Why webmasters should pay attention to Bing

It’s been two years since Microsoft launched its Bing search engine, but it was only a few weeks ago the “beta” tag was taken off. Now, SEO experts say, you should perhaps pay a little more attention.

Although these online marketing gurus say Google is still the main focus, it may be time to take a few seconds and see how you’re approaching your SEO outside of Google.

Even if you just want to bolster your Google strategy, there’s a lot to learn about your own SEO practices, how you’re making the most of search engines and what you can learn from where Microsoft wants to take its products in the future.

“You should certainly be setting up things like Bing webmaster tools so you can get a different opinion on what’s happening in your particular area,” says Stewart Media chief executive Jim Stewart.

Microsoft doesn’t hold much of the market, but it’s still keen on making as much of an impact as possible. Earlier this year it told the New York Times the company is pumping millions into making sure Bing is more successful, and Ninemsn consumer marketing manager Kurt Fulepp says there will definitely be new things happening soon.

“The product has been evolving and being tested over the past two years, and the main thing from our point of view is that a fully tested product is available” he says.

“We’re really focused on making sure that what we’ve done is create a product that reflects what people are searching for. We think that people are focused on completing a task, and that’s what we think Bing enables them to do – that’s how we view search, as task-oriented.”

How to get inside Bing

Plenty of businesses would be focusing all or most of their efforts on Google – and rightly so, as it’s the world’s leading engine. But these experts say Bing’s webmaster tools system is nothing to sneeze at either.

Monte Heubsch of Aussie Web Marketing says business need to speak with their SEO managers about getting into Bing and looking at how their sites rank in a totally different engine – and the first step is by downloading and using these tools.

“Bing has a whole different interface to look at site performance, backlinks, and other elements. We do that now for our sites because it just gives us another set of eyes,” he says.

“Best practice may suggest that when you’re dealing with SEO you want to make sure you have all your bases covered. For instance, some of your pages may come up higher on other engines, and you may or may not want that happening.”

While Bing and Google strive to deliver the most relevant results, the algorithms behind each product are different. As a result, they will both emphasise different things, such as social media results.

“There’s a slight change in how Bing approaches social,” Heubsch says, noting that Facebook pages can appear higher than they would in Google. “You might find your fan page comes up higher because Bing gives it a little more authority.”

Fulepp says although he can’t divulge much about the engine’s future, he does say Microsoft will focus on how the social graph will fit into results.

“One of the main pillars of what we’re doing is being socially connected. How do we integrate that social graph to help you make decisions better? It could be pretty powerful.”

It’s easy to assume Bing is always working with something new, and for that reason you should download the webmaster tools and keep an eye on your Bing ratings, even if it’s only once or week or in a similarly time period.

Stewart says changes in Bing should particularly affect companies that are marketing to people who watch a lot of television, or who aren’t as tech-savvy, as Bing is the default search on Internet Explorer software.

“If you’re trying to target people who watch a lot of commercial television, it’s probably important, or if your audience is those who don’t regularly change their home pages and still use the same search engine that is recommended to them.”

More tasks, less random searching

As Fulepp explains, Bing thinks of itself more as a decision, task-oriented engine, and less of a general search framework where users type in a few terms and then search for whatever they think is the most appropriate link. Instead, Bing wants to aggregate all the data and give you the most information possible.

For instance, when users in the United States search for a particular product, Bing will aggregate several deals for them and show those results on the first page. In Australia, searching for particular weather in a city will see it show up in the search bar before a user presses enter – the same for various other results as well.

While these product results don’t show up in Australia, these experts say there is no harm in optimising them so they even show up in American search results. Doing that requires traditional SEO techniques – rich content drenched with relevant information.

Stewart explains most of the work you’re doing for Google in this area can be transferred to Bing.

“You should optimise for Google, then go back every so often and take a look at Bing and see what it’s doing.”

“Most of the time, you’ll find the searches are identical, but every so often you’ll see something that’s different. You’ll want to make sure you’re ranking well for everything.”

Have a Bing Friday

Heubsch says SEO firms have come to brand their occasional check-ups on Bing as “Bing Fridays”, where they will only use Microsoft’s engine instead of Google.

“We all jokingly refer to Bing Fridays, and it’s kind of a loving term within our little market here.”

“That having been said, Bing is superior at a couple of things. I think it’s a much better image search engine, and it’s really strong, so if I’m looking for slides I can find some really great stuff on there.”

Ultimately, he says, businesses should be paying attention.

“Bing has a whole interface to look at site performance and backlinks. You should be paying attention – there’s a lot of integration with Yahoo as well that could have an impact on your rankings in Bing.”

Where is Bing headed?

Bing has less than 10% of the global search market, and some businesses may not think this is the best area in which to spend their time. But Microsoft is pumping millions into making sure the engine gains more prominence, with Nokia teaming up to power their phones with Windows software as well. 

However, as Switched On Media head of search Alex Asigno points out, some Australian businesses are missing out on some of the biggest benefits of the engine.

“In the United States, for instance, you see Bing partnering with companies in the travel and finance sector, so if you search for flights you get aggregated search results.”

“Bing doesn’t have those relationships here, and I suspect it’s a return on investment issue.”

Fulepp is coy about saying where Bing will be going in the future – only to say it will be more based in social media. But he does say the engine has a key focus on 18-34 year olds.

“They use search the most, they do everything there, and use search as part of their daily life.”

“We’re going out there with this new product, and we think they’re more receptive to trying new things.”

Fulepp concedes Google is the default, and it’s “difficult to break that trend”. It may not happen any time soon, but as Asigno points out, if they start partnering with other companies as they have done in the States, they could see some growth.

“It’s currently got the biggest market share it’s ever had… it has lots of core functionality outside of English speaking countries.”

“With the growth of Nokia phones and Windows Phone software, it’ll grow. And if it partners here, it could see even more growth there as well.”