Optimize for Bing in 4 Simple Steps

When you think about optimization, most people think about optimizing for Google, but what about Bing? Google is the king of search engines and is on every one's goal to rank well, but why not Bing? Different reports conclude around 20 percent of web searches are conducted on Bing. Yes, that's much less than the searches on Google, but that's still 20 percent of possible views and customers you may not be reaching.

To optimize for both Google and Bing, it really doesn't take too much extra time. Bing undergoes less algorithm changes than Google and generally has less strict guidelines; however, many of the tactics you use to optimize for Google are effective for Bing as well.

Here are some easy steps to optimize for Bing:

1. Quality Content and Websites
As with Google, Bing loves quality websites and content. If you're already optimized for Google with well written and informative content, you have one foot in the door for Bing. If your website functions well, loads quickly, and is overall appealing, you've killed two birds with one stone.

2. Quality Links
Again, as with Google, Bing loves quality links. In fact, Bing uses links to discover new content, so you need to ensure your links are natural and relevant to rank on both search engines. Just like Google, Bing will penalize for links that abuse the system, including paid links and link schemes. The anchor text you use for your links also helps Bing rank your site, so make sure you have keyword rich anchor texts.

3. Social Engagement
Bing more openly acknowledges social media plays a role in their ranking. Your social influence plays a large role in your Bing ranking, especially if you encourage social sharing. Bing recommends to follow fewer people than those who follow you to indicate a powerful influence.

4. Accessible Websites
Bing likes websites that are easily accessible to them, including robots.txt and sitemaps. Avoid using rich media, such as Flash, because it may block Bing from indexing your website. To help Bing index your content, the title (top tags), meta descriptions and alt and h1 are all used, so optimize and fill them out!

It really doesn't take any extra work to optimize for Bing while optimizing for Google. Although Google says the age of the website isn't as important as the quality of the website, Bing tends to take age into consideration when ranking websites. Keep that in mind when freshening up your sites.

There are a number of other methods that can be used to optimize for Bing. These are just the basics. What other methods do you use to optimize for Bing?