Microsoft Bing gets Visual: Searching to gain on Google

Microsoft launched a new feature for its Bing search engine called Visual Search on Monday.

The new feature, announced at the TechCrunch 50 conference, shows users Silverlight-powered fly-in thumbnail images for only 50 specific search results (it will be expanded in the future). As a user then refines a query from one of the 50 visual searches available, thumbnails that don't match the query fly off screen, and the rest reshuffle to fill in the blank spaces.

In a demo the feature looks fantastic, and search results link to other nicely functioning Bing search results pages and widgets, such as shopping pages.

Bing Visual Search loads up a page with visual thumbnails matching the search query (photo credit: Microsoft)

The Visual Search feature showcases the real value of having a search engine that blends structured data into its results. Google has structured data, too, but Bing pushes it further. In travel, sports and product reviews, for example, Bing is extremely aggressive in displaying structured data. Bing also has Powerset technology (it acquired the company in 2008) for analysing Wikipedia content.

But as with Wolfram Alpha, Bing's visual and textual filters don't work less mainstream queries or for ones that aren't phrased just right to be picked up by the structured query engine. Bing is still a good general-purpose search engine but it doesn't beat Google as the king of the long tail.

Latest Nielsen data says Bing gained 22 per cent month-over-month in August, taking it to 10.7 per cent of all US searches.

Original article: Microsoft launches Bing 'Visual Search' from CNET News.com