I just noticed today that when I’m on Bing there’s a number next to my name when I’m logged in that shows my “Microsoft Rewards” points? What’s that all about and how can I earn more without buying stuff?
It’s true, Microsoft will pay you to use Bing as your search engine instead of Google. Well, maybe “pay” is a bit enthusiastic, but as you’ve noticed, you earn Microsoft Rewards points every time you use Bing to do a search, and over time that can add up to hundreds or even thousands of points. You can then cash in your points with entries into sweepstakes or even gift cards to popular merchants like Starbucks and Amazon. I’ve written about what should be a really obvious question related to this all, actually: Are Microsoft Rewards worth Accumulating?
If you’re like me, you’re going to be doing Web searches anyway, so why not see even tiny rewards for switching to Bing? I find the results are on par and in many months, haven’t once felt like I needed to switch back to Google to redo a search. As a gamer, the challenge of accumulating points is also appealing to me, I admit!
What’s great is that there are some really easy ways to accumulate Microsoft Rewards points, including simply switching to the Microsoft Edge browser (built on top of Google Chromium, the foundation of Chrome, as it happens). That’s worth 5 points/day without you having to actually “do” anything. But if you click on that number, there’s lots more…
HOW TO CHECK YOUR MICROSOFT REWARDS POINT SCORE
The easiest way to check your current Microsoft Rewards score is to just go to Bing.com…
You can see my current score is 643 points. Not great, but let’s see if I can improve that a bit as we go along.
Click on the award icon and a menu pops up with more information about Microsoft Rewards:
This shows the three basic ways you can earn points: a search results page (All that glitters), a single question survey (Hot takes) and a more challenging multi-question quiz (This or That?). You can see the point values too; All that glitters and Hot takes are worth +10 each and This or That? is worth +50 points. Nice!
EARN REWARDS POINTS FOR WEB SEARCHES
The easiest of these to attain is the search results page, in this case about a classic Led Zeppelin album. Click on “All that glitters” and a new tab opens up with:
Interestingly, the album was untitled, simply known as Led Zeppelin IV.
ONE QUESTION SURVEYS TO EARN REWARDS POINTS
Almost as easy are the one-question surveys that have no wrong answer. A click on “Hot takes’ and you’ll be asked to identify a quote or vote on a current theme or topic:
I cook, but I don’t wear an apron (I don’t even own one), so I’ll click on “Do I look like a chef?”. Is that the more common response? Bing will show you:
Easy enough, and not having to worry about answering incorrectly takes away some stress.
THIS OR THAT? IS WORTH 50 POINTS
By comparison, the This or That? quiz tends to be worth a lot more points – 50 – but you do have to answer correctly. The quizzes are questions where you have to use Bing to search for information so you can answer correctly in most cases. For example, here’s today’s This or That?
This was a particularly tough one because the questions are related to the birthplaces of Academy Award winning film directors, which is a pretty darn big pool since there’s no indication of how far back in history the quiz goes:
I can give you clue here: film director Ron Howard was born in Duncan, Oklahoma. 😉
A FEW MORE WAYS TO EARN MICROSOFT REWARDS POINTS
The shortcut menu holds clues to a few more ways to earn points as it happens. For one, “More Activities” typically has one or two search result pages you can visit to grab a few quick points:
NFL Superstitions? Sure, that’s worth 5 points, isn’t it?
Check the very bottom of the menu too: PC search: 0/50 and Edge bonus: 0/5. This is where you can see the points you’ve accumulated during the day for using Bing for your online searches and if you’re using Edge, it’s worth 5 points per day once you’ve done your first search.
That’s it. Slow but steady, spending just two or three minutes each day can help you gradually increase that point score. I ended with 723 points, having started this demo with 643. Hope this helps you out, and have fun while you’re earning all those rewards!
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about basic computing, including car systems, for many years. Please check out my computer basics and tutorials to see what other helpful articles I’ve written!