You thought you were done when you optimized your site for Google,
MSN, and Yahoo, right? Nope – the Microsoft Network, MSN, has partnered
with Yahoo in a 10-year, $275 million dollar agreement and recently
launched Bing. Having gone live in June 2009, it’s instantly very
popular.
There’s even talk that it may eventually replace Google as the
most popular search engine because it is intuitive and offers users a
number of search options.
Early reports also show that Bing users are more likely to click on
advertisements than Google users. Time will tell and Google will most
certainly have an answer to Bing’s growing popularity. While we can’t
predict the future, all signs point to making the effort now to learn
SEO for Bing.
Here are the top 6 ways to do that today…
1) Manage Length of Your Content
Make your content longer than 300 words. According to SEO experts,
Bing algorithms seem to place a higher value on content that is over 300
words. That means longer blog posts, more content on web pages and
longer articles.
2) On-Page Tips for Bing
Optimize your title tags for your keywords and use unique tags on
each page. You may be doing this already for Google and Yahoo. Keep it
up. Bing really likes title tags and pays attention to them when
indexing and ranking your page. If you haven’t been paying too much
attention to them up until now, it’s time to start.
3) Bing Linking
Linking is always important in SEO. However, unlike Google, when
doing SEO for Bing, pay more attention to building backlinks from highly
relevant websites. Also, Bing really likes outbound links and gives a
bit more weight than the other search engines do.
4) Keyword Targeting
Bing’s own FAQ page suggests that you target no more than two
keywords per page. We suggest you follow this rule. Usually you will
want to target one main keyword you are trying to get ranked for and a
more long-tail keyword which contains your main keyword in it.
5) Meta Tags
You may have let your meta tags slide over the years because rumor
has it Google doesn’t really pay much attention to them. However, Bing
recommends you use unique description tags on each page.
6) Continue All Other Good SEO Practices
Good SEO for Bing does have some differences than Google, but good SEO practices still need to be followed too. For example:
* Use H1 tags
* Use text navigation links
* Use keywords in your URL
There’s a bit of disagreement between experts. There are some reports
that indicate Bing places value on longevity. The older your website,
the more respect Bing seems to want to give you. However, other sources
cite that younger, newer sites, have the advantage. Regardless, whether
you’re a brand new site or a website that’s been around for years, put
the above practices in place and be patient.
As an internet business owner it’s always good to pay attention to
what the big three are doing, the big three being MSN, Yahoo, and
Google. And when two of them team up then that most certainly deserves a
change in strategy. As the months pass and Bing continues to grow,
there will likely be some additions or changes to how SEO for Bing will
work. They may change things up and decide one day to index and rank
websites differently. Stay tuned for further developments.
An Article from SPN By Adam Bauthues
