by londons_explore on 1/7/25, 8:40 PM
This is partly preying on the fact googles 'doodles' weaken their brand/trademark.
Back when every google doodle clearly had the word "Google" in, that was okay.
But often now, the doodles are just some random picture. At that point, there is no brand recognition to their homepage beyond a blank white background and centered search box, which microsoft has copied here because those elements alone are not enough to form a legally protectable brand.
by ballenf on 1/7/25, 8:04 PM
I bet this is 100x+ more effective at keeping people on Bing than anything else MS has tried. Same idea as knock-off brands with labels and designs inspired by the name brand.
People may eventually realize they're not on Google, but probably only after being not displeased in Bing's results. If they have a bad experience, oh well, they were planning on using google anyway.
by jjcm on 1/7/25, 8:57 PM
Disclaimer - I used to work on Bing like... 8 years ago.
There's probably some debate around whether this is nefarious or genius, but I'd lead towards the later. "google" has always been one of the number one search terms, and the amount of people who would open chrome, search for google in the address bar, then open google in the google search results, then do their search, was wild. There's a very large percentage of less technical people who aren't looking for Google, they're looking for search, and in their mind the two are the same.
They likely don't care what search engine they're using, so I suspect this actually captures a very large amount of search volume, while still solving the intent of the user.
by nneonneo on 1/7/25, 11:48 PM
I used Bing on mobile for a while, and I quickly noticed a horrible dark pattern: the mobile website has a little banner that pops up at the top prompting you to download their app, but this banner only loads in after a short delay (maybe half a second) after the rest of the page. In particular, it shows up right where the search bar was (pushing the bar downwards) - meaning that if I aim for the search bar right when the page loads, I often end up hitting the banner ad
right as it loads in. I’ve probably loaded their App Store page a dozen times at this point by accident - it’s
that annoying.
I swear this is deliberate. There’s not really any good reason for a delay on the “you should get our app” banner that I can see, and even less of a good reason to have it load at the exact position of the search bar. Some engineer in Redmond is probably feeling really good about tricking people this way…
by cj on 1/7/25, 9:28 PM
Fun fact: Microsoft Ads (the place you go to buy ads on Bing) is essentially a carbon copy of Google Ads in every way imaginable. The UI is, quite literally, exactly the same. The names of the features are nearly identical. There is very little differentiation, and it's 100% by design - doing this makes it very easy for marketing people to switch between ad platforms without needing to learn a completely new interface.
It's quite entertaining to watch. Google will release a feature, and then a few weeks later Microsoft announces the exact same thing.
Microsoft is learning that copying success is often easier than creating it from scratch. Making their products look identical to Google's makes it a lot easier to switch between the 2.
by Arnavion on 1/7/25, 8:06 PM
by JohnMakin on 1/7/25, 8:37 PM
I prefer bing + copilot as a search engine over google if I must use one. Been using it since the beta, have a corporate/business account now. It (usually) provides a good description of my answer and gives sources I can click on to verify. No other search engine I am aware of is doing this right now, although I know chatGPT has recently introduced or talked about a feature like this (I don't really use chatGPT). This is exactly what I want in a good search tool. However, my frustration with bing arises in that from one day to the next there is absolutely no consistency in how "good" the tool feels - almost like there are times they downgraded the underlying model to reduce load/cost without informing the user. They should focus on a better user experience than google, which if I can interject my opinion, is a shockingly low bar these days, and let growth happen by simply being a good tool - all the gimmicks and attempts they've made at mass adoption has seemed very forced. And yes, I'm aware of the natural lock-in advantage google has and how hard that is to surmount, but bing has a large enough percentage of search userbase by now to achieve its own critical mass if it needed to, IMO. Forcing adoption and locking it into microsoft ecosystem will probably eventually be the reason I stop using it.
by granzymes on 1/7/25, 8:45 PM
I would’ve asked to be taken off of this project if someone had asked me to build this. How embarrassing to need to stoop to this level.
by dec0dedab0de on 1/7/25, 8:29 PM
I started a new job where I have to use windows, and more than once I didn’t realize I was using bing until I went to turn on verbatim and it wasn’t an option.
Side note, I miss search engines from 20 years ago, I can’t believe it’s gotten this bad.
by rlpb on 1/7/25, 10:16 PM
Given the tricks that Google play (or at least played) in hijacking their own search results to scare users into switching to Chrome, I shed no tears here. Google set a new lower standard in deceitful behaviour, and Microsoft are simply following.
by unethical_ban on 1/7/25, 8:02 PM
I'm usually not a fan of user deception. But I can't bring myself to care much that Bing is trying to play off the masses' pavlovian trust of the google interface.
by userbinator on 1/7/25, 10:22 PM
That's the "offensively inoffensive" Corporate Memphis art which Microsoft is pushing aggressively everywhere, so I recognised it at first glance as being from MS and not Google. Google has a slightly different style.
by lupusreal on 1/7/25, 8:31 PM
Bing earns my use simply by virtue of them not captcha-hell banning me for having privacy features enable and using a VPN. Google can go to hell.
by croisillon on 1/7/25, 8:43 PM
"i'm appalled that i ended up searching google on bing when i honestly believed i was searching google on google"
- no one ever
by asdasdsddd on 1/7/25, 8:24 PM
This is only funny because no one takes bing seriously.
by ricoche on 1/7/25, 8:33 PM
This is so desperate I feel bad for them
by baxtr on 1/7/25, 9:32 PM
I bet this was initially an A/B test idea of a product manager eager for promotion.
by jhanschoo on 1/7/25, 9:22 PM
If MS hasn't changed the result in the meantime, the screenshot in the article is slightly dishonest by omission. The journalist has manipulated the browser window's size and scrolled down a bit so that only the "promoted result" is visible and without any indication. The journalist's characterization
> Before you scroll down to the actual search results, you’re presented with an all-white page with a centered, unbranded search bar and a multicolored doodle above it that’s heavy on yellow, red, blue, and green.
is dishonest.
In actuality, Google-like interface appears as a full-width promoted result/ad before the organic results. There is vaguely the words "Promoted by Microsoft" by the top-left, and a 'X' by the top-right. For large enough viewports, the 'X' and organic search results are visible. The "Promoted by Microsoft" is visible without scrolling at any size.
Note nevertheless that the journalist has also failed to point out a particular interaction that would support their thesis. For searches that trigger this "promotion", the window immediately scrolls the page so that the promotion is aligned to the top of the viewport, and the search bar in the promotion is focused. (The "Promoted by Microsoft" is visible without scrolling at any size.)
If one is logged in (and on Edge?), this promotion is still present, but as a tiny search box before the organic results.
by nathanmills on 1/7/25, 10:17 PM
Actually, this is a brilliant move by Microsoft. As a developer, I can tell you that user interface mimicry is a time-honored tradition in software. Remember how Facebook copied Snapchat's stories? And plus, Google's monopoly needs to be challenged, and if users can't tell the difference in quality between Bing and Google anyway, then what's the problem? The real problem is that people are too used to Google. This might help break that habit.
by mrayycombi on 1/7/25, 11:46 PM
They'd have to disguise themselves as duckduckgo to fool me. Maybe throw a weird looking duck on their landing page or something.
I've avoided Google for years. Quack.
by gardenhedge on 1/7/25, 10:00 PM
Is Bing the worst brand name ever? They tried so hard to make it work but it just doesn't. I feel like any other name would be better.
by KoolKat23 on 1/7/25, 9:43 PM
It's so sleazy. The logical next step for Microsoft's Bing, MSN and advertising network is their very own online gambling.
by zb3 on 1/7/25, 8:34 PM
I'll immediately switch to Bing if you allow me to search by regex, or at least "literally literally".
by cynicalpeace on 1/7/25, 8:37 PM
I'm surprised more startups don't just copy the most famous landing page of all time.
by VyseofArcadia on 1/7/25, 8:14 PM
Never quite understood the hate for Bing. I despise Microsoft, but Bing is fine. It's one of the least shit Microsoft products there is. It definitely wasn't competitive on release, but it's fine now.
To be fair I think this is a function of both Bing having gotten better and Google having gotten worse.
by notfed on 1/7/25, 8:07 PM
Can't reproduce. Does it only happen from Edge?
by LightBug1 on 1/7/25, 9:33 PM
I watch Groundhog Day at least once a year at Christmas.
Bing.com will never not be associated with Ned Ryerson ...
Doesn't matter how much they disguise it!
by SoftTalker on 1/7/25, 10:27 PM
Seems pointless to me, I haven't used google.com or bing.com's main page in years. My browser search bar just searches my preferred search engine if I enter anything that isn't a URL.
by interestica on 1/7/25, 8:38 PM
This only happens if one searches for “google” in the Bing search bar. This is less deception and more a fun dig. Try searching for “askew” in google.
by linuxftw on 1/7/25, 9:12 PM
I love it. If a user doesn't understand how web browsers work, they're deserving of this behavior by MS and Bing. Genius.
by Tistron on 1/7/25, 8:47 PM
Looking at it charitably, it doesn't seem very different than going to some outdoor shop NatureLand(r), asking for a Thermos and them showing you a NatureLand(r) thermo flask. Sure, maybe you really wanted a thermo flask of the Thermos brand, but most people just want an insulated bottle for tea or some such.
I mean, I wouldn't react more to somebody saying that they googled something with bing than I react when somebody offers me tea but it's herbal infusion.
I'll have some reaction that is wrong, but it's also expected and common.
by nine_k on 1/7/25, 9:16 PM
— Hey, waiter! That cup that you've brought me, is it tea or coffee?— Sorry, sir, you mean you cannot tell by the taste?
— I can't.
— Then what difference does it make?
by dsissitka on 1/7/25, 8:06 PM
Removed. I see the scrolling happens for me in Chromium so that's not PCWorld's doing.
by funOtter on 1/7/25, 7:56 PM
So google owns the "image and text box on a web page" design?
by Dylan16807 on 1/7/25, 8:06 PM
This removes a step for someone that would have searched for google and then clicked on the link and then done their real search, so overall it sounds like a nice improvement in the vast majority of cases. I don't expect many people that care about the difference between search engines to be using this method.