In addition to creating its own voice-based virtual assistant that can stand its ground against Siri and Google Now, Microsoft appears ready to offer even more personalized search features to users in order to better compete against its main rival when it comes to search. The company on Wednesday announced on its Bing blogs that Bing.com is getting “more personal,” a feature it teased at Build 2014.
Henceforward, Microsoft will offer custom search results inside Bing in a similar manner to how Google displays Google Now information, without actually fully copying Google’s way of doing things. Instead of showing various cards for specific notifications, Microsoft will display a strip at the bottom of the Bing.com homepage made up of multiple cards that will show personalized information.
“Starting today, we are unveiling a set of personalized cards on the Bing homepage that will help you keep track of things that matter to you,” the company wrote. “Set up your interests in Bing settings and you will start seeing personalized news, weather, flights, and stocks with more to come – all as part of the search experience.”
In order to customize their experience, Windows users will simply have to sign into their Microsoft account and set up interests, in order for Bing to track certain information. As long as they stay logged in, Bing will remember their preferences across various devices and apps, including the Cortana assistant and the Bing Sports app support as well.
Unlike Google, which has launched its personalized search feature under the Google Now brand, Microsoft is not marketing its new Bing search-based feature in any particular way just yet.
