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Google Vs Bing- 5 Key Differences

Google and Bing are two of the most search engines in today, but that doesn’t make them alike. Bing search engine was created by Microsoft and originally in 2006. It was known as Windows Live Search before it got a full rebranding in 2009 to Bing. Windows Live Search was launched to compete against Google’s Search engine.

Bing vs Google: Different Ranking Factors

While Google and Bing have several similarities of their SEO ranking factors, there are major differences. This applies when it concerns the weighting applied for certain ranking factors in comparing Google and Bing results. 

Bing vs Google: Organic Search

Bing and Google use entirely different algorithms. They however aim to locate content that’s the best fit for the needs of users. This means that significant overlap will exist as you optimize for both Bing and Google. That means brands have to primarily focus on creating high-quality content, and reflects the needs and interests of their targeted audience. Google regards popular or even commercial websites just as valuable.

Even though you cannot optimize your website for both search engines based on these preferences, it is essential that you compare their results. That’s because your website might be a preferred choice by one of these search engines’ processes of ranking.

Technical SEO

Different technical factors have been explained in both Bing and Google’s ranking algorithms, from site speed to mobile-friendliness. Therefore, you invest in optimizing the behind-the-scenes site structure and its on-page technical SEO. This means you are bound to get positive search results on both Bing and Google. When you are implementing permanent SEO redirects, consider using 301 redirects over temporary 302 redirects. That’s because applying 302 redirects will sometimes lead to indexing issues on Google.

Bing scrutinizes Metadata More Closely

Most of the differences in the ranking processes of Google and Bing lie at the meeting point of content and technical SEO. The metadata treatment, for example, different other on-page signals will significantly differ for each search engine. Mainly because of the several ways in which each search engine tries to identify websites across the web.

Specifically, Meta descriptions have a greater role to play in how Bing assesses a website compared to Google. This short sum-up of webpage content is crucial in Bing’s ranking process. Nevertheless, on Google, they are only used as condensed adverts for pages in Google’s SERPs. Likewise, Bing focuses more on anchor text usage. So they often reward sites with matching anchor text for a page title. Google, on the other hand, does not pay much attention to this element.

Off-Page SEO

It’s worth noting that Google’s ranking process began with a Ph.D. project known as BackRub. This project used backlinks to establish relative site authority. However, Google still utilizes backlinks analysis as the main method of ranking websites. Even though backlinks are significant for Google SEO, there are many major commonalities in how both search engines treat backlinks. For both search engines, not only is the number of links crucial in determining authority but also their relevance and quality. Backlinks from well-established websites that are related to the recipient website will pass on other link equity.

Is Bing Better Than Google?

Some main differences between the two search engines such as:

• Google has better shopping suggestions that show up frequently compared to what Bing offers. So if you are searching for specific stores that offer certain products or sites with the best prices online, then Google is better for you.
• Bing offers users more autocomplete suggestions compared to what Google does. Bing offers users eight while Google offers four. This is mostly useful if you use autocomplete to search for alternative products or when searching for wildcard suggestions.
• Compared to Google, Bing has a significantly better video search. This is a huge difference between these two search engines. Rather than give you a list of videos highlighted by small thumbnails, it offers you a list of large thumbnails. And this allows you to play the videos without leaving Bing. As regards other videos, it’ll provide you with a preview when you hover over.
• Bing places related images and searches on the right side of your online search results, whereas Google places them at the bottom. Note that this is just a difference and may not necessarily be a good or even a bad thing.