Bing Rolls Out Copilot AI Answer UX To Improve CTR

Bing is evaluating the new user experience that it offers for Copilot AI-based answers, possibly created to improve CTR.

Microsoft has introduced a significant alteration in its Bing Search Copilot AI answer interface by moving the sources section underneath the “read more” tab. The change appears to be an experiment designed to test how this layout affects CTR for publisher websites.

Details on the Design Change

Frank Sandtmann brought the news to the attention by commenting on it through LinkedIn:

“Bing is testing a new design for AI answers. This time, it’s a two-column setup. However, the font color of the first two lines is so faint that it’s virtually invisible.”

It seems like this is consistent across all browsers, suggesting a full launch, not a test.

When you mouse over the view all section, it expands like this:

This is what it looked like a couple of months ago:

The design is two columns; however, the source links are not as noticeable because they are concealed under an expandable tab. They are also displayed with soft font colours, making them easy to miss.

Test or a Full Rollout

The new design is replicated across all browsers, suggesting that it could be more than just a limited test and could be fully in use. This suggests that Microsoft is currently examining how changes to the interface impact users’ behaviour, specifically in regards to the use of external content by publishers.

By shifting source citations into the “read more” tab and decreasing their visibility, Microsoft may be affecting the frequency of users clicking on the original content providers. This could mean fewer referrals to publishers in the event that users do not expand the “read more” tab.

Final Thoughts

As Microsoft continues to refine Bing Copilot’s user experience, this subtle but impactful  UI modification is something to keep an eye on in order to see how it affects the engagement of publishers driven by search.

Do you think this will drive more or fewer clicks to publishers?

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.