What algorithms do you keep in mind when optimizing your website?
No wonder if I hear Google algorithms like Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird. Well, there is nothing wrong with optimizing your website for Google. Google is the king of search engines. If you are in the good books of the king, your site performs great in Google searches. Most people search for Google. It has become a synonym for browsing over the Internet.
Putting your heart and soul into Google SEO is rewarding.
But that doesn’t mean you overlook Bing. Do you have a specific Bing SEO optimization strategy in place?
Admit it. Not all webmasters plan their SEO strategy specifically for Bing.
If you are one of them, here are some eye-openers for you…
- Bing is the Second Largest Search Engine in the World.
- Bing is on more than 1.5 Billion Devices (more than iOS).
- Bing is the second most popular search engine in the USA, with over 33% of share in search traffic.
- Bing makes up 6.25 percent of the global search market (which is surprisingly the second largest after Google’s 90% share.)
Apart from these statistics, it is worth to mention that Bing is less crowded as most marketers are obsessed with Google. It has a lower bounce rate than Google. According to one study, Bing (20%) has a better conversion rate than Google (16.5%)
What more could you ask for?
Now that you have understood why Bing needs your focus too, it is important to know some Bing search engine optimization tips.
Bing still values old school SEO methods like straightforward keywords and link building. However, it also looks for user-friendliness, authority, and the presentation in the webpages.
Based on all this, here are some Bing SEO ranking factors you should incorporate in your strategies to get good organic traffic.
1. Using Keyword As It Is:
Gone are the days when stuffing the exact keywords could bring results in Google. Luckily, this can still work in Bing. For example, using the keyword “how to rank for keywords in Bing” in its exact form across your content or website, you can top the ranking chart.
It is our first and foremost Bing SEO optimization tip.
Unlike Google, Bing is not that conscious about exact match keywords. In other words, Bing is not that particular about user intent or semantics, unlike Google. Place your keywords in every part of the page, from URLs, title tags, meta descriptions, and anchor text to see the rise in your organic traffic from Bing.
But I would still recommend the natural use of keywords across the content.
2. Create Valuable Content for Bing:
Like Google, Bing expects relevant and useful content from web portals on its landscape. Any search engine needs good content for its survival, and Bing is no expectation even though it is lenient than Google. The quality of content is one of the key Bing SEO ranking factors.
Fabrice Canal of Bing said in this context—
“People are searching, providing insights on what they are looking for. We do believe that this is useful data that is helping us to help them to retrieving the best content, satisfying customer, or driving the best content on the Internet.”
Like Google’s EAT, Bing has framed its content quality guidelines on three pillars called AUP—Authority, Utility, and Presentation.
Authority:
“Can a user trust this content?”
Bing uses signals like social networks, citing sources, and the author’s identity to determine the trustworthiness of any website. For example, the search engine is likely to check for medical content if it is written by a healthcare professional using authentic sources.
Utility:
Utility means how useful your content is.
In this context, Bing figures out if the page provides sufficient information supporting multimedia content like graphs, images, and videos.
Presentation
Bing also checks the way your content is presented. The right use and presentation of ads also determine the content quality. Bing loves the webpages that show relevant ads and put ads in a way so that they don’t obstruct the user experience.
Based on These Three Parameters, Here is the Conclusion to Ace Bing Rankings
- Mention the author of the Content as well as the Source and Citation Used.
- It Should Be Informative and Relevant to the Target Audience.
Ads Should Not Disrupt the Flow of the Content.
Social Media Benefits for Bing SEO:
Bing has considered sharing as an essential ranking factor. In fact, social media shares and likes are a direct ranking factor for Bing. That’s why your social media performance should also be considered for your Bing SEO optimization.
Content with a significant number of shares over social media might rank better as the Bing algorithm is meant to acknowledge social signals.
You should share your content on social media on the relevant platforms. But keep in mind that Bing might not help in case of having fake followers.
What are the benefits of using Bing Webmaster Tools?
Google Search Console lets webmasters check indexing status and optimize visibility of their websites. And Bing has Bing Webmaster Tools for the same purpose. All it takes you to sign up for a free Bing webmaster tool account and list your website.
Bing Webmaster Tools is used for additional site diagnostic reports and testing capabilities. While many tools and features are similar to those in Google Search Console, the toolkit has some exclusive features and tools. These tools help you get insight into your performance in organic search at Bing and get data that Google might have missed.
Bing Webmaster Tools Tells You…
- The Health of your website
- Number of Pages Being Indexed by Bing
- Number of Links Pointing to Your Site
- How to Troubleshoot Crawler Access Issues
- Detail Information on Keywords and Position in Search Results.
Role of Create Tags and Categories for Bing SEO:
Tags and categories help your website to be discovered by those who are particular with their search terms.
If your website is built on CMS such as WordPress, it is easy to add tags and categories to every single page, apart from blog posts. These elements are important from both SEO and the user’s viewpoint as they tell about what the page is all about.
The WordPress tag feature lets you create a brief description of each web page, which is ideal for placing your primary keyword. This way, you can rank for a keyword in Bing!
For example, setting your keyword in WordPress slug (a part of permalink) lets you appear your keywords in the URL. From there, a search engine like Bing will list it in SERPs.
Does Link Building matters for Bing SEO?
Like Google, Bing recognizes the importance of backlinks. But it comes with some differences.
Google prefers a few high-quality links with a good PageRank score.
But that’s not the case with Bing.
Bing stresses the QUANTITY of backlinks. For Bing, quantity is the prime factor in determining the popularity of any website. Here is an excerpt from Bing’s guideline regarding backlinks—
“Links pointing to your site help Bing discover new pages on your site. Traditionally, it is also regarded as a signal of popularity. The site linking to your content is essentially telling Bing that they trust your content.”
Build more links than you otherwise do. That’s simple. But like Google, Bing doesn’t like fraud links, links from hacked websites, paid links, and reciprocal links.
Site Load Time and Bing SEO:
Bing also wants you to improve your site load time. Here is what its webmaster guideline says in this context—
“Slow page load times can lead a visitor to leave your website, potentially before the content has even loaded, to seek information elsewhere. Bing may view this as a poor user experience and an unsatisfactory search result. Faster page loads are always better, but webmasters should balance absolute page load speed with positive, useful user experience.”
A webpage that loads quickly is one of the fundamental steps to improve user experience with your website. Click here to improve the load time of your website!
How to Get Listed on Bing Places for Business?
Like Google My Business, Bing Places for Business connects you with local customers. Bing benefits the sites that feature in its local listing, making it a critical Bing SEO ranking factor for organic traffic.
Your business can be automatically listed with Bing even if you have never used Bing before. If your business listing is already on Bing Places for Business, then verify your business and make any changes necessary. However, if you don’t have your business listed on Bing, you can add it by following Bing’s guideline given here.
Bottom Line:
So these are important Bing SEO optimization tips to consider to increase organic traffic to your website.
If you are serious about your website’s ranking, you need to work over Bing apart from Google.
Most of the Bing guidelines seem to be old school SEO, making it easy for top digital marketers to work there. In a nutshell, work over your keywords, images, load time, local listing, link building, and content creation to ace Bing optimization.
What do you think? Drop your valuable thoughts below to the comment box.