What is the Bing Web Search API?
Warning
On October 30, 2020, the Bing Search APIs moved from Azure AI services to Bing Search Services. This documentation is provided for reference only. For updated documentation, see the Bing search API documentation. For instructions on creating new Azure resources for Bing search, see Create a Bing Search resource through the Azure Marketplace.
The Bing Web Search API is a RESTful service that provides instant answers to user queries. Search results are easily configured to include web pages, images, videos, news, translations, and more. Bing Web Search provides the results as JSON based on search relevance and your Bing Web Search subscriptions.
This API is optimal for applications that need access to all content that is relevant to a user's search query. If you're building an application that requires only a specific type of result, consider using the Bing Image Search API, Bing Video Search API, or Bing News Search API. See Azure AI services APIs for a complete list of Bing Search APIs.
Want to see how it works? Try our Bing Web Search API demo.
Features
Bing Web Search doesn't only give you access to instant answers. It also provides additional features and functionality that allow you to customize search results for your users.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Suggest search terms in real time | Improve your application experience by using the Bing Autosuggest API to display suggested search terms as they're typed. |
| Filter and restrict results by content type | Customize and refine search results with filters and query parameters for web pages, images, videos, safe search, and more. |
| Hit highlighting for unicode characters | Identify and remove unwanted unicode characters from search results before displaying them to users with hit highlighting. |
| Localize search results by country, region, and/or market | Bing Web Search supports more than three dozen countries or regions. Use this feature to refine search results for a specific country/region or market. |
| Analyze search metrics with Bing Statistics | Bing Statistics is a paid subscription that provides analytics on call volume, top query strings, geographic distribution, and more. |
Workflow
The Bing Web Search API is easy to call from any programming language that can make HTTP requests and parse JSON responses. The service is accessible using the REST API or the Bing Web Search client libraries.
- Create an Azure resource for the Bing Search APIs. If you don't have an Azure subscription, you can create a free account.
- Send a request to the Bing Web Search API.
- Parse the JSON response.
Next steps
- Use our Python quickstart to make your first call to the Bing Web Search API.
- Build a single-page web app.
- Review Web Search API v7 reference documentation.
- Learn more about use and display requirements for Bing Web Search.