Microsoft is using Bing to trick people into thinking they’re on Google

Microsoft is pulling yet another trick to get people to use its Bing search engine. If you use Bing right now without signing into a Microsoft account and search for Google, you’ll get a page that looks an awful lot like… Google.

It’s a clear attempt from Microsoft to make Bing look like Google for this specific search query, and other searches just list the usual Bing search results without this special interface. The Google result includes a search bar, an image that looks a lot like a Google Doodle, and even some small text under the search bar just like Google does. Microsoft even automatically scrolls down the page slightly to mask its own Bing search bar that appears at the top of search results.

Image: Tom Warren / The Verge

While Bing still surfaces search results for Google underneath this spoofed Google UI, a lot of people will see this interface when they configure a new PC and search for Google in the address bar of Microsoft Edge. As 9to5Google points out, it’s a sneaky move from Microsoft to try and keep people using Bing instead of switching to Google.

Microsoft has a habit of this kind of behavior, too. We’ve been cataloging every trick Microsoft has used to convince people to switch to Bing or Edge instead of Google and Chrome over the past few years. Microsoft has modified Chrome download sites, added pop-up ads into Google Chrome on Windows, injected polls into Chrome download pages, and even used malware-like popups to get people to ditch Google.

Google also has its own notifications on its websites to encourage people to download Chrome instead of Microsoft Edge, but they’re nowhere near as aggressive as Microsoft’s use of operating system-level popups and website modifications.