Bing’s Visual Search Is Gone (Has Been For A While, Actually)

The fact that almost no one noticed might be one reason why Bing has dropped its Visual Search feature … something that apparently happened months ago. To be clear, this isn’t traditional image search that we’re talking about; that’s still available at bing.com/images. We’re talking about the “Visual Search” tool/interface that Bing launched in 2009 […]

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bing-logoThe fact that almost no one noticed might be one reason why Bing has dropped its Visual Search feature … something that apparently happened months ago.

To be clear, this isn’t traditional image search that we’re talking about; that’s still available at bing.com/images. We’re talking about the “Visual Search” tool/interface that Bing launched in 2009 with a unique interface that used Silverlight technology to let searchers view a large set of images and data.

In our article about the launch, we used this screenshot as a sample of the Visual Search interface:

Top Travel Destinations According to Bing Visual Search

The independent Microsoft/Windows blog, Liveside.net, reported today that the old URL for Visual Search (www.bing.com/visualsearch) no longer works.

A Microsoft spokesperson tells Liveside.net that the company began removing Visual Search galleries last fall — a long time for something to be shut down with virtually no one noticing.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Matt McGee
Contributor
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

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