It can be all too easy to become infatuated with what the Google Gods want out of your website. Most brands focus on Google due to its sheer volume of traffic and the array of services and products it offers to webmasters. However, many websites have found success with search engines such as Bing, which while adhering to many of the same standards as Google, do differ in some respects. Before you begin focusing intently on Google over the next year, why not give Bing a second look? We’ll review some important optimizations you’ll want to make as soon as possible to improve your performance within Bing search results.

Sitemaps

If you’ve ever wondered how some sites get indexed and crawled so quickly, then the answer probably has something to do with sitemaps. A sitemap – usually in XML form – help search engines (and sometimes users) find any and all pages on your website. It is in effect an easy navigation tool that crawlers use to find all pages under a given domain, and can help prevent you from being missed by crawlers in select situations. By adding a sitemap that includes all of your pages, you’ll be able to tell Bing’s crawlers where they need to search. This will ensure that even your most recent pages get indexed in a very short period of time.

Title Tags

You should know by now that title tags in general matter, but there is a notable difference between search engines like Google and Bing. While Google does value title tags in its SEO considerations, Bing seems to be even more critical on this matter, meaning that you need to optimize these on every page of your website. Of course, you’ll want to use relevant keywords when pinging servers for Bing’s approval. It’s worth noting that Bing’s SERPs may actually display your page’s title differently than it is, depending on the user’s specific search. Title tags affect this greatly, which is why using your most relevant keywords is essential.

Backlinks

In the world of Bing SEO, backlinks still carry more weight than they do on Google. The sheer number of backlinks features prominently in Bing’s algorithms, meaning that you’re going to need to work hard in order to break into the top results in a SERP on this search engine. This more or less aligns with how Bing prioritizes older and more complex websites more so than Google; it can be frustrating for newer sites, but the long-term goal of building SEO clout with Bing will come naturally if you focus on building links and producing good content.

Social Signals

Bing loves social signals; if you really want to get noticed by this search engine, you’re going to want to generate plenty of them. Bing explicitly has stated that social signals pinging servers factors prominently into its algorithms. From social media posts to full site integration with your platforms, optimizing this aspect of your brand’s web presence is crucial for long-term Bing success.

What other optimizations do you plan on making to better utilize Bing? What have you already done, and has it helped? Let us know in the comments below.