Bing is a search engine developed by Microsoft. The tech giant brought it to market in 2009, when it replaced the Live Search product the company had previously developed.
Since then, Bing has been constantly evolving, introducing new services and changing its image. After the rebranding in 2020, the name of the search engine was officially changed to Microsoft Bing, but to this day in the minds of many users it remains in the original version.
Bing’s popularity compared to other leading search engines has remained fairly stable over the years. Its direct competitor is China’s Baidu – both products have long gone hand in hand in charts showing their global market share, and this state is not expected to change in the near future. In world rankings, Microsoft Bing lags far behind Google and Yandex, but in the US it managed to gather a fairly large group of users.
Visual changes in Microsoft Bing not only on the home page
One of the most famous changes Microsoft has made is the search engine rebranding in 2020. It received not only a new name, but also a changed logo – the previously used letter “b” was given a blue color, which could refer to the colors of the Microsoft Edge browser. This association can also indicate the reason for the transformation of these key elements of product identification – the desire to unify its services on the part of the giant and indicate the relationships between them (for example, integration with Microsoft 365 packaged services).
Interestingly, the new symbol did not appear on the search engine homepage. Instead, the Microsoft 365 services logo appears there, that is, four colored bars arranged in a window shape. Among other things, we can see the blue letter “b” on the website icon. The changes also included an update to the home page, including a panel that allows search functionality for specific types of content, such as images or breaking news.
Simplified Search with Microsoft Bing
In April 2021, the Microsoft Bing blog introduced new search engine features that aim to provide the user with information in a fast and intuitive way. In the English version of the service, some of the content from the search results is combined in the form of transparent infographics displayed on the right side of the browser window. Thus, you can get brief information, for example, about the planets of the solar system, different countries of the world or animals.
Microsoft Bing has also improved the way some results are presented so that the user can get the most important information without visiting the site. This solution has been used, for example, in the case of recipes – searching for them in the English-speaking Bing displays a list of popular pages along with information about the number of servings, macronutrients and cooking times.
Bing has also developed an interesting way to integrate search results for places with the pop-up world map displayed on the right side of the window. For example, a user can view the most attractive tourist destinations in a given city or country, keeping the view on a map showing their location. Thanks to this feature, people using the Microsoft search engine can also find out more about the area they are currently in, or filter the results according to the type and purpose of the location (buildings, historic sites, cultural centers, museums or green spaces).
While Bing does not currently compete with Google, the company’s actions seem to indicate that it is also serious about developing its products, which have a relatively small market share. Therefore, we look forward to further suggestions to improve the day-to-day use of the Microsoft Bing search engine.
