When you think of internet search engines, what is the first name that comes to mind? Odds are, your answer was Google, right?
After all, the website has become such a dominant force in internet searches that the word “Google” has entered the English language as a verb. Even now, some 20 years after the platform’s release, no other platform has been able to match it. In fact, more than 60% of all desktop internet searches are performed through Google.
So if you’re a digital marketer who deals with search engine optimization, you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s sort of pointless to worry about anything besides Google. Google is “the” search engine.
But in the competitive field of digital marketing, it never makes sense to ignore a potential advantage. And while Google remains the dominant search engine, it does still have competitors. First among them? Bing.
Bing is the most popular search engine after Google, pulling in a respectable 23.7% of web searches. Maybe that’s not as impressive a percentage as Google, but it’s hardly one any SEO manager should turn their nose up at.
That’s especially true when you consider some of the advantages that Bing has over Google for marketers. First, the fact that most marketers focus on Google means that your content will face less competition on Bing, making it easier to make it to rank for search results. Second, Bing actually has better conversion rates than Google.
But while many marketers are familiar with how to optimize their content for Google, far fewer have much experience working with Bing. With that in mind, here are some things you should focus on when optimizing your content for Bing.
SEO Tips for Bing
Managing Your Keywords
Bing has resisted some of the changes that Google has made over the years to reduce spammy SEO tactics. While Google will reduce your ranking for using keywords too frequently, Bing is more forgiving. Take advantage of that in the copy. Include keywords liberally both in the copy and in H2 tags. Although, you obviously want to keep it within reason, especially if you still hope to rank on Google.
Pay close attention to fitting the keywords you want to rank for in the titles and HTML tags as well since Bing relies heavily on these tags when matching sites with queries.
What keywords you choose also really matters when it comes to Bing. The search engine relies much more on directly matching keywords than Google, which navigates semantics more effectively. Plan your keywords for Bing carefully, with matching search queries directly in mind.
User Signals
Bing also relies on user signals to help rank search results. This means that if someone clicks on your site and then immediately goes back to Bing, your site will take a hit in the rankings. For this reason, you probably want your content to engage your readers at every stage.
You want them clicking on your site in their search results. And once they do, you want them to read as far down the page as possible. Ideally, you also want them to access other pages on your site.
Bing will use all of these factors when determining where your site ranks. The good news is that this is the kind of content you should be striving to create anyway. But keep a close eye on your Click-Through Rate values. Consider if you can do anything to improve them. Good CTR values are vital when it comes to ranking on Bing.
Links
Bing favors sites that have a high number of backlinks. And while having a lot of similar pages that link to your page is generally good SEO practice for any search engine, it’s especially important for Bing, which places a higher value on backlinks in its algorithm than most search engines.
That means that when you’re trying to optimize your content for Bing, it’s a good idea to spend a little extra time on outreach to other webmasters. The more backlinks you can get, the better.
Social Media
Bing places a lot of stock in social media engagement when ranking its results. Content that is shared widely across social media platforms like Facebook has a much better chance of making it to the first page of search results on Bing.
There are a lot of ways to increase the odds that people with share your content. Try to engage with people who access your site through social media. Use standard calls to action. And consider investing in programs designed to help you study your social media metrics and improve them.
So what do you think? Do you spend time focusing on optimizing your content for Bing? Has it yielded good results? Do you have any tips? Let us know in the comments.
Further Reading:
7 Ways Bing Ads Beats Google AdWords – WordStream
How To Advertise Your Small Business Using Bing Ads – FitSmallBusiness
5 Easy Ways to Make the Most Out of Bing Ads – ROI Revolution
