When it comes to search engine optimization, Bing and Yahoo are often left out of the conversation. Why? Well, Google dominates the industry so heavily that it’s nearly synonymous with the term “SEO” itself.
But while Google is definitely where the majority of your focus should be directed (and the same tactics you’d use for Google generally apply to Bing and Yahoo), ignoring other search engines completely can lead to tunnel vision that creates missed opportunities.
4 Reasons Worth Remembering
In fact, here are four reasons why it’s worth paying attention to both Bing and Yahoo while optimizing your organic and paid search marketing efforts.
1. Bing & Yahoo Combined Drive About 30% of All Search Engine Volume
If you arrived at this blog post through a search engine, odds are you didn’t get here through Bing or Yahoo. We don’t usually operate under assumptions alone, but with its 64% market share, it’s a fairly safe bet you found us through Google.
But what about more than 30% of search traffic that doesn’t go through Google? The majority of that traffic goes through Bing and Yahoo, and 30+% isn’t an insignificant statistic. So monitoring how much traffic those search engines send to your site matters.
2. Bing Traffic Converts Better Than Google
This is one of very few areas where Microsoft’s search engine objectively beats Google. Why do customers using Bing tend to convert better than Google? It may be because the average Bing user is more mature in age and has more money to spend. It’s also possible some users choose Bing because they feel it does a better job of directing them to what they’re looking for, although that would be a minority opinion. What’s important to remember is that customers who are motivated to spend are customers you can’t afford to ignore.
3. The Bing/Yahoo Audience Is Growing (Slowly)
The total search market share claimed by Bing and Yahoo has slowly been biting at Google’s heels for years now. That’s largely thanks to developments such as Mozilla making Yahoo the default search engine on Firefox earlier in 2015 (which led to an aggressive pushback from Google). Plus, Microsoft has shown no signs of slowing down their marketing commitment to Bing. That could contribute to continued small gains in the future, or at the very least, suggest that it’s not going away any time soon.
4. Bing Webmaster Tools Include Helpful Tools Missing From Google’s Search Console
While Google’s Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) is an indispensable tool, Bing’s Webmaster Tools offer some unique features that are worth a look. Bing’s Keyword Research Tool, for one example, uses actual organic search volume, while Google’s Keyword Planner is skewed toward the number of queries that have triggered paid search ads. Plus, it features plenty of tools for diagnosing technical SEO issues on your site in addition to
Google’s offerings.
Did you find this post using Bing or Yahoo? Connect with us on Twitter @sundogtweets, and tell us why you choose those search engines. We’d love to hear from you.
