How to Get Your Website to Show up on Bing & Yahoo

SEO for Bing & Yahoo

What if I told you that your business may be missing out on almost 35% of customers. Now that I have your attention, let’s talk search engines. Everyone knows Google is king when it comes to search, but that doesn’t mean you should neglect the others. According to ComScore, Bing and Yahoo hold 35% of monthly searches and that number is sometimes as high as 80% depending on the industry. Obviously that’s not as much as Google’s 64%, but that is still a significant number of searches that you could be showing up for. That means your online marketing strategy shouldn’t only be limited to SEO for Google, but other search engines as well.

So you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Are you saying I now need to do 3x the work; are you kidding me?” Don’t worry, Yahoo uses Bing’s algorithm and index to determine who shows up for what. If you type in keywords, you’ll see Bing and Yahoo almost show identical results. So you don’t have to do that much.

Let’s Talk Statistics:

Now that you’re breathing at a normal pace again, let’s talk about how to adjust your strategy to include a focus on Yahoo/Bing. In 2010, Yahoo began using Bing’s algorithm so they’re essentially the same other than some minor differences. Bing is the primary search engine for Microsoft computers and iPhones. Fun fact: Siri (iPhone’s virtual assistant) is powered by Bing. Furthermore, Firefox uses Yahoo as their primary search engine. With that alone, you’re talking about a large number of users with Bing & Yahoo at their fingertips.

How to SEO for Bing and Yahoo:

So how should you go about making sure your site shows up on Yahoo & Bing? The first step is to make sure you are being Indexed. To ensure your site is being indexed, go to Bing.com and type in “Site:yoursite.com.” This will let you know what pages are being indexed and how you should adjust your SEO and online marketing strategy.

The next step is to have Bing crawl your site more frequently. While you’re tackling your SEO strategy, tell Bing to crawl your site using Bing Webmaster Tools so it will continue to pick up on the changes you’re making.

After you have your site indexed and crawled more frequently, begin your on-page and technical SEO. Be sure to use direct keywords because unlike Google, Bing likes straightforward keywords so be direct and to-the-point.  Keep in mind Bing considers H1 & H2 headings, SEO titles, and meta-descriptions to be highly important. In addition, your content and pages should include some geographical reference so you appear in local search results.

Final Thoughts:

If you search for your site on Yahoo or Bing and nothing shows up, it would be prudent to begin incorporating the steps mentioned above. It’s understandable if Google is your main focus, but to lose out on a third of customers can be make or break for your business. Just imagine what another 33% of customers would do for your business.