It’s true that Google is one of the most valuable search engines in the world, it doesn’t mean that Google is only a search engine that you need to focus.
Bing and Yahoo both are there and can drive a significant amount of traffic to the website. There is no doubt that Google is much more popular than these search engines but optimizing a website for Bing is not worthless.
Let me tell you that, in April 2017, Bing (Yahoo is now powered by Bing!) had the UK market share of around 13.23%. Yes, it’s not up to the mark when it is compared to Google’s market share.
But do you know that the desktop search share of Bing is growing much faster than the Google’s?
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The reasons are:
- The ultimate growth of Windows 10 with the integrated Bing search.
- Siri (A popular voice search functionality for Apple devices) using Bing.
- Yahoo is a default search engine for the Firefox now.
According to ComScore’s monthly analysis, the United States desktop search marketplace since Jan 2018.
- Google – 63.2%
- Bing – 23.7%
- Oath (Yahoo + AOL) – 11.9%
- Ask – 1.1%
This means Bing shouldn’t be neglected in your SEO practices. When have you seen your Bing Analytics data (if you have configured it)? If you haven’t seen for the last 2 years; you should check it at least once and compare the data for this year to last year.
You will see the changes in it and will tempt you to optimize your website for Bing too. If you haven’t configured then you had lost something valuable. Configure your website today and start optimizing for Bing.
One more thing, if your website runs well on Google, it doesn’t mean that it runs well on Bing too.
Both have their different ranking algorithms and factors. The very next question comes in your mind that “How can I optimize my website for Bing?” Here we have listed the factors which are considered by the Bing Search Engine.
To move towards the optimization process, the very first thing you need to focus on “What actually Bing considers first?”
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Keyword
A keyword is considered first for any search engine. So, it’s a foolish thing to ignore it or not putting much emphasis on keywords. Things to keep in mind while adding the website keywords in content
- It should be clear and reachable.
- Totally relevant to the content of a website.
- Never use the same keywords again and again in content means maintain the keyword density.
Domain Age
Yes, Bing considers domain age as a trust & reader’s loyalty towards the website. In simple words, “the older the domain, the better trustworthiness.”
Favor to the Locals
The most vital factor that affects your ranking positively in Bing is nothing but the “preference offered to the locals”. In a general term, you will have low rankings in Bing compared to the competitors who are close by, if your website is remote geographically.
So, got the basic ideas what actually Bing prefers? Yes, let’s move to optimize the website for Bing. Follow the process step by step.
Webmaster Tools
As we configure the website in the Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools) right after it becomes live on the Internet. The same thing, we need to configure website in Bing Webmaster tools.
Yes, Bing provides the webmaster tools to track the website data. This tool can help you submit & ignore URLs, verify ownership and Geo-target. With this tool, you can get the website traffic reports, the average position of keywords, search visibility and click-through rate on Bing.
Along with these, reports for inbound links, search queries, crawl information and many more, you can get which help you optimize a website in a better way.
There are certain tools that can be useful for a website owner. Have a look at them below.
- Bing Website Analyser
- Microsoft SEO Tool Kit
- Bing Webmaster Blog
- Search Quality Blog
- Contact the Bing Webmaster Team
Technical Factors
Once the website is configured in the webmaster tools, the very next step is to focus on technical factors which are highly considered by the Bing search engine.
301 Redirection – Same like Google, Bing put much weightage on 301 redirections. Because no search engine likes to show a webpage with 404 on the SERP.
Page Speed – Again a necessary term, you should consider as people love to visit only those websites which have loading time within 3-5 seconds. Means your website should be faster enough to hold the visitors.
Robots.txt – it’s a permission file of a website which helps Bing robots “What to index and what not to.”
Sitemap.xml – it is an easier task for a Bing to crawl all URLs within the website using the sitemap.xml. So, it should be updated and unnecessary URLs should be removed.
Page Indexation – make sure that all your website pages are indexed by the Bing search engine. “How can you do that?” Just type – site:domainname.com; all the pages of your website will be displayed which are indexed.
Generate Reliable Backlinks
Needless to say, reliable backlinks are very important to improve the website ranking and reputation. In case of Bing, the reliable backlinks are essential as like in Google.
Do you know that a recent study shows that 50-53% of website backings in the top 30 results in Bing search engine which had targeted keywords same as the anchor text?
So, never forget that reliable backlinks provide more reputation than the spammy backlinks. To increase the domain authority; you should build backlinks from the legitimate websites.
Local Listing
Bing also allows to submit business locally. So, without fail, you need to submit your local business to Bing search engine. Once it is verified; the chances of the visibility of your website in the search engine will be improved.
On-Page Optimization
Look at the below points for the On-Page SEO and ensure that all are the given points are updated on your website. If not, then do it ASAP.
- Appropriate Webpage Title Tag
- Meta Description
- Meta Tags
- Keywords in the Heading Tags
- Targeted Keywords in Content
- All images should have Alt Tags and ALT tags should be targeted keywords.
To simplify the process of finding a particular page in a website for the visitors; optimized navigation is necessary. It makes tasks easier for a search engine to crawl the website.
You should make the URLs SEO-friendly and categorized your products/services in a good manner that anyone can easily find what they want.
Inbound Anchor Text
Bing puts more significance on “Anchor Text” than Google does. Yes, it is completely true. We have already described it above in the “Reliable backlinks” section.
To improve the search visibility in Bing; inbound anchor text should be taken care of. But the over optimization of the anchor text may affect the website ranking negatively in Google search engine. It means your website may be panelized by the Google Penguin Algorithm.
Note: Over Optimization of Inbound Anchor Text may allow your website rank well in Bing search engine while dodging Google Penguin.
Bonus – Steps to Check, Website got Bing Penalty or Not.
It seems like something strange but true. Not only Google but Bing may penalize your website too. Let’s see how we can find out that Bing “has penalized your website?” by following just two steps.
Step 1 Go to Bing Webmaster Tools. (If your website isn’t configured; do it ASAP) and click on a summary tool.
Step 2 Now, you can see the “Site Status Section”; if it displays Blocked: YES. “Sorry, your website is penalized.”
Final Words
Whether you believe it or not; the future of search is being changed. People are now started to search on the Bing and Yahoo search engines. It’s a time to pay more attention to Bing SEO. The above process may increase your website traffic up to 30% in Bing search engine.
Having any feedback or suggestion for the Bing SEO? Please write down in the comment section. We would like to hear from you.
