Bing is testing out something interesting – instead of showing the URL of the site, which is pretty standard across search engines, they are showing the company/brand name only.
Here it is in action:
I couldn’t replicate it in the English results. It isn’t clear if it was only for Microsoft URLs.
This test is definitely not a great one. Bing is replacing “well known” brands with the company name only and this could actually cause people to pause before clicking the URL. While it says the company name, many people always want to see the actual URL for phishing reasons and sometimes to see if a URL is https or not.
Thank you Frank Sandtmann for the tip and screenshot.
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Jennifer Slegg
Founder & Editor at The SEM Post
Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.
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