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Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

pcworld.com

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Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#4
post #2

So google owns the "image and text box on a web page" design?

No - google doesn't own the "image and text box on a web page design" ... but it is very odd what Microsoft/Bing is doing when you search 'google' .. they even 'scroll' the page down to hide the primary bing search bar. It's odd.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#7
post #3
post #2

So google owns the "image and text box on a web page" design?

It’s about the doodle, not the image and text box. As the article explains.

I would say it's more that you get to this page by typing "Google" into the URL/search bar:

> This morning, users are discovering that if they search for “Google” in the primary Bing interface, they’re shown a special Bing search page. 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.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#8
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.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#9
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.
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