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What is Bing?

Bing, formerly known as Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search, is Microsoft’s search engine. The majority of people automatically think of Google when they hear the words “search engine.” However, there are other search engines, and Bing is one of Google’s top competitors.

Technology advances at a breakneck pace, and it’s impossible to predict the next extensive search and marketing trends. As a result, staying updated on as many internet platforms as possible is always a brilliant idea. Even though Google may be the primary search engine on many SEOs’ thoughts, optimizing your online presence to accommodate Bing is absolutely not a bad idea.

Google’s algorithm changes, Google best practices, and Google updates are most likely dictating your search optimization efforts. It’s not for no reason that you’re guilty of “Google first.”

What is The Importance Of Bing SEO?

According to ComScore’s June Explicit Core Search Share Report (Desktop Only), Google controls 63.1% of the search market in the United States, Bing 23%, and Yahoo 11.8%. However, it may appear that concentrating your SEO efforts only on Google is a no-brainer.

Bing and Yahoo collaborated in 2009, and Bing search now drives Yahoo search as well. They account for roughly 23.3 percent of the US Search Share between them. This implies that if you optimize for Bing, you should also optimize for Yahoo.

Bing SEO is different in several ways. To begin with, the vast majority of Bing users are from the United States. This implies that while Bing doesn’t have as much worldwide influence as Google, it may be a fantastic method to promote locally at a lower cost. Second, 87 percent of Bing users also use Internet Explorer, the default search engine that ships with Windows devices. This means they’re probably less tech-savvy than the average Google user, which is a whole different demographic.

5 Reasons Why ‘Bing’ is Important For Your SEO Plan

There are five significant reasons why Bing should still be a key component of your SEO strategy.

#1. Less Competition

According to New York Times bestselling author and digital marketing guru Neil Patel, an excellent reason to include Bing in your SEO plan and make a conscious effort not to neglect Bing is that fewer competitors are fighting for ranking position on Bing.

This is reasonable. There are fewer competitors on Bing since most advertisers are flocking to Google because it has such a high proportion of search traffic. The fact that it has less competition is a fantastic incentive to include it in your SEO plan. (After all, 23% of the search market still constitutes a significant amount of queries!) You’re more likely to earn higher search results and a more substantial percentage of viewers and targeted web traffic on Bing than on Google because you’re in direct competition with fewer businesses.

Because smaller businesses have less competition, they have a better chance of seeing a good return on their organic search efforts. According to Google, catching any payoff from SEO effort on its search engine might take up to a year. Because fewer pages are vying for the top spot on page one of Bing, the period between investment and return is significantly shorter. If you need results right away, Bing is a good option.

“…since the majority of the new computer sales are for Windows devices, which come pre-installed with Bing-defaulting browsers Internet Explorer or Edge, one would assume there’s enough workplace users, old people, folks who don’t give a damn, and others of their ilk to make up a large share of the market,” Tom McKay of Gizmodo says.

#2. Bing is Less Expensive

If you’re a PPC marketer that spends a portion of your budget on Google AdWords, you know how much it hurts your wallet when someone clicks on one of your advertisements. Cost-Per-Click (CPC) is currently at an all-time high, according to iProspect’s 2017 Paid Search Trends Report for Q2. Mobile ad expenses have also risen, rising 17% in the first quarter and 52% year over year.

Bing is a cheaper alternative to Google because of its lesser search traffic, making it a perfect choice for marketers that can’t afford to pay to play on Google. With lower PPC costs, it’s also a good idea to expand your Bing presence and optimize for higher organic ranks.

#3. Bing Is Much More Forthcoming About Its Ranking Factors

While Bing does not reveal the finer specifics of its algorithms, just like Google does not share what makes for better SEO, Bing is far more forthcoming about what your site has to do to improve its ranking.

Bing also offers SEO Reports and an SEO Analyzer, which measures a page’s performance against 15 SEO recommended practices. The SEO Analyzer is an on-demand application that provides thorough page-by-page analysis from the standpoint of “Bing” SEO. The tool offers assistance and ideas for what has to be done to enhance your ranking, as well as a compliance report.

#4. For Business, ‘Bing Places’

Bing Places for Business is a simple method to boost local exposure, making it a beneficial tool for local service area companies and brick-and-mortar enterprises.

Like Google My Business (GMB), Bing’s free business listing service allows companies to submit necessary information such as physical location, contact information, opening hours, a website link, and pictures, making it more straightforward for local searches to discover you. Your Places for Business listing will appear in local search results after publication, making your brand more visible to local customers.

Bing provides an agency dashboard tool for digital marketing firms that allows them to manage numerous Places for Business listings from one place, making local search campaigns faster and easier. (This is a feature I’d like Google to copy!)

#5. Bing Webmaster Tools

While Google Analytics is a vital source of information used while performing SEO for Google, Bing’s Webmaster Tools is also a beneficial and underused resource.

According to Tony Edward, Senior SEO Manager at Elite SEM and Adjunct Instructor of Search Marketing at NYU, Bing Webmaster Tools provides a variety of extra diagnostics and testing options, all of which may be utilized to report your overall digital marketing activities. According to Search Engine Land, Bing Webmaster tools may be used to monitor site security, crawl, and index performance, and obtain keyword research and optimization advice.

Conclusion

With so much of your competition focusing their digital marketing efforts on Google, putting some effort into Bing might be a wise decision. You may target a new audience while still staying current with a different search engine. After all, in the world of SEO, a lot may happen in a short period. Make your move now, while the public’s attention is still focused on Google. It could pay off in the long run.

We’d like to hear your opinions on Bing SEO. Is it anything you’ve forgotten about? Or, after focusing on an underused search engine, have you seen an increase in orders and traffic? Please let us know in the comment section below.