14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft and Google are competing against each other in a wide variety of businesses, including mapping solutions, so it might come as a big surprise to learn that the Redmond-based software giant is actually redirecting its users to Google Maps.
That’s right, Bing users who turn to Microsoft’s search engine to look for mapping services get Google Maps on the #1 position on the search results page, while Redmond’s own Bing Maps solution is lower on the same page.
But that’s not all. Not only that Google Maps takes the number one position in Bing’s search results for the “maps” keyword but the search engine also provides a short description of the service that presents its main features to those interested in getting more information.
Clearly, that’s not what a Microsoft user might expect to see when going to Bing and the only way to see the mapping service owned by the software giant on the first position is to search for “Bing Maps.” Which is kind of weird because this isn’t happening on Google, where a quick search for “maps” still displays Google Maps as the top result.
Bing now the second most-used search engine
Microsoft is currently the only company that competes against Google in the search engine market, which makes it a little bit odd to see the company promoting its rival.
This means that, basically, the 20 percent of the world’s users who rely on Bing to find information on the web are being redirected to Google when searching for maps, so Microsoft might want to change that sometime in the future.
Truth is, there’s still a quick way to get to Bing Maps from the Bing homepage, as everyone can get to the service by typing its full name in the search box, but there’s no doubt that a small share of users will actually land on Google Maps instead of Microsoft’s mapping service.
