Desperate for Bing Users, Microsoft Creates Sneaky Search Interface That Looks Like Google

You have to give Microsoft some credit for not giving up in search, but it does not seem Bing has ever quite been the success that it hoped. Google remains far and away the largest search engine in the world, despite some sentiment that its quality has declined over recent years. Bing meanwhile remains the butt of jokes, most of its traffic likely coming from users who have not changed the defaults on their Windows computer.

Since losing out in the mobile wars, Microsoft has been left with pleading Windows users to stick to its services—the Edge browser is installed by default, and as users try to install Chrome or switch to Google, pop-ups implore them to please, please give Edge and Bing a chance. Microsoft is now trying a new, more inconspicuous strategy to keep users: When someone types “Google” into the Edge search bar, they are hit with a reskinned version of Bing that is made to look almost 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-looking search bar, including a Google Doodle-esque cartoon, regular Bing results are displayed.

Data from StatsCounter suggests the Microsoft search engine has roughly a 3% global market share to Google’s 90%. On the desktop browser front, Google Chrome has roughly a 70% market share, according to recent estimates. Google’s dominance is probably even greater when taking mobile into account, where annual device sales far outstrip desktop computers. Google’s Android dominates globally in smartphones, and on Apple’s iOS, the company pays tens of billions annually to be the default search engine, a deal the federal government wants to squash on anti-competitive grounds. The entire point of Android, Chrome, and the iOS search deal is for Google to maintain its dominance through defaults.

Still, this move from Microsoft suggests that people really just do not like Bing much, if the company is seeing that many people type “Google” into its search engine. That somewhat supports Google’s argument that it is not an unfair monopoly because people simply like Google more. It certainly does not help Microsoft that consumers are not presented with Bing more often, though. People like what is familiar and that they are accustomed to using. Maybe weakening Google’s grip could give Bing more of a fighting chance to reach new users. It should serve as a good reminder why tech companies care so much about controlling new platforms. There is also something of a self-reinforcing effect to consider: The fact that Google is so omnipresent gives it much more data to improve its results.

Generative AI and its threat to traditional search remains an open question, but even there, Google’s size and data advantage should give it a leg up. Microsoft last hope seems to be that AI PCs will stoke demand for upgrades.

Microsoft has employed other strategies to try and juice the adoption of Bing. Back in November, it launched a competition with a top prize of $1 million in cash just for using Bing.