Microsoft Bing offers time-saving 'action buttons'

In a bid to help users get more done in less time, Microsoft's Bing search engine is introducing a new feature for selected searches: Action Buttons. Program manager Deepak Vijaywargi said the "Action Buttons" determine the top actions for a category, such as check-ins and flight status for airlines. "Based on how people search, our algorithms now determine top actions and corresponding links in the site for a given category with high precision. For instance, with airlines the top 3 tasks are: check-in to a flight, check the status of a flight or book a flight. For software sites, if you are searching for a specific product you likely want to download it. For car rental agencies, you’d like to rent a car, find out locations or contact them," Vijaywargi said in a blog post. Vijaywargi said the new feature initially covers seven popular categories:

- airlines - couriers - restaurants - banks - rental cars - software downloads - hotels

In those categories, users will be presented with buttons for top actions on the site, that directly take them to the page where they can complete their tasks. "With Action Buttons, it’s less about searching and more about getting things done. With one click of a button, you can get to what you’re looking for right from your search results," Vijaywargi said. Vijaywargi also said this was one step further from “deep links," which Microsoft had used as a way to surface popular pages within a given site. A separate article on tech site The Next Web said the new feature can potentially save its users seconds per search across a variety of queries. "The feature itself is somewhat simple, but what it implies is interesting," it said. — TJD, GMA News