Microsoft search engine Bing is currently testing a toolbar at the bottom of its homepage aimed at providing quick links and answers to its users, reports Webranking.com.
The feature is not currently available to all visitors of Bing.com and the company has yet to make a statement about the tool bar. Based on Webranking’s screen shots, it seems but those who have access to it see four boxes with popular or interesting content. The four tabs are Trends, which lists eight hot search topics, Weather, customized to the users’ location, an image Images, which seem to correspond to the top search trends, and Video, which also seems to be related to trending topics.
This may be an effort on Bing’s part to make top content more easily accessible and lure new searchers, as the search engine still trails Google by a substantial margin in terms of market share. Most recent figures for December 2011 pegged Google at 65.9 percent, with Bing (15.1 percent) and Yahoo (14.5 percent) finishing second and third, respectively.
Adding new features may help Bing to an extent, but the engine has a lot more to do to truly cut into Google’s lead. In 2012, Google’s dominance in search may receive a boost from the growth of Google+, as the company recently integrated the platform’s content into its search results. Search, plus Your World is still being rolled out, but has been met with mixed response from web users.
