With the merger of Yahoo & Bing as far as search results are concerned (Bing will provide Yahoo with it’s search results in futue), I think it’s time I took Bing SEO more seriously. Over the next few months I’m going to examine the differences and similarities of the two primary search engines, Google and Bing, with a focus on Bing SEO.
So it’s a farewell to ranking no1 on Yahoo with exactly the type of site Google hates…. and hello to Bing (the search engine owned by Microsoft).
- Compare Bing & Google Rankings - This tool is pretty cool for a start to check the differences between Google and Bing rankings – http://www.bing-vs-google.com/
- I joined the Bing community too – http://www.bing.com/community/
NB – In the US, the change has already happened, and Bing provides Yahoo with results. The switchover has not yet happened in the UK to my knowledge.
*I will share my thoughts in the next few months…..
I’ll be interested to see how Yahoo’s SERP’s differ from those found in Bing. I can’t remember where the article is but about 4 months back Yahoo did state that they would be using their own technologies to display results which would, potentially, show different results to those found on Bing. P.S. Thanks for the link to the SE comparison tool – very handy.
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Yes again looking forward to what you have to say after the comparison, its ever getting harder to follow who does what and how, and how those factors effect our presence on the web. Its a continual creation of what’s to come… very interesting and fun, where will we eventual end up! And whatever happened to keep it simple! Sorry my humour. And again thank you for the links.
That’s the first time I’ve heard of Yahoo and Bing merging. I’ll keep an eye out for your findings on Bing SEO. Thanks.
@Craig – how’s it going in that deep, dark cave? ;)
It’s a good idea to start researching more about Bing’s search algo while the merge is still on process, it would be a good match up to see (google vs. bing). but what I would miss most is yahoo’s site explorer, I loved that tool so much. Regards, Jason
Yahoo site explorer will be available until 2012 I think….
I was pretty happy when i heard that Yahoo & Bing merged. Since Google does need a viable competitor, and not Yahoo nor Bing was one, those companies might be a good competitor to Google after they merged. Since they both had lots of things to improve on their engines. Anyway, we were getting some signs months ago that we should start caring more about Bing SEO as well. But it seems that it’s becoming true. I’ll join the community as well and will see what it has to offer for me :)
Nice to see a UK perspective on this since most sites ignore the major differences in search share between the US and here. And most commentators seem to be ignoring the potential differences between Bing results on Bing and Bing results filtered via Yahoo. But the fact is that in this country, as anyone who looks at their logs or analytics knows, neither of them generates much traffic compared to the Big G. No-one in their right mind would optimise for Bing if there was the risk of dropping in Google. I have a nasty feeling that if there is a competitor it’s Facebook – which worries me since I distrust the whole social/privacy aspect. Now Blekko might be interesting – but explaining to clients how they rank in Blekko may be a challenge! ;-)
This is the first I’ve heard of the Yahoo/Bing merger. I guess that moves Bing specific SEO back up towards the top of the to-do list. I’m curious to know if anyone else has experienced a slow response from Bing when submitting a local business for inclusion in their local listings. Bing requires you to confirm with a PIN that they actually snail-mail to your physical location and it was 4-6 weeks before the first letter arrived.
I used the Bing, Google link to make some comparisons. It was actually fun looking at and reading the dual screens. I’m with you guys, I look forward to seeing what’s going to happen with this merger. I agree with John on Google having a serious competitor. I joined the Bing community too.
Great tool there that comparison between google and bing. I’ve been thinking about Microsoft/Bing for a while lately, mostly for two reasons: This TED talk, in which Blaise Aguera demonstrates AR in Bing Maps: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/blaise_aguera.html And following from that, seeing Bing’s bird’s eye view in their maps, a feature that, while not terribly ground breaking, does give me a reason to use their maps occasionally instead of only Google’s. Both point me to the idea that maybe Microsoft is tired of riding its own previous successes and is finally getting serious about creating something that is innovative, new to the world, and (importantly) works. And of course Bing gaining share independently month on month is impressive as well.
Is there any benefit (SEO wise) to actually joining the Bing community, do you know? Or is this just a preparatory move? I figure someone as savvy at SEO as yourself doesn’t do stuff like join Bing Community for no reason.
No – sometimes I join communities just to learn and get access to data :)
hi Shaun, My impression is that Bing is a lot like Google circa 2005. Google 2010 is better at filtering out low quality stuff, but I think Bing is a fast learner. In any event, it will be interesting to see how the two titans (or should I say David and Goliath) compete. :) Steve
Thanks for the link to the Bing vs. Google site… worth remembering to log out of your Google account if you’re in one though for better results! I just clicked the link from your newsletter in my Gmail account and I don’t trust that what Google was showing me wasn’t heavily personalised… although it’s through this other service so I don’t know. Look forward to reading the results of your research! lx
By treating Bing the same way as you would treat Google, you get good results. Better even. The lack of competition and the lack of my competition bothering with Bing means I am in 1-3 for a huge number of phrases of which I am 2nd 3rd page for on Google. One massive benefit for those people who have a strong presence on Bing is the time it takes for it to actually index a new site. it can take months from adding your site to getting anything more than the index page indexed. If the figures thrown about (60% Google 30% Bing/yahoo) then I can see a huge increase in traffic soon :)
I have noticed that I get much less traffic from Yahoo! than I do Google but the traffic that I do get from Yahoo! stays on my site longer! Has anyone else noticed this with their sites? Anyone care to explain why this phenomenon occurs?