Bing

Bing is a search engine developed by Microsoft. It works much like Google: you type in a query, and it returns results it deems relevant based on its own algorithm.

Today, Bing is Google's main competitor.

Google remains well ahead, but Bing still has its place, especially in the United States and in certain companies that use Microsoft tools by default. It still accounts for a significant share of traffic.

And even though Bing is far behind Google in terms of market share, I recommend optimizing your content for this search engine.

Firstly, because its recommendations complement those of Google. But also because its market share is growing year on year (currently over 10%). And 10% of the entire internet represents billions of searches!

The two engines work in a fairly similar way, but Bing places a little more emphasis on certain criteria such as exact keywords, trusted backlinks, and well-optimized HTML structure.

In practical terms, most of Bing's recommendations will help improve your Google ranking, and vice versa.

Bing analyzes the relevance of the content, the structure of the site, the quality of inbound links, the age of the domain, and the exact match of keywords to rank pages in its search results.

As you can see, technical, on-page, and off-page SEO are just as important on Bing as they are on Google. So I encourage you to hire an SEO consultant to improve these areas for your site.

What are the specific SEO best practices for Bing?

To appeal to Bing, it's best to focus on clear titles, accurate keywords, well-structured content, quality links, and good compatibility with Microsoft browsers. Also remember to submit your site to Bing Webmaster Tools.

Given that more than 10% of internet users use Bing, I think it's a real shame that most companies focus solely on Google and don't bother to index their site properly on Bing. But if you're here, it's because you know how important this search engine is.

Should you adapt your keyword strategy for Bing?

A small adjustment may be useful. Bing often values exact phrases and keywords placed in important tags such as titles and URLs more highly. Search intent is still important, but the approach is a little more "literal" than with Google.

How can you appear in the top search results on Bing?

To target the top positions, you need to optimize your titles, structure your pages correctly, have quality backlinks, use the right keywords, and above all, register your site with Bing Webmaster Tools to facilitate indexing.

Even though Google is more widely used, Bing still generates millions of searches every day. Being well positioned on Bing allows you to capture an additional audience that is often less competitive and sometimes highly qualified.

If you need help optimizing your website for Bing, you can find our freelance SEO consultants above.

Freelance platforms allow you to find specialists in a particular field. Above, you will find experts in Bing and SEO in general.

Whether you need technical, on-site, or off-site SEO or SEA, our freelancers are here to help. And if you can't find the right profile, contact us and we'll find it for you.

Our BeFreelancr website allows you to order services online in complete security, as our platform is a trusted third party that protects both freelancers and clients.

On BeFreelancr, you can order services to optimize your SEO on Bing, set up Bing Webmaster Tools, track your performance, or even create advertising campaigns on Microsoft Ads.

Bing uses its own robots to crawl the web. If your site is well structured and receives links, your new pages will generally be detected quickly. Indexing is faster if you use Bing Webmaster Tools.

How do I submit a site to Bing for indexing?

To have Bing index your site, simply create an account on Bing Webmaster Tools, add your site, and then submit your XML sitemap. You can also request manual indexing of certain pages.

Bing Webmaster Tools is the equivalent of Google Search Console. It allows you to track indexing, analyze traffic from Bing, correct errors, and optimize your SEO on this search engine.

The robots.txt file tells Bing's robots which pages to explore and which to ignore. The sitemap facilitates indexing by listing all your important pages. You can submit your sitemap directly in Bing Webmaster Tools.

A fast site offers a better experience, and Bing takes this into account. If your pages take too long to load, this can slow down your SEO, especially on mobile devices.

Having a fast website will help you rank higher on Google, Bing, and other search engines.

UX is an increasingly important factor for Bing. A clear, easy-to-navigate website with a good click-through rate and low bounce rate will generally rank higher.

Bing recognizes schema.org tags and uses them to display rich results: reviews, events, recipes, products, etc. This is a good way to stand out in search results.

Does Bing also display featured snippets like Google?

We are seeing more and more of these on Bing. The search engine also displays excerpts at the top of the page that highlight a short answer, usually from a well-structured and well-optimized website.

To check if a site is indexed on Bing, you can type site:yoursite.com directly into the search bar, or use Bing Webmaster Tools, which will give you a more complete view of what is indexed.

Backlinks remain an important criterion for Bing, but their approach is slightly different. They place more emphasis on links from reliable and older sites, even if there are fewer of them.

Bing also offers sponsored links through its Microsoft Advertising platform (formerly Bing Ads). This works similarly to Google Ads, with ads appearing at the top or bottom of the results.