Our Expert Thoughts on Google SEO Vs Bing SEO
Understanding the difference between Google and Bing is key to creating an effective and well-rounded search engine optimisation strategy that gets your business seen.
So, what are the differences?
Google is a more technical crawler than Bing.
The Google algorithm takes a wider, more complex approach to SEO, considering the semantic data related to a specific keyword and exactly what the user could be looking for in their search.
Essentially, searching for “X” could show results for “Y” or “Z”.
The Google algorithm tries to understand the user. For that reason, its algorithm is constantly evolving and indexes much more regularly, to provide the most up-to-date information at all times.
On the other hand, Bing is a much more straightforward algorithm, at least when compared to Google.
Taking it back to basics, Bing’s algorithm focuses much more on target keywords being integrated into content, title tags and URLs.
Certain off-site signals, such as social media presence, also play a key role in Bing’s algorithm.
Bing and Google are very similar algorithms, albeit with slightly different priorities in what they’re looking for.
As long as your website is fast-loading and providing the user with relevant, helpful and recent content, you’re on the right track to getting your businesses and websites seen online.
But which search engine is best?
Well, the truth is, you don’t need to choose between Bing or Google. You can do both.
This post aims to outline exactly what you can do to maximise your online presence on both major search engines, resulting in increased traffic, leads and brand awareness.
Bing vs Google Market Share
Google is the biggest search engine on the planet – we all know that.
Whether that will continue to be the case in the coming years is still to be determined, but for now, we can’t see Google going anywhere.
Especially not while they still have a 90% market share.
But as the second most popular search engine, Bing still has a lot to offer.
Bing has a market share of 3.95% (and that’s not including Yahoo’s 1.35% market share, which they also own).
But compared to Google’s mammoth share, is Bing even worth optimising for?
Is Bing SEO Worth It?
Just because Bing is a smaller search engine, does that mean you should ignore it completely? Absolutely not.
Despite having less than 4% market share, there are over 900 million Bing searches every day. That’s a large audience you’re not taking full advantage of.
For some businesses, optimising for Bing is actually more beneficial and effective than traditional Google SEO. This is for several reasons:
- Directly in front of their audience: In some sectors and for some professionals, it’s more common to search on Bing rather than Google. For example, businesses with Windows desktops and Microsoft Office Suite on all of their PCs. Bing’s demographic tends to be men at an average age of 45, earning over $100k annually and with a university degree. This audience also tends to spend 35% more online than Google searchers.
- Less competition: Since most businesses prioritise optimising for Google, there is less competition in the Bing SEO sector. This also means there are fewer searches when compared to Google. Tapping into a market share of less than 10% may seem like a disadvantage, but that still equates to millions of users.
- Higher search volume for relevant searches: With Bing’s audience being primarily that of a professional nature, the popular searches this demographic is making may favour your SEO strategy and help boost online visibility.
- Higher CTR: Bing’s demographic is more engaged than Google’s. Despite having fewer searches, and therefore fewer impressions, Bing boasts a higher average click-through rate than Google (3% vs 2%).
- Less algorithm changes: Google’s algorithm is constantly changing and it can be difficult to keep up, especially with the hundreds of annual updates. Bing, on the other hand, evolves at a much slower rate, making it more predictable for digital marketers to build a strategy around.
- Voice search SEO: Bing is the choice search engine for the world’s most popular voice assistant, making it a valuable tool for businesses looking to take advantage of emerging voice search SEO trends.
- Early adopter of AI tech: Bing’s algorithm has adopted AI technology to improve its algorithm and has been open to embracing new technologies going forward. For example, we know that the emerging SearchGPT will use Bing’s live index to source information, making Bing SEO all the more important for any early adopters wanting to boost their visibility on the emerging search engine.
Differences Between Bing SEO and Google SEO
As you might expect, each search engine has its own unique algorithm.
So while Google and Bing do share similar ranking signals, there are a few notable key differences to consider when optimising for each search engine.
Let’s look at the seven key differences between Google SEO and Bing SEO:
Keywords and Content
Both search engines prioritise high-quality and relevant content for better rankings. However, there are some differences to keep in mind when optimising for each search engine:
- Google wants related keywords, also known as semantic keywords: Google’s algorithm is sophisticated enough to understand the context of your content and assess its relevance to user queries. It values content that is written for users rather than solely for search engines. Avoid forcing keywords that disrupt the natural flow of your content.
- Bing values exact-match keywords in meta descriptions: Bing places more emphasis on exact-match keywords in meta descriptions. Including relevant keywords in meta descriptions can help improve visibility on Bing.
- Google values text, Bing values more images/videos: Google prioritises text-based content and places significant value on well-written and informative articles. On the other hand, Bing puts more weight on visual content such as images and videos. Including original and high-quality images and videos can enhance your visibility on Bing.
- Bing values metadata more than Google: Bing pays closer attention to metadata, including title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags. Optimising these elements with relevant keywords can boost your rankings on Bing.
- Google wants original images/videos: Google places importance on original and high-quality images and videos. Including unique visuals that add value to your content can positively impact your rankings on Google.
Voice Search SEO
Search via voice assistant has grown rapidly in recent years, with Amazon’s Echo and Google Nest being two of the leading assistants on the market.
However, as you may expect due to its inclusion on this list, these voice assistants use different search engines for their queries.
As you might expect, Google’s voice assistant will always use Google, while Amazon’s Alexa will use Bing.
Why does this make a difference?
Considering that the Amazon Echo is the most popular smart speaker on the market, optimising for Bing means that, in turn, you are optimising for voice search.
This opens up a whole new world of opportunities for digital marketer and businesses alike to get their business seen by their target audience.
Technical SEO
Bing and Google might have slightly different technical aspects to their algorithms, but there is one key similarity – your website needs to be fast.
Fast-loading websites provide users with a great user experience, helping to build trust from the get-go and indicating to search engines that your website is of high quality.
Now let’s compare the technical aspects of each search engine algorithm.
Any experienced digital marketer is likely familiar with Core Web Vitals. These are a set of metrics that measure the real-world user experience of your website, such as load speed, interactivity and visual stability.
Mobile usability and performance play a key role in Core Web Vitals, meaning that to perform well you need to have a responsive website that adapts to different devices.
Core Web Vitals play a pivotal role in Google’s algorithm, meaning that if your website is responsive, quick to load and practices mobile-first indexing, you’re in the right place.
While Bing does want websites to be optimised for mobile, quick and responsive, it’s not as big of a priority as with Google.
Both Google and Bing look for web pages to be canonicalised, meaning that each page needs to have a URL structure that clearly differentiates it from the rest of the website.
Google’s algorithm is better at determining a website’s canonical than Bing, meaning that if you want to optimise for Bing you should make sure each page has a distinctive and uniquely different URL.
The last technical aspect that separates the Bing and Google algorithms is how they view 302 redirects, otherwise known as temporary redirections.
Google prefers if a website uses a 301 redirect, but still does not have issues with a 302 redirect.
Bing, on the other hand, has been known to run into problems when it comes across a 302 redirect, instead interpreting it as a 301.
Social Signals and Engagement
One key way Bing separates itself from Google is through its use of social signals as a ranking factor.
While Google has stated that social media content does not directly impact search engine rankings, Bing believes that it plays a role in determining how relevant and popular your website is to users.
Bing also uses social media engagement as an indicator of the quality of your website content – if people are sharing your content, it must be good and worth ranking highly on their search engine.
No matter whether your business is highly active on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter (now X), Pinterest, or Bluesky, these activities will indirectly lead to improved Bing visibility.
Backlinks
Quality backlinks play an important part in Google’s algorithm, with these links being determined as a badge of trust from other sites.
When a site with high domain authority links to your site, Google’s algorithm sees this as a major indicator of your page’s reliability and relevance.
For this reason, Google takes a quality-over-quantity approach to backlinks, meaning that one high-value link is much more valuable than 10 poor links.
Bing still values backlinks, just not as much as Google does.
Here are some types of backlinks that are considered more valuable on Google:
- Editorial Backlinks: These are organic links that are naturally earned from reputable websites. They are highly valued by Google as they indicate that other authoritative sources recognise the quality of your content.
- Guest Blogging Backlinks: By contributing high-quality articles to authoritative websites in your industry, you can secure backlinks that carry significant weight on Google. These backlinks establish your expertise and credibility.
- Business Profiles: Creating comprehensive profiles for your business on various online directories and platforms can generate valuable backlinks. These profiles not only provide information to potential customers but also contribute to your website’s visibility in search results.
- Guest Posts: Similar to guest blogging, writing informative and valuable guest posts for relevant websites can earn you backlinks. These links are beneficial for establishing your authority within your industry and attracting organic traffic.
- Sponsored Links: While sponsored links may have a clear commercial intent, Google still recognises their value if they are relevant and provide value to users. Carefully selecting reputable websites for sponsorship opportunities can result in valuable backlinks. Be careful not to overdo it and prioritise natural backlinks.
Page Authority
Page Authority is a predictive score that predicts how well a specific page will rank on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Not to be confused with domain authority, which predicts how well an entire website will rank, page authority only measures a single page’s chances of ranking.
Both Google and Bing use some form of page authority as part of their algorithms, with Google using a PageRank system and Bing incorporating it into its ranking factors.
PageRank is an algorithm that assesses the quality and importance of a page based on the number and quality of backlinks it receives. The more high-quality backlinks, the higher the PageRank and therefore, the higher the chances of ranking highly on Google.
Bing places more of a focus on social signals, user engagement and external links when evaluating page authority, slightly differentiating itself from Google.
The key to improving your page authority is to create high-quality, relevant content that attracts backlinks from trustworthy sources. By focusing on this, you can improve your chances of ranking well on both Google and Bing.
User Interface
Both Google and Bing serve the same purpose of providing users with relevant and accurate search results.
However, their user interfaces differ in terms of design and functionality.
Google tends to have a more minimalistic and simplistic design, which focuses on delivering the most relevant information quickly and efficiently.
On the other hand, Bing offers a visually appealing layout with various interactive features such as video previews, image carousels, and local business listings directly on the search results page. This can provide users with a more engaging experience while searching for information.
Understanding the differences between the user interfaces of Google and Bing can help businesses tailor their content to better align with the specific platform. For example, creating visually appealing content may be more beneficial for gaining visibility on Bing, while focusing on relevant information may be more important for ranking well on Google.
Image and Video Search
Following on from the last point, Bing’s approach to image and video search differs from that of Google.
Bing’s visual search capabilities are far more advanced than Google’s, with features such as visual search, image match, and related images for more precise results.
Moreover, Bing has implemented AI-driven algorithms specifically for image and video search, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to enhance the accuracy and relevance of search results. This allows users to find similar images with greater precision, which can be particularly beneficial for businesses seeking to showcase their products or services.
Meanwhile, Google tends to lean towards traditional text-based search results, although they do offer a reverse image search feature.
With Bing’s focus on visual content and the advancements in its AI-driven algorithms, the platform presents unique opportunities for businesses to optimise their image and video content and gain better visibility in search results.
Local SEO
The last key difference between the Google and Bing algorithms is how they approach local search.
Bing’s algorithm tends to prioritise smaller businesses more prominently in local intent searches, providing them with opportunities to gain visibility and attract local customers.
Bing also incorporates a range of SERP features that enhance the search experience, offering additional information and options for users.
On the other hand, Google’s local search is hyper-localised, focusing on immediate areas and delivering fewer results compared to Bing.
Moreover, when it comes to local maps, Google Maps provides detailed accuracy and comprehensive street view functionality, while Bing Maps offers a visually immersive experience with accurate representations.
Google Search Console vs Bing Webmaster Tools
Digital marketers looking to maximise their SEO efforts are likely digging into the data and already familiar with at least Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster tools.
Both platforms provide essential features such as indexing, crawling errors, and sitemap submission, but they also offer unique features that can help improve your site’s visibility on the respective search engines.
Google Search Console provides detailed reports on various aspects of your website’s performance, including mobile usability, search traffic, and key metrics such as external and internal links.
Additionally, it offers coverage and enhancement tools that focus on mobile-first indexing and Core Web Vitals, helping to improve your website’s overall performance. The URL Inspection Tool is another valuable feature, providing insights into how Google views specific pages by examining indexing status and crawl reports.
On the other hand, Bing Webmaster Tools also provides comprehensive data and reports, similar to Google, encompassing website performance, clicks, impressions, and more. However, it also includes a unique SEO analysis tool that identifies optimisation opportunities, offering valuable insights to enhance your website’s visibility.
Moreover, Bing’s site scan feature sets it apart, enabling you to thoroughly examine and address any SEO issues present on your website. Additionally, Bing continues to offer a Keyword Research tool, which can be instrumental in shaping your content strategy and optimisation efforts.
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