Be it Google Chrome or Microsoft Bing, search engines are powerful tools that help billions of users find information on the web. There may be times when users don’t get a satisfactory answer and for such complex queries, both these major platforms offer advanced search options. Microsoft, which is bullish on incorporating AI into its products, has just introduced a more powerful and competent deep search option to serve users the almost the exact answer they’ve been looking for.
Microsoft Bing Deep Search
Microsoft has created the Deep Search feature in Bing search engine that is claimed to provide even more relevant and comprehensive answers to complex queries. The company emphasises that Deep Search is not a replacement but an enhancement to Bing’s search capabilities. Since it is AI-powered, there is a lot going on the backend.
How Deep Search works
Microsoft notes that Deep Search builds on Bing’s existing web index and ranking system, and enhances them with GPT-4 large language model (LLM), the underlying technology of Copilot chatbot in the browser. The same model takes the search query entered by the users to “expand it into a more comprehensive description of what an ideal set of results should include.”
For example, let’s say I’m researching loyalty programs in different countries and search for “how do points systems work in Japan”. Deep Search might generate a more comprehensive description like this:
Provide an explanation of how various loyalty card programs work in Japan, including the benefits, requirements, and limitations of each. Include examples of popular loyalty cards from different categories, such as convenience stores, supermarkets, and restaurants. Show a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of using loyalty cards versus other payment methods in Japan, including current rewards and benefits. Highlight the most popular services and participating merchants.
This expanded description captures the user’s intent and expectations more accurately. Furthermore, if the research intent was misunderstood, users can select the right one from the disambiguation pane.
Deeper results but at a cost
Once Bing has created an intent, it goes “much deeper into the web” to return results that are often not shown in typical search results.
“Deep Search uses a combination of querying techniques to find pages that might match my expanded query, rewriting the query on my behalf, and searching for those variations too,” Microsoft explains.
After gathering search results, Deep Search then ranks them according to how well they match the comprehensive description and “present a curated list of results and answers that are more likely to answer your question, satisfy your curiosity, or solve your problem.”
However, in order to get more contextual answers Deep Search can take up to thirty seconds to complete – which is a long time compared to normal search. Having said that, Deep Search is not meant for every query or every user and is an optional feature.
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