Do you routinely use Bing? Many of us don’t. Because of Google’s stranglehold on the search engine industry, it is difficult for any search engine to become particularly successful. That being said, Bing does come the closest to rivaling Google’s monopoly on the Western world’s search queries. Because of this, you shouldn’t ignore Bing when it comes to tailoring your business’s SEO strategy. To help you out, Creekmore Marketing is here with a quick guide to help you master this oft-forgotten search engine.

History

Bing has gone through a number of changes on its way to becoming the search engine we know it as today, both in cosmetics and functionality. Initially, there was no search engine with the name “Bing.” Instead, it was known as “MSN Search.” MSN, or the Microsoft Network, still exists today as a web portal for Microsoft’s many services. Originally, MSN Search did not provide its own search results, instead pulling results from other services that were popular at the time of its release in 1998. In 2004 and 2005, MSN Search began to use its own Microsoft-built search engines, although its image searches were still delivered by a third party. In 2006, MSN Search was rebranded as “Windows Live Search” and began to include search options for things like “News,” “Local,” and “Music.” Windows Live Search also began to include its own image searching. In 2007, Windows Live Search became simply “Live Search,” however, after several of its services were discontinued, it was again rebranded as “Bing” in 2009. In the latter half of 2009, Bing bought Yahoo! and aims to fully replace it with Bing by 2019.

Percentage of Overall Search Volume

I think we can all safely agree that Bing isn’t Google. Of course, there are people who prefer Bing to Google for a number of reasons, however Bing just doesn’t get the same traffic that Google does. That being said, it does come in second, although it isn’t exactly a close second: in November of 2016, Bing received 9,758 million total search queries, as opposed to Google’s 15,303 million. While that disparity is pretty striking, Bing does still receive a very high number of search queries every month and accounts for a large fraction of internet traffic.

Reviews

If you are going to create a Bing listing for your business, there is something you should be aware of: your customers will not be able to leave you reviews directly. This is a relatively new phenomenon and happened sometime early in 2017. According to Bing, they wanted to shift their focus more toward aggregating reviews, as their goal as a search engine is to help consumers make decisions. Because of this, Bing pulls reviews from other sources, such as Yelp, that show up on Bing Places listings, as well as in local search results.

Major Algorithm Changes

Because of the smaller amount of attention that Bing receives in comparison to Google, it can be difficult to track down changes in Bing’s search algorithm. Despite this, it has been confirmed that in 2014 there was a crackdown on “keyword-stuffed” URL’s and domain names. Because of this, if you attempt to fit all keywords for your business into your URL or domain names, you may end up getting penalized by Bing. Apparently, when this crackdown occurred, it affected three percent of Bing’s search results, which may not sound like much, but remember that Bing received 9,758 million queries in a single month of last year, so be wary of attempting to make you URL too SEO-friendly, as it could actually hurt your business.

Its Importance for Small Business SEO

While Bing isn’t Google, you still can’t afford to totally ignore it. Despite being firmly in the shadow of Google, Bing does still get quite a lot of search traffic. It also has some unique benefits compared to Google. Of all services that allow you to create listings for your business, Bing Places has some of the most detailed and varied business categories available. And remember: all SEO work that you do for your business is ultimately beneficial and holistic, regardless of where you choose to place your focus. And while we don’t recommend focusing on Bing at the expense of Google, it definitely is another valuable piece of the puzzle.

If you want to learn more about Bing, or about SEO, contact Creekmore Marketing and let us help your business grow.