Bing made quite the splash six months ago, with the launch of its new AI-powered search experience using Bing Chat. New data, which Microsoft disputes, suggests the search experience may have failed to make much of a lasting impression.
According to the latest report from StatCounter, Bing saw a short boost to their share of the search market that peaked in March at 6.61% (about a month after the launch of the new search experience). However, the current rate (6.47%) is only a little above the search share (6.35%) at the launch of the new search experience in February.
Even worse, Bing actually consistently received a higher share of the search market throughout 2022, with a high of 7.82% in November.
Is The Data Accurate?
StatCounter has been considered a reliable analyst of search engine traffic and market share, often cited by major news publications.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has often disputed their findings – just as they did with this report.
In a statement, a Microsoft representative told The Wall Street Journal that “third-party data companies aren’t measuring all the people who are going directly to Bing’s chat page.”
Microsoft Corporate VP Yusuf Mehdi also claimed that “we’ve made more progress in the last six months than we have in the previous decade or two combined.”
While Bing may argue a small percentage of searches do not get included in StatCounter’s numbers, ultimately these users would have a minimal effect on most analysis. The search engine has always struggled to gain ground behind Google, and it is looking like its implementation of AI has done little to help,
