Bing—is that a thing? While Microsoft’s search engine traffic is small compared to the Google giant, Bing has been quietly creeping up the search numbers chart.
At the start of 2024, Google had nearly 82% of all search traffic while Bing had 10.51%; Yahoo, which is powered by Bing, had 2.67%, so we can give Bing a total of 13.18% of search. Five years ago, that combined total was only around 5%, so things are looking up for Bing (Source: Statista)
One important reason is that more companies are using the Microsoft 365 family of products for their teams, which makes Bing the default internet search engine for those users.
Google and Bing may serve different results for the same search terms because their algorithms function differently (a conversation for another day!). Bing focuses heavily on page quality/credibility, relevance to the query, user engagement, reputation, and website freshness. The engine also has Bing Chat, which uses GPT-4 for AI-assisted search.
You Need a Bing SEO Strategy
All of this means your business website should have a Bing SEO strategy in which:
* The landing page content matches what users are looking for, so include the same keywords that appear in queries (without stuffing them all over the page!). Use keywords in anchor text, page descriptions, and page titles as well.
* Your website’s content is high quality and reflects expertise and product knowledge. Bing likes content it deems complete and authoritative.
* Your blog articles are credited with author bylines and/or have author bios on the website as well. Make sure your authors have solid online reputations. Include quality backlinks where appropriate.
* Content is refreshed and the website is kept up to date. Timely topics are great for relevance.
* A fast-loading, mobile-friendly website earns placement points on Bing.
* Your social media presence is leverage, as Bing’s search algorithm factors this into its rankings.
* Your corporate website is on Bing Places, the engine’s business listing platform.
We Know Bing
It’s a lot to take in—which is why Advantage Marketing’s team is here to help with your digital marketing and SEO strategies. Contact us today to set up your consultation…and start giving Bing users more of what they’re searching for!
