Why are People Switching to Bing? – Is Bing Better for SEO?
For many years, Bing has been the ‘little brother’ to
Google. Constantly trying to impress, but it’s nowhere near as successful and,
let’s be honest, not as useful. Bing was the search engine we turned to when
Google wasn’t working. But is that still the case?
Is Bing Better than Google?
Bing may have been overshadowed by the titanic presence of
Google, but it’s by no means a small company. It’s owned by Microsoft after
all, who have been pumping money and resources into Bing’s development since
its inception.
If you ask someone to name 3 search engines, they’ll say
Google, then Bing, then pause for a minute to think of a third. It’s been a two-horse
race for a long time.
In late 2023, Google had an 83.49% market share, a bigger
margin than we see in most other sectors. But in 2024, competitors have taken a
few bites of that pie, and are seeing fast growth as a result.
For a business, SEO is crucial. And when we provide SEO, we
have always focused on Google, as that is where most traffic comes from. But as
Bing grows, it’s now time to consider how it can give you an edge.
So what has Bing done to find this new success? Well, it
started with one of the most talked about technological changes of the last few
years.
AI Search Engines
When ChatGPT and its rivals burst onto the scene a few years
ago, they turned a lot of heads about how they could improve search engines. ChatGPT’s
success is in part thanks to Microsoft, who have been investing into OpenAI,
the parent company, since 2019.
Back in late 2022, when ChatGPT was released, and took the
world by storm, Google immediately saw it as a threat to their operation. When
you could ask ChatGPT a question, and most of the time receive a decent answer,
there was little need for Googling.
Google needed a way to keep up, the first time in years
their monopoly had been truly threatened. So, a few months after ChatGPT’s
release, Bard (now known as Gemini) joined the AI scene.
The next big question was this: ‘will AI be used in Search
Engines’. Well, as we approach the middle of 2024, the answer is clearly yes.
If you’ve been keeping an eye on the news recently, you’ll
have seen a lot of controversy about Google’s AI Overviews search assistant. It
was trialled a few weeks ago and was answering questions with information that
was questionable at best, and dangerously wrong at worst.
From telling children to eat rocks to claiming Barack Obama
was the US’ first Muslim president, it’s safe to say the trial wasn’t
successful. ChatGPT has come under similar fire, as some of the information it
gathers is dated or plainly misinformation, but for almighty Google to be even
worse was a shock.
Losing trust is the easiest way to scare off your regular
users. So where did everyone turn to when Google wasn’t being reliable? You
guessed it, Bing.
Why Switch to Bing?
Trust isn’t the only reason to switch from Google to Bing.
The latter has access to the same information, provides the same results, and
has features that many people prefer. It delivers more image-rich results, with
the ‘featured snippets’ section replaced with a handy Q&A.
On the surface they’re very similar, so it often comes down
to personal preference. Bing is sometimes a requirement for some businesses,
and once you’re using it for work, you’re more likely to use it for everything
else.
Google doesn’t have the monopoly on features outside of
search engine anymore either. Google Docs, Calendar, and even Gmail are excellent
tools for busy businesspeople, but Office 365, Teams, and Outlook do the same
thing.
Switching to Bing for SEO
The main reason people are considering Bing over Google is
because the way we search is changing. When an AI can answer our questions
accurately, with all the sources we need, would we still need to see 10
websites per page? Do people prefer this Q&A method over browsing a trusted
website?
These are the big questions, and we won’t have clear answers
for a while yet, but there is some evidence of what the future of SEO will look
like.
For years, the key to improving SEO has been links. Internal
links that help with navigation, and powerful backlinks to trusted sources that
make your site more credible than your rivals.
But over the last couple of years, the content included has
become more important than links. Now, answering questions is the best way to
get to page one. If you appear in Google’s rich snippets or Bing’s Q&A
section, you receive a huge boost in traffic.
So, if search engines will become one big Q&A, it’ll be
even more important to answer the burning questions of searchers. Then, if they
see you have all the answers, the SE should push them in your direction.
Of course, not everyone is asking an SE a question when they
type into the search bar. So there will still be lists of websites all
competing to be the first one you see when you press enter.
As things change, you need to capitalize before your
competitors do. If Bing continues you grow, you need to focus on ranking on
there as much, if not more, than Google. You need quality, human content with
accurate information to feed into AI programs, and a few strong backlinks will
always be necessary.
Whatever happens, you can rely on us to keep our finger on the pulse of all search engines, not just the biggest names, and help you get the most out of your SEO.
