Acknowledged as the “AI co-pilot for the web”, the new AI-powered Bing search engine and Edge browser is set to unlock great SEO potential. 

Now available in preview at Bing.com, it will unlock discovery for users, act as a greater harness for the world’s knowledge and deliver better, more complete search answers. 

A new chat experience is also available, and marketers and businesses will have a better ability to generate content. 

Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella addresses this fundamental change will “help people get more search and the web”. 

Bing is faced with 10 billion search queries a day, but it’s thought almost half of them go unanswered. This is because in today’s digital world people are using search engines to ask queries or search things it wasn’t originally intended to respond to. It may be great for finding a dedicated website, but for other complex questions or tasks, it’s insufficient. 

What does the new Bing and Edge behold? 

Combining search, browsing, and chat into one digital space you can access anywhere, you can expect:

Better Search

The improved version of the familiar Bing search experience is dedicated to delivering more relevant results for simple statistics, such as; sports figures, weather forecasts and stock prices, alongside a shiny new sidebar displaying more informative answers should you want them. 

Complete Answers

Bing will review and deliver results from across the web to find a complete answer to your query. For example, how to substitute ingredients for a lactose or gluten-free alternative in a recipe, without having to scroll through multiple results.

A New Chat Experience

 Suitable for more complex searches – such as when researching a considered purchase – the new Bing update offers an interactive chat. The chat experience grants you the ability to refine your search until you receive a complete answer by asking for more ideas, clarity and details – complete with links so you can immediately act on your final decision. 

A Creative Spark

In some situations, you need more than an answer – you need to be inspired. The new update can generate content to help you on this path. It can assist you with writing an email, planning a full itinerary for your dream vacation, including links to book your travel and accommodation, preparing for a job interview, and even creating a personalised quiz. This new feature also displays all sources, so you’re able to view links to the website content it references. 

A New Microsoft Edge Experience

Microsoft has updated the Edge browser with new AI capabilities and a fresh new layout, and they’ve added two new functionalities: Chat & Compose. Within the new Edge sidebar, you can request a summary of a lengthy financial report to gain the key takeaways – and then utilise the chat function to learn about a competing company’s statistics and combine these into a table. You can compose content, such as a social media post, by pushing a few prompts as a starting point. You can then ask for assistance in amending the tone, format, and length of the post. Edge can also understand the website page you’re on and adapt it to you accordingly. 

The above not only helps to enhance a user’s experience to make both everyday and complex tasks more straightforward but also makes it more enjoyable all around.

Reinventing search engines through AI

The new Bing experience combines together the following four technical breakthroughs:

Next-generation OpenAI model

The new Bing is powered by a new next-generation OpenAI large language model far greater than ChatGPT and tailored specifically for search. It combines key advancements and understandings from ChatGPT and GPT-3.5 with more accuracy, capabilities and faster loading time.

Microsoft Prometheus Model

The tech giant has developed a personal way of working with the OpenAI model granting them a better understanding of its power. Fusing together the capabilities and techniques of the Prometheus model grants more relevant, timely and targeted results, alongside improved safety.

Applying AI to the core search algorithm

Microsoft has applied the AI model to the core Bing search engine, which saw the largest jump in relevance in twenty years. This AI model allows even the most basic search queries to become more accurate and relevant. 

Granting a new user experience

How you search, browse and chat has been reimagined into a unified experience. You’ll begin interacting with the web in a new way. 

These revolutionary new search experiences are possible through Microsoft’s unparalleled commitment to building Azure into an AI global phenomenon, and OpenAI has the infrastructure above to produce breakthrough models that are now being utilised for Bing search.

Alongside OpenAI, Microsoft is working to introduce safeguards to protect users against harmful content. Their experts are determined to prevent and address issues such as; misinformation and disinformation, content blocking, data safety and the promotion of harmful or discriminatory falling in line with their  AI principles.

When is the preview available?

The new Bing update is available today under a limited preview on desktop, and anyone can visit Bing.com today to test sample queries and sign up for the launch waitlist. It’s set to scale over to millions of users in the coming weeks and a mobile experience will also be in preview soon. 

Thanks for reading,

Myk Baxter, eCommerce Consultant