Google’s popularity as a search engine came partially due to the lackluster rules for Microsoft’s engine, Bing. However, Bing has introduced a clear set of Webmaster Guidelines. Here’s a concise summary of the key points of these guidelines. Use them to determine your Bing SEO strategy to improve your visibility on the web.
1. Content needs to be deep, clear, and free of typos and major grammatical errors, as well as up-to-date and accessible
Thin content, even if it is optimized for search engines, will not help websites achieve a top Bing ranking. Especially not if the site is full of ads and banners. It’s clear that Bing shares Google’s view: content is king.
2. Links should be organic and come from as many high-ranking and reputable websites as possible
Purchased links have little value. Websites that rely mostly on link schemes will not only rank poorly, but also invite penalties. In this respect, Bing behaves like Google after the Penguin update.
4. Slow page load times will impact rankings
Slow loading speeds can be the result of bad coding and web design, poor hosting, content overload, or black hat SEO. Regardless of the cause, Bing aims to provide users with the best search engine experience possible. Unsurprisingly, it will favor sites that load fast.
4. Too much SEO might do more harm than good
Although the Bing Webmaster Guidelines don’t say this openly, it’s implied by the section on SEO that websites that rely exclusively on SEO won’t rank well. SEO must go hand in hand with content creation, organic link-building, and social media marketing. In other words, if you want to make it to the first page of Bing’s search results, don’t abuse SEO.
5. Social media content will help websites increase their search engine rankings
Bing looks for positive social media signals, such as Likes, Pluses, Re-tweets, Diggs, and especially Shares. Websites that are influential on social media are more likely to reach high rankings. It’s not clear how exactly Bing measures the value of social media buzz. But it’s clear that the more attention you receive from social media users, the higher will your organic search engine ranking be.
As you can see, ranking well on Bing isn’t that difficult. All you have to do is focus on content and people and not on SEO schemes or tactics that artificially boost your ranking. Focus on quality and you’ll rank well not only on Bing, but also on Google and on all the other search engines out there.