Search “Super Bowl” & See The Best Search Results Page Bing Has Ever Had

That’s what it looks like if you do a search for “super bowl” on Bing. (You can click the image to see a bigger version if it helps. I’ll be commenting on the numbered items above throughout the article below.)

I know, as a longtime SEO consultant, that I’m supposed to hate all of the content on the page and how far down the “10 blue links” have been pushed and how much traffic sports-related websites are probably losing because there’s so much content and so little need to click to another page … but I think this is the single greatest page of search results I’ve ever seen on Bing. Here’s why:

Left-Side Content

The top of the main search results content block starts with basic game info (#1 on the image above) that, by now, we’d all expect on any search engine. Indeed, Google and Yahoo have very similar boxes.

Bing’s answer box goes way beyond Google and Yahoo, though. It’s got a game prediction from the often correct Bing predictions tool that adds some color to the game matchup. (#2 above) Oh, and there’s an affiliate link for “Tickets” that leads to SeatGeek.com. I can do without that, but whatever.

Then there’s data from Stats LLC showing some of the key players (#3 above) in Sunday’s game, including projections on two “game changers” — Rob Gronkowski and Marshawn Lynch — and season leaders from both the Patriots and Seahawks.

It’s fantastic.

Below that, the left side of the page finally gets into the news links (#4 above), website links and more — including a block of videos for Super Bowl commercials, even though I didn’t specifically search for commercials. Smart move, in my opinion, because those commercials are one of the main reasons a lot of people watch the game in the first place.

Right-Side Content

Bing’s search results page gets even more interesting over on the right side of the page.

It starts with a big block of data (#5 above) from the Bing Snapshot product. In this case, Bing’s telling us how to watch the game — including a link to NBC’s free, online stream. (Google Trends tells us that searches for “super bowl live stream” are way up at the moment.) Bing even tells us who’s singing the national anthem and at halftime. Great touches.

A little farther down the Snapshot content is a series of four factoids about each team (#6 above). It’s got a quote from each team, an “X factor” player, a “Question mark” and a “How they’ll beat” the other team statement.

Here’s what’s interesting about this: Someone at Bing has written this content specifically for the search results page. I’ve asked Bing to tell more about this, but they haven’t answered yet. But I know this: Do searches for the exact phrases in this section — like “Will All-Pro TE Rob Gronkowski get open against Seattle’s Legion of Boom secondary?” — and you won’t find them anywhere else on the web in that exact wording. Bing credits the Snapshot data to Wikipedia and ESPN, but neither have the exact phrase “Will WRs Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse be able to get open downfield against New England’s formidable CBs?” That’s original text on Bing’s part.

After that, the right side has things like related searches, related images, a couple ads and it ends with a recent Super Bowl-related tweet (#7 above).

What About Google?

Google’s search results page for the same query this morning is nothing like Bing’s. It’s kind of shocking that such a popular cultural event only gets a basic Onebox treatment on Google, followed by the standard news and website links.

Google isn’t even showing video or image results for this query.

Final Thoughts

As someone who publishes a couple websites, I’m normally not a fan of seeing search engines put so much content above search results like this — especially at the expense of online publishers providing that content. My U2 website is no doubt starting to lose traffic now that both Google and Bing are showing song lyrics right in the search results. Ugh.

So I understand why many of our readers won’t like the kind of search results page that Bing is presenting here for “super bowl,” but I like it. I think this is an amazing search results page. The best I’ve ever seen on Bing.