SEO Guide for Bing & Yahoo

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What is the first word that comes to your mind when we say search engine?
Google, right?
Well, it’s only fair as Google holds over 89% of the search engine market share, which is huge! Nearly 11% of the search market is beyond the reach of Google.
From which Bing & Yahoo together make up around 8% of the search engine market. It means that these two search engines might not be great as Google, but their share is significant.

The monthly search volume of Bing alone is over 12 billion worldwide. We haven’t even started with other search engines yet.

Importance of Doing SEO for Bing & Yahoo

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Digital marketing isn’t all about Google, after all. There is a world beyond Google too! A world of Bing, Yahoo!, Baidu, and enormous other search engines that are equally important.
Overlooking these leading search engines is a missed opportunity. It is like saying no to one month of free Netflix subscription or saying no to incoming money.
No successful business person risks losing potential customers.
So why should you?
There are plenty of people searching for your products and services on platforms other than Google. Chances are, they might not find you there.
Chances are they will pick your competitors over you because of your low Search Engine Result Page (SERP) rankings.
Bing & Yahoo own a significant chunk of the search engine market share after Google.
Plus, there are plenty of reasons why you should invest your time in them. This guide will discuss how vital these two search engines are, along with some useful SEO tips. Here are five main reasons why you should target Bing & Yahoo while planning your SEO strategy.

1. Bing & Yahoo Are Most Popular Search Engines After Google

If you pay attention to the statistics, you will realize that every fifth searcher will prefer using either Bing or Yahoo instead of Google. And if you look at the region-wise data, Yahoo and Bing still hold a considerable percentage in search engine market share.

• Yahoo is second to Google in countries like Japan (17.94%), Hong Kong (5.46%), Taiwan (4.84%), and Singapore (1.42%).
• Bing is second to Google in Barbados (8.84%), United States of America (6.45%), Georgia (5.84%), Canada (5.16%), Belgium (4.74%), and the United Kingdom (4.69%).

Considering these numbers, we can safely predict that Bing and Yahoo still hold a decent user base.
Additionally, people tend to rely on Google for everything. They consider Google as a safe place to store their passwords or even their financial details. They want their search engines faster but, more importantly, secure.
After the 2018 Google data breach, people have started questioning the safety of Google. Everyone leans towards safe browsing, and no one likes data breaches.
When Google fails to provide a safe medium to search, people turn to the second most trusted search engine: either Bing or Yahoo.

2. Low Competition Helps You Achieve High Rankings

Since 1998 SEOs have only focused on Google rankings.
Two decades on a single platform, why?
Because Google has the highest search market share, but what people often overlook is the competition.
Featuring as the top result on Google is highly competitive. On the other hand, Bing & Yahoo receive very little competition. It means you can easily rank on the first page of these search engines.
For example, a top-ranked Google website for the keyword phrase ‘best wedding photographer’ might be satisfied with the success of Google and, therefore, not optimize for the other search engines.

If you aim to rank for the same search phrase on Bing & Yahoo, you will have higher chances to lead that platform. Because Google-top ranked, competitors are satisfied by the result and not opting to rank on Bing & Yahoo.

3. Their Ranking Factors Are Way Simpler

Getting viral on social media and ranking better on the SERPs aren’t the same. Each search engine has a unique set of ranking factors.
You need to plan your SEO strategy according to them. When it comes to Google, no one can be thorough. Google algorithm updates are very frequent.
Digital marketers spend decades trying to decode and understand the Google ranking factors. Yet, even today, after the invention of many analytic tools, no one can still confidently say, ‘I know how Google works.’
On the contrary, Bing & Yahoo have simple ranking factors. Bing openly publishes its ranking guidelines. Which can help users to understand how Bing finds, indexes, and ranks a website.
Also, as Bing powers yahoo, they both work on pretty much the same algorithms. It means your efforts to achieve higher rankings are reduced automatically.
The best part is the search traffic you get from Yahoo and Bing doesn’t fade away quickly as other sources. This search traffic is stable, scalable, and free.

4. Bing and Yahoo Reach the Audience Where Google Fails!

It is one of the most important reasons you should start focusing on Bing & Yahoo SEO. Google is undoubtedly the most used search engine worldwide.
However, in some countries like China, Google is blocked. And in some parts of the world, Google is not that popular. In all these countries where Google fails to reach, Bing & Yahoo swoops in.
There are some industries where Bing and Yahoo have proven to be more valuable than Google.
Almost 80% of all searches related to education, automotive, and telecommunications are done via these two search engines.
Bing even has the power to charm many programmers.
How?
In 2016, HackerRank announced a partnership with Bing, making code searching easier than ever for Bing users.
In a nutshell, there are tons of industries and tons of regions where Google fails. Bing & Yahoo reach those Google-drought areas.

5. Receive the Traffic from Browsers and Voice Assistants

Do you know why Google owns the most significant share when it comes to web surfing?
The reason is that many browsers and voice assistants, including Google Chrome and Google assistant, use Google as the default search engine. But there are still a hefty amount of searches performed via other browsers.
Some of the browsers and even voice assistants are powered by Bing & Yahoo:

• Over 7% of searches are done via Firefox. In November 2014, Yahoo and Mozilla announced that Yahoo would be the default search option in the Firefox browser. This deal has brought many searchers to Yahoo.
• Microsoft Edge, previously known as Internet Explorer, owns 6.67% of the search market share. The revamped new browser has attracted many users. It is great news if you optimize your website for Bing. Because Edge now opens Bing as a default search engine.
• Cortana handles more than 25% of searches through the taskbar. The Microsoft window’s voice assistant Cortana is enabled on all our desktops and laptops. And Cortana performs all the searches via Bing. Imagine the traffic now!
• In 2016, AOL announced a search partnership with Bing. From then on, AOL’s web, mobile, and tablet search are powered by Bing worldwide.
• Bing gets most search queries from Alexa. You read it right, Amazon’s Alexa puts Bing directly into 100 million households!
  

If you understand the importance of Yahoo & Bing SEO, you can read on with some of the great tips to optimize your site.

Tips to Rank High on Bing & Yahoo

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The SEO strategy for Google optimization doesn’t work for Bing & Yahoo. In a simple language, a single strategy won’t impress all the search engines.
You first have to analyze the ranking factors of Bing & Yahoo and then make an SEO plan. Lucky for you that we have combined some useful tips that will ease your work.

1. Keywords are the Key to Higher Rankings

Keywords are an integral part of SEO strategy. Generally, people don’t scroll beyond the first five results of a search result page.
If you want to be one of the top fives, you should plan keywords on your website content.
Building a keyword strategy requires a lot of research. It is even more crucial when your search engine is smart enough to detect stuffed keywords. So, where to start?
Firstly, find out frequently used search phrases on Yahoo & Bing related to your business. Once you have a list of these search terms, you can start adding them to your website content.
Yahoo & Bing put great emphasis on page titles, so make sure to add your keywords there. While you are at it, we advise you not to create bizarre sentences to add keywords in the content.
Make sure your sentences are meaningful and your content interesting to read. And That’s it, you have done your part. Now just wait for BingBot to crawl your website and list your business as a top result.

2. Exact Keywords Work Best for Yahoo and Bing

Adding keywords and yet creating engaging content is no piece of the pie. Plus, search engines know how to find stuffed keywords.
If the crawlers find the overuse of keywords in your content, they will force drop your rankings as a penalty. So, Google SEO strategists suggest using long-tail keywords. But it is not true for Bing & Yahoo.
Google introduced the Hummingbird algorithm in 2013. Since then, SEO specialists have started focusing more on semantic search and user intent and less on keywords. But unlike Google, Bing & Yahoo don’t play the semantic game.
Research has shown that straightforward keyword targeting works best for these search engines.
We recommend using exact and straightforward keywords while optimizing for Yahoo & Bing. It means you got to perform thorough keyword research.
Don’t worry, though, and you will not need fancy SEO tools for that. Bing’s “related searches” will do a lot of your work here.
You can find this section at the bottom of SERPs.

3. Yahoo and Bing Favor Quality Content

Some SEO techniques are similar regardless of the search engine. It is true for creating high-quality content.
Besides generating keyword-rich content, Yahoo & Bing rank the websites based on content relevancy. It means you need to create highly relevant and readable content. So when the users land on your website, they find exciting and useful content.
Your content will hold them like glue and increase the Dwell time, which is a great sign! Longer the Dwell time, the better the rankings.
Dwell time is an important ranking factor that signals search engines that your website has quality content.
You can define Dwell time as the amount of time a user spends viewing a document after clicking a link on a SERP.
For higher rankings on Yahoo & Bing, we advise you to create simple, informative, and organized content. Do not publish refurbished content because no one likes that.
For E.g., Take a look at this content.
Try to bring something new to the market. Create content on trending topics but most importantly, publish content consistently.

4. There is No Better Tip than ‘Link Building’

All the search engines value inbound linking. It means backlinks are good for your website.
Why do the websites with a comprehensive link profile be found at the end of Google’s result page?
It is because Google relies heavily on PageRank. Google chooses quality over quantity.
If the inbound links are drawing more link juice, you will rank highly on Google. But it is not the case with Bing & Yahoo.
Bing & Yahoo’s ranking factors consider the number of inbound links. It means if you have an extensive backlink profile, you are likely to rank higher on Bing & Yahoo.
These two search engines give comparatively less importance to PageRank Score.
The rankings are instead related more to the number of backlinks. The only important thing to remember here is, avoid spamming and pick only relevant sites to build links.

5. TWO Search Engines, ONE SEO Strategy

Wait, what? You’ll be thinking we’re not making any sense with this tip.
How can one SEO strategy work for two different search engines?
Well, we stand by our tip. Bing & Yahoo are an alliance in the search field. Bing powers most Yahoo search algorithms. So, technically, Bing SEO automatically optimizes your website for Yahoo.

It is your job as an SEO specialist to optimize the website for higher rankings. But your work doesn’t get over there.
If your website rankings are good, then you have to maintain that too. It requires keeping a constant eye on the ever-changing search engine algorithms.
With Bing & Yahoo search-deal, you have one less search engine to worry about!
Yahoo and Bing declared their search relationship in 2009. Since then, they are collectively working as a search team.
Both the search engines work on pretty much the same ranking factors. It means if your site is ranking #5 on Bing, it will be the same for Yahoo too.
Except for long-tail searches, search results are pretty much the same for both the search engines.

6. Create a Bing-worthy Title Tag

Bing has a complex set of rules to build titles. It provides an optimal search experience to the users. So, unless you want your title to be ignored, you ought to create a title that follows Bing criteria.
The more relevant your titles are, the better they are in the eyes of these search engines.
Bing considers the title tag is an important factor while selecting web pages to show in search results. Make sure your HTML titles are not too long. Otherwise, they will truncate those titles.
The search engines have to fit necessary information in a limited space. So they will only display the words from your title that are matching with the search queries.
Lastly, remember to add some simple and straightforward keywords in H1 and H2 title tags.
As we previously stated, both Yahoo & Bing have similar ranking factors. Thus, if you are creating a Bing-worthy title, you are also making a Yahoo-worthy title.

7. Take Advantage of the Crawl Control Feature

SEO is complex. But if you have a basic idea of how search engines function, you can easily optimize your website.
All the search engines function on these three primary steps to organize the websites:

• Crawling : Search the internet for content. Go through each code/URL they find.
• Indexing : Organize the content found while crawling. Once the page is indexed, it appears as a result for relevant search queries.
• Ranking : Arrange the content in a sequence from most relevant to least relevant based upon a search query.

This shows that crawling is the first and foremost step your search engine will perform to rank your website.
For other search engines, you need to install the robots.txt file to start the crawling process. This text file instructs search engine robots to crawl pages of their site. But Bing & Yahoo makes this task easier for us.
You just have to tell Microsoft’s Bing bot to crawl your site pages more frequently. And yes! It’ll listen. You can set up the crawl rate and time under Crawl Control in Bing Webmaster Tools.
This feature will tell the bots when to crawl and where to crawl.
Generally, the default crawl rate is slower.
So if your site is huge or often updated, you should set the crawling to ‘full volume.’ This way, even your newly added content will be crawled and indexed faster.

8. Index all Critical Pages of Your Website

Once Bingbot has crawled your web pages, it comes to indexing, which is a way to tell the search engine that your website exists.
Bing has clearly stated that ‘Being indexed is the first step towards developing traffic from Bing.’
Until your pages are indexed by Yahoo & Bing, they would not appear in any search results. It means all your SEO techniques are effective only after indexing.
So, if you want your website to rank in Bing & Yahoo search results, the very first step is to make sure all of your website’s important pages are indexed.
Here is a quick way to know how many of your web pages are indexed. Firstly, go to Bing/ Yahoo search page and then run a search for yoursite.com.
Take a look at this search results screenshot for our website.
The search engine will display only the indexed pages as a result. This is how you will instantly know how many pages of your site are yet to be indexed.
Generally, older websites don’t face any issues in indexing. However, if your business is new, it can take Bing & Yahoo a while to find and crawl through your website. But you can also speed things up via submitting your website to Bing Webmaster Tool.

9. Creating Content Related to Trending Topics Helps!

Publishing new content is always a good SEO practice. But creating content on trending topics is even better! It is considered a piece of good SEO advice regardless of the search engine.
Google is limited to occasional doodles, but Yahoo & Bing emphasize trending news than any other search engine. Bing pushes trending topics at the bottom of the search page.
On the other hand, Yahoo has assigned most of its on-page real estate to trend news and topics. It means your trending content may directly place you on the first page of these search engines.
It is advisable to stay ahead of the crowd. Take the help of social media platforms and Google Trends to know about the latest trends. And publish the content related to hot topics within the next 48 hours itself.

10. Social Signals are Important for Yahoo & Bing SEO

Unlike Google’s unclear stand on social media, Yahoo & Bing has directly stated that social presence is an important factor for them while deciding which web pages to show in search results.

Relevant : Social Media & SEO

According to Bing Webmaster Guidelines, a better social media reputation helps you with organic rankings.
Social media speaks magic to the youth: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram influence today’s generation, leading you to higher search rankings.
If your content is viral on social media or has a large follower base sharing your content, it will send positive Bing signals.
These positive signals can have a huge impact on how you rank organically in the longer run.
Therefore, social media should be a part of your Bing & Yahoo SEO strategies.

11. You Certainly Shouldn’t Forget About On-Page SEO

On-page SEO optimization works a little differently when doing for Bing and Yahoo!. It is more of an uncomplicated and old-school technique. Now when we say old-school, it doesn’t mean that spamming is allowed.
Unlike Google, these two search engines still consider direct keywords as significant indicators. Put out title tags that include your priority keyword.
H1 and H2 should hold them, and so do the initial lines of your content. Stay direct with your HTML titles, open graphs, and directories.
Always stay up-to-date with the latest news from bing webmaster central or you can also follow related blogs.
You can also check that Bing and Yahoo! bots are not restricted from crawling and indexing your website pages.
Image Alt Tags are similarly important for these two search engines, and you should practice keeping it relevant to the visuals and not keywords.

12. Evolve with the New Updates!

Needless to say that SEO is continuously evolving. Be it any search engine you are optimizing for; the algorithms do change from time to time.
We have to admit that Google algorithms change almost every day up to some extent, making it difficult to cope.
Bing and Yahoo! don’t change their algorithms that frequently, but that doesn’t mean you can take it for granted. The updates on these search engines might be infrequent, but they are very impactful when they happen.
To sustain your rankings here, keep an eye on the latest updates. And make the necessary changes as and when needed.

13. Follow What Bing & Yahoo Guidelines Say

Search Engine Optimization is a legitimate practice that improves the technical and content aspects of a website. This guide mentions all the important Bing & Yahoo SEO tactics. Now it’s time to familiarize you with the practices you should avoid. This tip can save you from some serious penalties. So, we thought it’s worth including it in our list.
Bing & Yahoo penalizes sites that follow black-hat SEO practices.
Cloaking, link spamming, plagiarized content, keyword stuffing, malicious behavior are some of the things you should be taking care of.
Use of any of these practices knowingly or unknowingly may result in penalties. So, make sure not to use what Bing & Yahoo don’t recommend.
You can go through the guidelines and learn about more useful tips here:

• Bing Webmaster Guidelines
• Yahoo Webmaster Resources

Lastly, remember that search engines change algorithms constantly. So, it’s never wise to put all your efforts into one place.
The only way to top the search results is to optimize for every search engine out there. And with Bing & Yahoo holding a decent search market share, you have got to start incorporating them in your SEO campaigns.
We hope with our shared tips; you will plan the best SEO tactics for your website.
Go beyond the world of Google, and top the search results of Bing & Yahoo!
Contact us for a free SEO proposal, and let’s see what we can do to rank your website on Yahoo and Bing.