15 September 2009 | Author: J. Cave SEO Consultant

Bing introduces Visual Search

In yet another attempt to defeat the mighty Google, Microsoft has unleashed a new feature known as 'Visual Search'. Visual Search provides an alternative to the traditional blue hyperlinks, instead offering shoppers thumbnail images to help them in their decision making.

Those keen to view Visual Search now will need to first install new web application Silverlight - a move seen by many as an attempt to keep everyone using Microsoft rather than switching over to Google OS.

Regardless of whether or not it will produce more sales, Visual Search does look pretty impressive. Using the feature, for example for a product search such as 'digital cameras' will produce about 50 thumbnails which fly onto the screen. As you refine your search, the thumbnails which no longer match your query fly off the screen, making it easier to find the product you want.

Browsing through Visual Search, you will see a number of preset searches to try out. These include searches like handbags, movies and dog breeds. Unfortunately, if you try searching outside of the norm, the results aren't quite as impressive. This is because all of the searches have to be manually programmed in, making Visual Search an extremely labour intensive project.

Speaking about Bing's new feature, Yusuf Mehdi commented: "The world of search is going to change". Although Bing is growing in popularity (up 22 per cent month-on-month in August), it's unlikely that single product releases such as Visual Search will help Microsoft overthrow Google in one fell swoop. That said, changes like Visual Search will not go unnoticed on the playing field and will more than likely spur competitors Google and Yahoo to produce equally creative products.