “dark pattern,” or a deceptive pattern that tricks users into doing something they did not intend. Below the Google-like search bar, including a Google Doodle-like cartoon, regular Bing results are displayed.

Data from StatsCounter indicates that Microsoft’s search engine has approx 3% of global market share To Google 90%. On the desktop browser front, Google Chrome has a market share of roughly 70%, according to recent estimates. Google’s dominance is likely even greater when mobile devices are taken into account, with annual device sales far exceeding desktop PCs. Google’s Android dominates smartphones globally, and Apple’s iOS has the company paying tens of billions annually to be the default search engine, a federal government deal. He wants to squash For non-competitive reasons. The whole point of the Android, Chrome, and iOS search deal is for Google to maintain its dominance through defaults.

However, this move from Microsoft suggests that people don’t like Bing that much, if the company sees many people typing “Google” into its search engine. This somewhat supports Google’s argument that this is not an unfair monopoly because people simply like Google more. It certainly doesn’t help that Microsoft doesn’t offer Bing to consumers more often. People like what is familiar and are used to using it. Perhaps weakening Google’s grip will give Bing a greater chance of reaching new users. It should serve as a good reminder of why tech companies care so much about controlling new platforms. There’s also something of a self-reinforcing effect to take into account: the fact that Google is so ubiquitous gives it that More data to improve their results.

Generative AI and its threat to traditional search is still an open question, but even in this regard, Google’s size and data advantage should give it the edge. Microsoft’s last hope seems to be just that Personal computers with artificial intelligence will increase the demand for upgrades.

Microsoft has used other strategies to try to adopt Bing. Back in November, I launched a contest with A.J The grand prize is one million dollars in cash Only to use Bing.