What would convince you to stay on Bing instead of jumping to Google? A banner pitching Microsoft Edge’s features, a page that mimics Google’s look, or a Google-style search bar that promises your searches will fund donations through Microsoft Rewards. That’s exactly what Bing shows when you type “Google” in Edge.
In January 2025, Windows Latest first spotted a controversial change to Bing.com’s UI when you searched for Google. At that point and even much later in the year, Bing tried to nudge users away from Google by mimicking Google’s interface.
I searched for Google on Bing, and what I have is a second search bar with an animated picture of people celebrating, similar to Google’s homepage. This was a clever move because a casual user wouldn’t realize they have never left Bing if they see a familiar Google-like UI.
Bing has a new ad that pushes nonprofit “donations” as a way to retain users when they search for Google
The old ad, which mimicked Google’s UI, is now being replaced with another clever trick that might convince some of you to keep using Bing.
As you can see in the above screenshot, we have the familiar hero-ad for Bing that takes over the search engine page when you try to find Google. But this time, there’s a new tagline, which says “Every Microsoft Bing search brings you closer to a free donation for over 2 million nonprofits.”
This, along with Bing’s search bar, disguised as a Google page, is a first position, and is quietly labeled “Promoted by Microsoft.”
It pushes the organic “Google” result below the fold and gives you a second Google-like Bing search box, so you stay on Bing instead of clicking to Google. But that might not convince everyone. So, Microsoft added a small note that using its search engine could help you contribute to a nonprofit.
In our tests, Windows Latest found that the URL opens rewards.microsoft.com/redeem/donate?form=sdonate, which is the redeem or donate endpoint.
Bing usage is tied to Microsoft Rewards. And Microsoft’s in-house rewards program, called Microsoft Rewards, supports “donations.” You can contribute by using Bing regularly.
If you’re signed in, Bing converts your Rewards points earned from searches into a donation to a nonprofit you pick. It’s “free” to you because it’s funded from Microsoft’s Rewards budget/ad spend.
How ads on Bing might help Microsoft in the long run
It’s up to you how you see these ads. Call it sneaky, smart, or “anti-competitive” practice, but based on my experience, ads like these are certainly going to benefit Microsoft.
You might wonder how. Well, first and foremost, Bing is a good search engine, but Google has become a synonym for search/answer engine.
A casual user, who is just getting started with a PC, would likely try to use Google or Chrome because of the search engine giant’s monopoly. Most people have already used Google on their mobile devices, and Google has been synonymous with finding the truth on the internet.
Microsoft’s ad could help people realize that Bing is just as good as Google. Those who don’t really care will keep using Bing.
What about you? Do you use Google over its competitors? Let me know in the comments below.
