(WIRED)  -- Microsoft showed off a host of visual and search enhancements to its search engine Bing Wednesday, in hopes that better packaging will help it eat away at Google's online dominance. "We are neck-to-neck in terms of search quality," said Bing head Satya Nadella. "Why would an end user, if you are neck to neck on search quality, use Bing? That's the question we ask ourselves every day." The answer the company is betting is a combination of a prettier interface, results informed by what your friends think, and focussing on helping people do things faster, whether that's finding a product review or buying an airline ticket.
@highlight
Microsoft shows off visual and search enhancements to its search engine Bing
@highlight
Managers hopes better packaging will help it eat away at Google's online dominance
@highlight
"We are neck-to-neck in terms of search quality," says Bing head Satya Nadella
Google
Google
Certainly, its rival @placeholder has taken notice of Bing's visual splashiness -- and even disastrously tried to imitate the background images on its famously sparse search home page, only to cut short the trial within hours.
Bing Wednesday
Bing
Bing
Bing
Bing
That could turn into a huge advantage for @placeholder, if over time there is enough information in social networking profiles to really make search better.
Google
Google
Being in second place also lets Microsoft play with new visual approaches to search faster than @placeholder can, as there are fewer users who will get upset when the location of a link moves.