At Bing we talk a lot about how both search and how people use it are changing. The behavior we observe is that people are moving beyond the simple query to URL mapping scenario. They're using search to answer more complex questions, accomplish tasks and make decisions. The classic search interaction model simply does not work as well for these new usage scenarios.
A search interaction model that could assist the exploration of the web's content in support of these new usage scenarios is needed.
With the new features we released from Bing last week we are starting to better flesh out the model we think makes more sense for these types of use cases. What we're aiming to do is respond to the changes in core search patterns and develop an experience that is more useful in the context of task completion.
Let's take a look at how each of these features help someone get their task done quickly without having to wade through a bunch of web pages.
Autosuggest
Even though people have specific intents, they often start with a very generic query since they aren't confident about the words they have to use to 'trick' the engine into giving them the knowledge they need to complete their task. When someone starts typing "Atlanta" you can see how Bing helps you to try and narrow the query by showing the most common queries about Atlanta. In this case, let's just choose Atlanta.
Answer Cards
Atlanta is a big place and we see a ton of queries about it daily. Using our technology we are able to mine this data to understand what people are trying to do when they search for Atlanta. In this case, the most common 'tasks' people are doing when looking for Atlanta seem to congregate around weather, the attractions in Atlanta, neighborhoods, and events happening around the city. With our Answer Cards we try and surface these tasks prominently to bring you closer to your final destination more quickly than by doing a bunch of follow on searches. For other types of answers, these common tasks are different so you'll see different groupings of tasks depending on what you're querying for.
Task Pages
When you click on "Events" or "Weather" in one of our Answer Cards, you'll see one of the core changes we're making to the search experience. You see, when you choose one of these tasks, you're signaling to us a pretty clear intent that you want to explore that topic area more deeply. For weather, maybe you're heading there next week and want to know whether to bring a raincoat or a pair of shorts. From our data we know that when people do 'weather' queries, they often visit multiple sites on a search results page. We asked why? Turns out you are comparing the different forecasts and also looking for different information (like satellite views) on each site. That led us to develop a concept that we call Task Pages that try and take data from across the web and stitch it together in a single interface that allows you to fully explore that topic without having to visit a ton of links. In some cases our Task Pages make it easy to connect deeply into relevant sites and in other cases we bring the content directly into the search experience. Look at "Events" -- in this case we "pivot" the user experience to make it easy for you to narrow down the choices you have in Atlanta and actually take you through the process of getting tickets to that concert you're looking for. The beauty of this technology is that it is a platform that enables us to continually develop these rich experiences as we identify the key tasks searchers are trying to accomplish.
Now of course we're still focusing on making the quick searches you often do (say, when you're looking for the nearest Target store) as fast, relevant, and useful as possible. But we believe that search needs to evolve beyond displaying a bunch of sites that you have to explore to a service that enables you to complete your tasks in the real world more quickly and with more confidence. We hope you like the changes we're bringing to the search experience and look forward to your feedback!
Loading comments… 
