Bing has launched their Bing Webmaster Guidelines. The new Bing Webmaster guidelines cover content, links, social signals and a variety of other topics.
Google, of course, has a comprehensive set of Google Webmaster guidelines that is more extensive than the new Bing guidelines. It is a major step forward, however, for all of us to understand the standards for Bing (also being used for the Yahoo search engine) and be able to understand the differences.
3 ways that you can effectively utilize the new Bing Webmaster Tools are:
- The SEO Reports function will scan your website help you to evaluate the critical elements of your onpage SEO structure. You can find this tool under the “Reports and Data” pulldown menu on the left navigation.
- Link Explorer will allow you to review the back links to your website and (unlike Google Webmaster Tools) competitor sites. It is one of the more powerful free tools available. It is available under the “Diagnostics and Tools” dropdown. If you wish to disavow any links, you may do so with the link disavow tool that is available under the dropdown menu entitled “Configure My Site”.
- Keyword Research Tool for Bing Webmaster tools is different from the Google Webmaster tools because it displays the actual numbers based on the organic search, where Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool reflects the numbers from Google Adwords only. I am not advocating a complete replacement of the data from Google Keyword Research, because Bing’s tool covers only about 15% of search volume, but in some cases, the contrast of results could give some interesting insights into organic vs. paid search patterns.
Bottom Line: Bing has stepped up and provided some tools that are of value to Webmasters in evaluating sites, especially SEO Reports and Link Explorer.
Eric Van Cleave is a Partner in Zenergy Works, an SEO Company located in Santa Rosa, California. Zenergy also does SEM, SMO and all aspects of online marketing.