And for Microsoft’s latest trick…
The fun and games between Microsoft and Google continues, and for its latest trick the Windows-maker just made Google disappear. “New tactic just dropped,” complained one Google exec. “How low can they go!?”
This appears to be the follow-up to Microsoft changing the look and feel of its Bing search results to mimic Google. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” Chrome’s boss posted when that was outed. “But Microsoft spoofing the Google homepage is another tactic in its long history of tricks to confuse users & limit choice.”
Searching for Google
That tactic was reversed, but now we have this new one. “Recently, we saw Microsoft tricking searchers into thinking they were searching in Google and not on Bing,” SEO Roundtable reported, when the latest ruse was first spotted. “Now, Bing is hiding the Google search results and placing when you search Bing for the term Google. Plus, Bing is showing a ‘Promoted by Microsoft’ search box.”
In essence, if you search for Google through Bing in your browser, you’ll see a “promoted by Microsoft” dropdown search box negating the need to click through to Google after all. “Bing is also testing a version with that Google looking logo again but not hiding the Google search listings below them.” I have approached Microsoft for any comment on this latest update and the response.
Searching for Chrome
These updates might be wryly amusing, but the question remains whether they’re actually effective. Google dominates search and no-one has yet to make much of a dent. The real threat will come from AI changing the nature of search itself, not adjusting results appearances in a browser.
This isn’t the only trick doing the rounds at the moment. “Microsoft doesn’t want Google to dominate the search market and browser war,” Windows Latest reports, after spotting “Microsoft rolling out a server-side update that makes it slightly tricky to find the Chrome download link.. Microsoft shows a giant search bar when you search for Google Chrome on Bing.”
For those watching from afar, Google and Microsoft taking swipes at one another even as they both dominate their respective domains will make for some interesting headlines. On to the next, as they say…