In a move that sees Microsoft pairing its search engine with a competitor’s browser, Bing has announced a new ‘Firefox with Bing’ download. The download features Bing as the default search engine on a customised version of Firefox. This represents a significant change for the browser, which has long maintained an agreement with Google to feature the latter’s engine as default.
The customised browser sets Bing as the default home page as well.
The move comes around one year after Bing convinced Firefox to add its search engine to the list of standard search options. Becoming a default on a special download is another step forward for Bing’s relationship with Firefox.
The move will be of interest to those in the search engine optimisation industry, as it represents a competitive step forward for the search engine. Since its launch in 2009, Bing has made a number of moves designed to take more of the search market share, including the forging of an agreement with Yahoo to provide search results for the competing search engine. The joining of Bing with Firefox, a browser which is a major competitor with Mircosoft’s Internet Explorer, is another bold move in the search game.
Is the move likely to improve Bing’s position as the world’s bridesmaid search engine? It’s not possible to tell for now, but what it is possible to tell is Bing’s increasingly competitive moves in the search market. This is of interest to site owners and those in SEO jobs, as it reinforces a need to concentrate on more than Google in SEO.
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