Your Guide To Bing SEO: What You Need To Know
You know that to drive traffic to your website, you’ve got to impress the king of search engines–Google.
Getting Google to stop and take notice is the ultimate goal for any business, and if you can get its attention, you’re set, right?
Optimizing your content for Bing (the second largest search engine) can give you great results as well.
Keep reading—we’ll compare Bing SEO to Google SEO and show you ways that you can best optimize for both search engines.
Don't Have Time To Read The Whole Guide Now?
We can send you a free PDF copy so you can read whenever you have time. It takes less than 10 seconds.
Contents
Is Bing SEO Important?
If you were to conduct a poll to ask, “Do you prefer Google or Bing?” the results would almost always conclude with…
…Google.
While Google is often the go-to for searching Online, there are a few other popular choices:
- Bing
- Yahoo
- Baidu
- DuckDuckGo
- Ask.com
- And more…
The best alternative search engine to Google is Bing.
Bing was launched June 3, 2009, and continues to provide the public with:
- Instant answers
- Local info
- Translations
- Media sources
- Predictions
- And so much more…
So should you focus your business’s time and energy on Bing SEO?
Short answer—YES.
Who’s #1? Google. So while your competitors focus solely on optimizing for Google, you have a great opportunity to capitalize on your Bing website optimization.
How Many People Use Bing?
When you’re asked a question that you don’t know the answer to, what do you do?
Chances are, you’d “Google it,” or at least that’s what you think you’re doing.
We don’t tend to say, “Just Bing it.” However, we often are “Binging it” without even realizing it.
Bing generates more than 6 billion searches each month. So who’s searching on Bing? You probably are.
There are more than 1.5 billion Microsoft Windows devices.
What search engine is owned by Microsoft? Bing.
Besides, being the default search engine for Windows, Bing is also integrated with:
- Outlook
- Word
- Excel
- Xbox
- Alexa
- Cortana
- Just to make a few…
Searchers are using Bing as a search engine every day without even realizing it.
To add to the “accidental users,” the demographics of those who are purposely searching on Bing, are probably those who many SEO writers want as customers:
- 45-54 years rage
- Annual income above $100,000
If you want to take advantage of this Online traffic, you need to learn how to optimize for Bing.
You don’t even need a Bing SEO certification to learn how to rank on Bing.
If you need professional SEO help for your business, PSG (Portland SEO Growth) can help. We take Portland-based businesses, and businesses all across the US, to the top of both Google and Bing. Click to learn more.
Bing SEO vs. Google SEO
Of course, we all want to ensure that Google notices us and that we are fully optimized to rank on their first page.
Now we can also agree that it’s important to make Bing take notice.
How are Bing and Google the same? – How are they different? – Do you need to change your SEO strategies for different search engines?
Let’s take a look at some of their similarities and differences.
4 Similarities Between Bing And Google
Both Bing and Google favor some of the same things when it comes to how they rank your SEO content.
Some of these ways are:
- Big brands
- Local search
- Backlinks
- Webmaster tools
Let’s dig further into each of these.
Similarity #1- Big Brands Rank Higher
Just like with Google, Bing seems to favor big brands.
Big brands usually automatically rank higher in their searches.
Some of the ways these big brands stand out are:
- Domain authority
- Higher quality backlinks
- Traffic to the site
Similarity #2- Local Search
Both Bing and Google provide local search options that are similar.
It’s important to have a local SEO strategy. Your customers need to know about you and where to find you.
Google’s Google My Business is free and allows you to promote your local business on both Google Search and Google Maps.
Bing’s Bing Places is also free and helps customers find your business through their search and maps.
Bing is often overlooked by small, local businesses. If you want your local business to have an edge over the competition, then you don’t want to ignore Bing SEO for local businesses.
Similarity #3- High-Quality Backlinks
Backlinks are links that point back to your SEO content—also known as link building.
Both Bing and Google are pleased when high-authority, quality websites link back to you. This can get you a higher ranking on both search engines.
Building backlinks takes time and patience.
It also takes know-how.
Here at Portland SEO Growth, we use best practices to get our clients high-quality links.
Similarity #4- Google And Bing Webmaster Tools: SEO Guides
Both Google and Bing offer their own set of webmaster tools for SEO, but they do have some similarities.
Both of their webmaster tools work to improve your performance.
Google offers Search Console (formally known as Google Webmaster Tools).
This tool helps you:
- Measure traffic and performance
- Fix issues
- Rank up in search results
Bing offers Webmaster Tools. It operates similarly to Google’s, but it focuses on helping you include:
- A dashboard to view performance summary
- A detailed report with recommendations
- Diagnostic and research tools
4 Differences Between Bing And Google
While there are many similarities between the two search engines, many differences also stand out.
A few of these differences are:
- How they view keywords
- Flash content or HTML preference
- Social media weight
- Out with the old–in with the new (Or is the opposite better?)
Difference #1- Keywords
When it comes to keywords, is more better?
It depends.
Keyword stuffing loads a webpage (or article or blog) with keywords to try to manipulate the site’s ranking on search engines.
For example:
“Keyword stuffing isn’t recommended. Keyword stuffing can cause a negative user experience. Google doesn’t recommend keyword stuffing. If you don’t want to hurt your ranking, don’t stuff your keywords. Instead of keyword stuffing…”
OK, maybe that’s an extreme example. But writers do it all–the–time.
This can cause:
- A negative user experience
- Poor quality
- Forced and unnatural wording
- Harm to your ranking
If you’re used to optimizing for Google, then you might already know that Google appreciates quality over quantity.
Google frowns upon keyword stuffing.
With Bing, you’re more likely to get away with it. Either way, we don’t recommend doing it.
Instead, focus on creating information-rich content that adds value to the reader while using keywords appropriately throughout.
Difference #2- Flash Content vs. HTML
If you’ve been writing content for Google, then you’re probably focusing on adding HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which is the standard markup language for documents on a web browser.
It’s basically the computer’s language. How it speaks.
But have you tried to incorporate Flash into your content?
Flash is pretty cool. It’s a multimedia technology that allows web developers to incorporate animations and interactive content into their websites.
If your focus is solely on winning the heart of Google, then you’re probably wasting your time using Flash.
Google can’t read Flash well, and you can even risk losing rank with them. HTML is a much better choice for your site on Google.
However, Bing can read Flash content very well. Using Flash for Bing SEO is a great way to rise above your competitors.
Difference #3- Social Media
When optimizing for Google, it’s not always helpful to link to social media.
However, linking to social media can work in your favor for Bing SEO.
A strong social media presence can boost your ranking on Bing as it gives more weight to social media presence than Google does.
Bing themselves says that social media plays a role in ranking well with them.
Difference #4- Older Pages vs. Fresh Content
Bing is old-school. They favor older, reputable, and established websites. They consider age to mean trustworthy.
So, if your domain is older, you’ll already have an edge on Bing.
If your site it’s well established, you can still take advantage of this knowledge by using external links in your SEO content that are older and reputable—such as .gov and .edu sites.
On the other hand, Google prefers fresh content that’s consistently engaging.
Google And Bing SEO: Optimization For Both Search Engines
You have some options when it comes to optimizing your content.
You can:
- Optimize just for Google (it’s what everyone is doing)
- Optimize just for Bing (not recommended)
- Optimize separately for Google and Bing
- Optimize for both Google and Bing
Want to blow your competitors out of the water?
Number 4 – pick #4.
What each search engine wants to see differs, but there are ways that you can optimize your content to rank higher on both Google and Bing.
Rank On Both: Claim Your Business
If you’re already established on Google as a local business, you should do the same on Bing to maximize local search results.
Simply visit Bing’s Places for Business to claim or create your business listing.
Rank On Both: Optimize Content To Talk To Google And Bing
Keeping in mind the similarities and differences in this guide, it’s best to create content that speaks to both search engines. Bing SEO will typically look different than SEO that’s specific for Google.
However, you can learn how to optimize for both sites. Here at PSG, we’ve got this down to a science.
Rank On Both: Hire A Copywriter And Editor
Are you trying to write and edit your own content?
It’s difficult for even the best writers to write well for SEO unless they’re trained in SEO. Keep in mind that what search engines are looking for (especially Google) changes all the time.
You’ll need to keep up with all the SEO trends.
A good copywriter will be able to not only create optimized content for Google but will also be able to make it speak to Bing.
On top of this, it’s nearly impossible to edit your personal work. Even a trained editor will miss things in their own content.
Hire both a professional copywriter and an editor. Your competitors are using this strategy, and so should you.
SEO Growth- Bring In The Pros
If you want both Google SEO and Bing SEO for the same content, you’ll want to bring in the pros.
Our clients rank on both Google and Bing. We know the importance of optimizing for both sites to get our clients to the top of both search engines.
Some keywords will rank better in Google, and some will rank better in Bing. It’s important to understand this, and know how to make this work in your favor.
When you’re ready to call in the pros that know how to make both Google and Bing stop in their tracks to pay attention to you, we’re here. Click here for a FREE SEO audit.
Check out how one of our companies, Power Wizard ranks in both Google and Bing:
