When it comes to internet search engines, consumers have a long list of options to choose from. But for marketers, there’s one clear behemoth in the bunch: Google. After all, it’s the only search engine with a name that seconds as a verb (to “google” something) for performing an internet search. “Googling” even has its own listing in the dictionary.
Statistically speaking, Google is also the clear search leader worldwide. Google enjoyed a nearly 84% market share among global searches on desktop computers in July 2022. Its closest competitor, Microsoft’s Bing, claimed just short of 9% of desktop searches during the same time period. In the same month, Google accounted for nearly 95% of worldwide mobile searches, with Bing claiming less than 1% of the total mobile searches.
All the stats and everyday observations lead to an inevitable question among search engine marketers: Is it worth the trouble to perform Bing ad optimization and Bing SEO optimization?
4 reasons Bing might be worth considering
While its search engine market share may be dwarfed by that of Google, for many businesses, there are still some distinct advantages to advertising with Bing and optimizing for Bing searches. Consider these four solid reasons not to overlook Bing in your business’s SEO and SEM efforts:
1. Less competition
Because Google is well known as the worldwide search leader, it’s also the search engine that every business and every marketer seeks to achieve high rankings on — making it more challenging for any individual business or brand to keep up with the competition. And with everybody and their brother optimizing for Google, they simultaneously tend to ignore all the other search engines. This makes it easier to climb the rankings on Bing, and can also lead to a lower cost per click for Bing’s paid advertisers.
2. Similar SEO practices
While large numbers of SEO professionals have grown adept at optimizing for Google, many may worry that they have little to no experience optimizing for Bing and other search engines. But even though Bing uses different algorithms than Google to determine its SERP rankings, the SEO best practices needed to achieve high rankings with either search engine are by and large the same. As a result, the same SEO techniques that lead to success on Google also apply for Bing.
3. Easily accessible tools and resources
To help them achieve high rankings with its search engine, Bing provides developers with a long list of free diagnostic and analytic tools. And by leveraging them, brands and businesses can take big strides toward better understanding Bing’s algorithms and using them to raise their Bing SERP rankings. Bing’s Webmaster Guidelines offer a wealth of insights on achieving high rankings with the search engine, too.
4. Future growth potential
Last but not least, one big reason businesses and marketers should not overlook Bing is its potential for future growth. By showing some forward thinking, Microsoft has put Bing in a solid market position. Microsoft has also set Bing up to have a strong likelihood of future success, perhaps even giving it a chance to someday compete with Google for a significant share of the market.
This is largely because Microsoft’s broad suite of software products, devices and partnerships — including Windows, Office, personal computers, LinkedIn, the Cortana virtual assistant, mobile devices, Xbox consoles, the Azure cloud-computing platform and more — gives it the capability to incorporate Bing for search purposes. Microsoft can also grow its search market share in doing so. In addition, all of these popular devices and services are capable of collecting user data, which can be utilized to boost Bing’s performance as a search engine for the consumers who use them. By enabling Bing searches to become more predictive, local and personalized, this data could help Bing further seize future market share from Google.
Seeking expert help to maximize your brand’s SEO and SEM efforts? At Brandon, our team of search marketing experts has a proven track record of building successful search strategies. As a Google Partner, we help our clients rise above the competition to achieve high rankings with all the leading search engines — including both Google and Bing — and we’re here to help. Contact us today to discuss how we can help your business grow.
Nick McNeill
Interactive Director
Nick uses his talents in computer science and graphic design to grow the online presence of brands such as Santee Cooper, Southern Tide, frogg toggs, Farmers Telephone Cooperative and Blue Force Gear. A serial marathon runner, his steely determination shines through every brand he grows. As lead user interface designer of the GuestDesk software suite for online hotel reservations, he watched it explode from $1 million in reservations to over $400 million annually.