Is Bing Trolling Google & Alphabet With ABC.WTF Redirect?

Google's name change/reorganization prompts a witty response from Redmond.

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Google’s big restructuring/name change news today has many people scratching their heads.

And perhaps the perfect reaction to the confusion came from Bing… well, perhaps it came from Bing.

The ABC.WTF domain now redirects to the Microsoft search engine.

Zing! Bing!

So is Microsoft officially having fun at Google’s expense? We emailed Microsoft to ask and will update if we hear back. The domain registration listing is private, but the IP address points to the Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington.

Meanwhile, if you want more clarity about the Google-to-Alphabet changes, look no farther than Danny Sullivan’s post on Marketing Land: Meet Alphabet, The New Conglomerate Absorbing Google That’s Run By Larry Page & Sergey Brin

Because it’s the internet, the news has also launched a litany of one-liners. You can check out some of the best of those on Twitter and also on Marketing Land: Twitter Takes On Google’s Alphabet: Today’s Best Tweets So Far

Postscript [5:24 p.m., Aug. 11]: Microsoft got back to us today, offering a simple denial from a spokesperson: “Microsoft did not buy this domain and is not involved in the redirect to bing.com.”

We followed up to ask whether it could have been set up by a Microsoft employee without the company’s knowledge since the domain registration record points to Microsoft as the source of the hosting web server. The spokesperson declined to comment further.


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

Martin Beck
Contributor
Martin Beck is Third Door Media's Social Media Reporter, covering the latest news for MarTech and Search Engine Land. He spent 24 years with the Los Angeles Times, serving as social media and reader engagement editor from 2010-2014. A graduate of UC Irvine and the University of Missouri journalism school, Beck started started his career at the Times as a sportswriter and copy editor. Follow Martin on Twitter (@MartinBeck), Facebook and/or Google+.

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