Andrew Grinaker | Digital, SEO and Social Media Strategist Blog | Seattle, WA

6 Tips to help Bing catch Google (or make a dent)
by Andrew Grinaker

Some would probably argue that Microsoft and their decision engine Bing.com have little to no chance of knocking Google off the search pedestal, or even coming close for that matter. However, Bing has slowly seen market share increases over the past 12 months and has a great opportunity to capitalize on its partnership with Yahoo.

Here are 6 tips I have for Bing to help close the gap (In no order of importance).

1) Focus on user experience and features – Bing’s leg up on Google has been its ability to create new, fresh features that make Google look very simplistic (and boring) at times. In addition, it’s new ways of displaying images, shopping links and real-time search results have drawn new visitors. As the web evolves, people are going to expect more features from a search engine other than relevant results. Continue to live up to the name of “decision engine” and push the envelope on new features to attract more market share.

2) Be progressive with Social Media and Real-time results – As much as traditional SEO professionals hate to hear it, real time search results are coming whether they like it or not. Bing should be on the forefront of pushing real time results out. I am not sure if that means flooding traditional search queries that don’t include “facebook” or “twitter,” but provide an easy way to filter through and display real-time results easily and prominently.

3) Leverage Partnerships throughout the web – The obvious one is Yahoo, where Bing should focus on making sure their search results mirror one another. When someone is searching on Yahoo, make sure they know that they are seeing Bing results. However, the other area of partnerships to leverage is where websites offer search services to filter their company/organizational content. Nine times out of ten, these sites are utilizing Google search. Bing needs to get to the ground level and start infiltrating these secondary sites to spread the brand.

4) Make Mobile Search Strategy a Priority – It is clear that within a few years more people will have the ability to access the internet from their mobile phone as opposed to a PC. Microsoft’s mobile platform and hardware strategy has been rocky, but they need to focus on creating a rich experience in the mobile search world. Shocker alert…partner with Apple to create a further divide between them and Google, expand on applications for multiple platforms and continue to be forward thinking in regards to reaching customers through smart phones.

5) Don’t forget about Traditional Advertising – Industry enthusiasts joked that Microsoft spent $100 million in their Bing advertising campaign to gain a few percentages of the search market. Well, it worked. If it is one thing that Microsoft can compete with Google on, its capital and spending it on advertising. Bing needs to stay aggressive in its television advertising to continually remind the general public that they have a second option (other than Google) to search on the web. The masses have been training themselves for years to go to Google.com and nothing else. It will take time and money to break that habit.

6) Pray Google and Verizon end Net Neutrality – The past week the New York Times released an article stating that Google and Verizon were in talks to end Net Neutrality. In my humble opinion, if this partnership went through, it would send off a serious industry backlash and allow the door to open wider for Bing. People want to know their internet is free and open for anyone to distribute content. If I were Bing, I would secretly be hoping that Google and Verizon forge this partnership and show a greedy face to their consumers.

In summary, I am sure that these tips are nothing new to the people at One Microsoft Way, but just observations from a SEO and Social Media strategist. I am rooting for the software giant, mostly to keep the search landscape competitive but even more so if Google and Verizon continue to talk about ending Net Neutrality. No doubt Microsoft is in this battle for the long run. There is too much advertising dollars out there to gain to simply throw their hands up in the air and declare Google the search God.