It must be 15 degrees below 0 in hell…I’m actually focusing some optimization efforts on a search engine that is NOT Google.
For those of you who don’t know, Yahoo! and Microsoft worked out a deal so that Yahoo!’s organic and paid search engine results will be powered by Microsoft’s search engine, Bing.
The merger will mean that for the first time in many years there is a reason to not focus all of your attention on Google’s algorithm. Now Google will still account for 70% of all searches, but Yahoo/Bing combo will grab 25% of the total market share.
That being said, those numbers, small in percentage, still represent enough users to warrant your attention.
So by the end of October 2010, if you go to Yahoo.com to search for something, you’ll find the same exact thing at Bing.com.
In the end, especially for small businesses, unless the Yahoo-using prospects in your markets are search snobs, they’ll remain loyal to Yahoo. They will keep using their Yahoo! email, fantasy sports leagues (got my draft next Saturday) and Flickr. It’s strange, but it is what it is. As long as the results are giving them what they need, they’ll keep using it.
So…for the first time EVER…you need to think about how Bing ranks websites. Here are some specifics about Bing and how it differs from Google:
- Bing Webmaster Center. Add your site to the Bing index crawler to access data and manage your site at Bing Webmaster Tools. Once submission is completed the Dashboard appears with a top menu bar for analysis of Summary, Profile, Crawl Issues, Backlinks, Outbound Links, Keywords and Site Map. They do not support Chrome so you will need to have Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher or Firefox. Little glitch for Chrome users.
- Bing Local Listing Center. Submit your site to Bing Local Listing Center and wait for a verification letter in the mail as they do not verify via email or telephone. Prolongs the process however this may be the best kept secret for small businesses. The search volume is lower but now with teaming up with Yahoo, there is the chance for small businesses to reach Bing users.
- Domain Age. The age of the domain name is important to Bing. They favor domains that are older. This is not to say that they completely ignore a newer domain name but generally rankings are lower.
- Title Tags. Bing pays close attention to title tags which supports their organization model. Titles with relevant keywords that match the content as is similar with Google.
- Content. Bing likes words. Pages with 300+ words are ranked better. Words that relate to the title and stay on topic without keyword stuffing.
- Flash. Bing is flash friendly and will rank optimized videos with the proper text title tags high. They seem to be much more flash friendly than Google however with more and more videos Google is also ranking them higher.
- Backlinks. It appears that they are not as focused on the quality of the link, but more the anchor text which relates to the content matching. The better your content the more sites that want to link to it and that gives the authority.
Again…this is not a game changer (at least not yet). I personally do not use Bing or the like the way they rank sites…Google is going to be hard to beat in the near future.
But 25% of the market will be using this new Yahoo/Bing combo, so you can’t ignore the facts. At least get set up in Bing Webmaster Central and create your Bing Local Listing.
Awesome information! Looking forward to more of your posts!
thanks for the help
Brian, thanks for the heads up. Could be a big cost-benefit move to shift some resources to Yahoo/Bing and try to dominate
it. Google’s still king, but 25% of the market is nothing to
sneeze at! Take care.
Brian, with a 25% market share, this could make things a lot more interesting and complex in SEO. Do you see yourself delving more into yahoo/bing in the near future? At this point, it seems things will stay relatively the same with Google, but bing is really pushing the consumer advertising with huge TV buys. Maybe they’re going for a 35+ or 45+ market, given the younger target isn’t exactly watching tons of TV. That’s my target, so maybe this move is more important to me that to others who market to younger targets. What do you think?
Jane
Some of my sites are organically ranked in Yahoo (as high as #2) but don’t appear in Bing. Is the combo based on current Bing algos, or will Yahoo ranking figure in?
Alan,
Its all based on Bing. Any rankings in Yahoo will disappear very soon. Bing is pretty easy to adjust for though…just follow those few tips and you should see a bump.
Jane,
You can incorporate these strategies with what you do for Google right now.
I think your market is more web savvy and probably using Google anyway. But even if at the low end, it s probably 15%…so worth your time.
Google will still be #1 for everyone for a while…so keep most of your focus there.
I liked how Yahoo gave stronger emphasis with exact match domains, and it looks like that edge might be lost soon. Thanks for the practical tips, esp about local search.
Thanks for the info about Bing and Yahoo. 25% market share could mean alot to some businesses.
25% is a good share for sure…and you don’t have to hurt your Google rank to improve in Bing.
Great information . 25% is quite a bit in internet terms.
I didn`t even know they had Bing Toolbox or a Local Listing Center . Thanks. Keep these great posts coming.
Mark D.
You bet Mark! Glad to share it.
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Thanks Brian, I really appreciate you sharing your tips – sometimes it can be a bit challenging to adapt it for Australian conditions though I usually find a way. For anyone in Australia reading I think truelocal is the directory that yahoo, at least works with.
Glad you can find a way to adapt it Shelly. I’ll be coming down to Sydney in October to speak at Mal Emry’s event. Hope you can make it!
Sehe das schon so, nun könnte man und frau sich anständig Wissen aneignen bevor man zu diesen Aussagen kommt .
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