Key Takeaways
- Bing’s AI-powered search is already more coherent compared to Google’s flawed AI Overview system.
- Bing contains unique features such as Rewards, which gives users gift cards for using the search engine.
- Despite its negative perception, Bing has the opportunity to capitalize on Google’s recent missteps and build its market share.
After years of online search dominance, Google has finally begun to show cracks in its armor. After the tech giant revealed its AI Overview feature, people have been finding that it has been outputting some extremely strange results. AI Overview is meant to use the power of Gemini to answer any question entered into the search engine, but the results have been less than stellar; the feature has been caught suggesting someone who struggled to get cheese to stick to their pizza to use edible glue, and advising people eat at least one rock a day.
These errors happened due to Gemini grabbing data from bad sources – the pizza one stemmed from a Reddit comment from a decade ago, while the rock one was mentioned in the parody news publication The Onion. And as Google flails to fix the issues with AI Overview, it’s giving a rare opening to its competitors to capitalize on its mistakes. The biggest contender is Bing, which comes in as the second most-used search engine as per StatCounter. Granted, Bing has 3.64% of the market share vs. Google’s 90.91%, but it’s still the giant’s biggest rival. So, here’s why Bing can shine while Google is in a tailspin.
Bing already has AI-supported web searching, and it’s far more coherent
Microsoft doesn’t need to play catch-up with Google’s AI – it’s already there
If AI-powered search is the name of the game, Bing is already in a fantastic position. If you search for something on Bing, Copilot can pop up and give you more context. If it doesn’t require a lot of explaining, it’ll appear as a box at the top of the search engine. More in-depth explanations will appear on the side as a separate Copilot chat and will allow you to send messages to the AI if you have any further questions on the topic.
Most importantly, the data that Copilot gives you is actually decent. It’s due in part to Copilot’s in-depth sourcing system, which cites everything it states so you can check the validity of the information yourself. And Copilot doesn’t typically grab data from random Reddit comments from 10 years ago, making the results more reliable.
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Bing contains features that Google doesn’t have
Bing isn’t just a Google clone – it’s doing its own thing
When was the last time you used Bing? If it was so long ago that you can’t remember, give it a spin right now. You’ll notice that Bing has changed a lot since it first hit the scene; now when you search for something, you get a ton of different angles on what you searched for. In the above screenshot, I looked up how to make a pizza, and without scrolling down, I could pick from a range of different websites and videos, refine my search with different suggestions, and even had Copilot telling me what to do in the meantime.
Plus, Microsoft has a Rewards program that lets you earn points just by using Bing in your daily life. You can then spend these points on gift cards, sweepstakes, and even donations to non-profit organizations. There’s a lot that separates Bing from Google, and if people prefer Bing’s differences over Google, Microsoft could pull ahead in the internet search game.
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However, Bing still needs to shed its negative reception
If Bing wants to upset Google, it needs to stop upsetting people
This all sounds well and good, but there are good reasons why Bing sits at a 3.64% share of the market. People have the perception that Bing’s search results aren’t as good as Google’s, to the point where there are entire memes surrounding Bing giving people useless information. And it’s not just public opinion, either; at one point, Apple didn’t want to touch Bing because of its poor search results.
On top of this, Microsoft has been very aggressive in pushing Bing onto people. If you search the web through your Start menu, it always uses Bing, regardless of which search engine you prefer. Microsoft has also badgered Chrome users into using Bing, and the company even wants you to look up Windows error codes with its search engine. And while it’s good news for Microsoft that Google is going through a rough period, it does need to fix Bing’s reputation in the public eye before people will consider making the swap.
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This is Bing’s chance to shine, but does it have what it takes?
With Google’s defenses low, now is a perfect time for a competitor to take some market share. And with Bing’s position as the second-biggest option, complete with functional AI searching and some handy features, Microsoft is set to take ground. We’ll have to see if Google’s setbacks are enough to overcome the prior negativity that people have felt toward Bing.