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.