While it has been drummed into our heads for many years that search engines like Google do not directly recognize social signals as part of any broader SEO assessment, not all search engines behave the same. Most notably, Bing recognizes social signals and in fact encourages social media use as part of a broader SEO strategy. For brands that are active on social media more so than anywhere else, this can have a monumental impact over time on their search performance.

To help you understand the nature of social media influence on Bing, let’s look at a few examples of proper social media use that can boost your SEO on the search engine.

Include Links in Your Social Media Profiles

Every social media platform your website or brand uses is an opportunity to generate links back to your website – and to build clout with Bing! By pinging servers with links embedded in your social media profile, Bing can more quickly identify that your social media platforms are associated with your site directly. While some platforms may have nofollow tags for these fields, others do not: the end result is that you’ll be generating more link juice and SEO potential by always including your website (use the home page in this situation) in all of your social media profiles.

Activate Bing Webmaster Tools

Inside Bing itself is a wealth of potential help that can bolster all of your SEO efforts through the platform, including social media. One notable option that every website should utilize is the keyword solutions offered by Bing. With this solution, you’ll be able to see which keywords you’re currently ranking for most prominently. With this information in hand, you can then begin to custom-tailor your social media presence.

By targeting these specific keywords with your social media posts, you will increase the chances of ranking prominently for select results. And of course, more social media activity – since Bing does monitor social signals – means that your pages targeting similar keywords will slowly see their rankings rise as well.

Focus on Shares, Likes and Comments

The simple fact is that the most prominent pages in Bing search results tend also to have the most engagement on social media posts. Whether this comes in the form of likes, shares, retweets or comments, these social signals are vital to generating optimal visibility within Bing’s algorithms.

By focusing on generating more attention and interaction with your posts – regardless of the frequency you post – you can encourage Bing to view your brand as a worthwhile entity that deserves greater recognition. While it is recommended to post frequently in order to maximize this effect, generating consistent feedback from users is vital to ensuring your social signals are pinging servers on Bing and helping to bolster your broader SEO efforts.

Whether it be positive or controversial, generating attention via social media can have an out-sized impact on your Bing SEO endeavors.

Before you spend all of your time focusing on Google, consider how Bing offers unique opportunities to be visible to a large segment of select audiences. With social media as your active ally, you can bolster your website’s visibility and rankings in search. And with just a couple of other tweaks and processes, you can supercharge this effort into something phenomenal!