Story Based Question
You’re managing SEO for a global e-commerce store that sells tech gadgets. While Google dominates most of your markets, you’ve noticed that Bing has a larger share in certain countries like the UK and Canada. You’re starting to wonder, How do I approach SEO differently for Bing versus Google, especially in international markets?
Exact Answer
Optimizing for Bing versus Google in global markets requires adjusting strategies for factors like search algorithms, ranking signals, and user behaviors. Bing values on-page optimization, social signals, and keyword-rich content more, while Google focuses heavily on backlinks, content quality, and mobile optimization.
Explanation
While both Bing and Google are search engines, they have distinct ranking factors and user preferences. Understanding these differences is crucial when optimizing for each in global markets. Let’s break down some of the key differences:
- Ranking Signals
- Google: Google heavily relies on backlinks, mobile-friendliness, content depth, and page speed for ranking. Google’s algorithm, particularly with mobile-first indexing, focuses on providing the best user experience, especially on mobile devices.
- Bing: Bing tends to place more emphasis on on-page SEO factors, such as keyword usage in titles, meta descriptions, and headers. Social signals like engagement on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter also play a bigger role in Bing’s rankings than Google’s.
- Keyword Use
- Google: Google’s algorithm is more sophisticated and understands synonyms, so exact keyword matching is less critical. Instead, Google emphasizes content relevance and contextual meaning.
- Bing: Bing is more reliant on exact keyword matches. When optimizing for Bing, make sure to use your target keywords more precisely and frequently in titles, headings, and content.
- Content Quality
- Google: Google focuses on content quality and relevance. It rewards authoritative, detailed, and well-structured content, often through Featured Snippets or other rich results.
- Bing: Bing also values content quality but places more weight on traditional content signals, such as keyword-rich text. Bing’s algorithm tends to be less focused on content depth and more on surface-level optimization.
- Mobile Optimization
- Google: Mobile optimization is a must. With Google’s mobile-first indexing, the mobile version of your site is the primary version for ranking.
- Bing: While mobile optimization is also important for Bing, it doesn’t have as strong a focus on mobile-first indexing as Google does. Bing ranks desktop and mobile versions more similarly.
- Social Signals
- Google: Google doesn’t directly use social signals as ranking factors, but they do help indirectly by driving traffic and engagement, which can lead to backlinks.
- Bing: Bing gives more weight to social signals, such as Facebook likes and tweets. Social engagement in the right regional context can improve your rankings in Bing.
- Local Search Results
- Google: Google’s local search results are highly dynamic, with personalized SERPs based on search history and location. Google My Business (GMB) is crucial for optimizing local SEO.
- Bing: Bing also offers local search results, but they are less personalized compared to Google’s. Bing Places for Business helps optimize local rankings on Bing.
Example
Let’s say your e-commerce store specializes in smartwatches and sells globally. In the UK, you notice that Bing has a higher market share than in other regions, so you optimize your site specifically for Bing by:
- Using exact keyword matches like “best smartwatches 2024 UK” in titles and meta descriptions for Bing.
- Adding more social proof on product pages by linking to Twitter reviews and Facebook comments, since Bing values social signals more than Google.
- Ensuring your content is keyword-rich but still informative and engaging, recognizing that Bing prefers this approach.
Meanwhile, for Google in the U.S., you focus on high-quality content, detailed reviews, and earning backlinks from authoritative sites to improve your Google ranking.
Optimizing for Bing versus Google in international markets means focusing on different ranking signals. While Google prioritizes content depth, backlinks, and mobile optimization, Bing gives more weight to keyword-rich content, social signals, and traditional SEO practices. Tailor your strategies based on each search engine’s strengths to maximize visibility in specific regions.