There is a tendency in the marketing world to forget about Bing and Yahoo and focus solely on Google. We know why, too: Google almost always takes the front page when it comes to SEO, SEM, and algorithm update news. But did you know that Bing and Yahoo account for one-third of the search market? That means that if you take three people who use the web on a regular basis, at least one will be using either search engine. In fact, a study from July 2016 found that 79% of all automotive-related searches are done on Bing and Yahoo. That’s a huge market you’re missing out on!
Before talking about the perks, we want to discuss why Yahoo and Bing are so significant. First off, they’re allied. That means that your search results on one will show up on the other nearly identically.
You have the potential to show up #1 on two search engines for the same amount of work. Both of these search engines are the defaults on Windows, Microsoft, Firefox, and Siri. Considering how many people use PC’s and iPhones alone, this shouldn’t be a surprise. Having a mobile-friendly interface and responding to local search algorithms are keys to success.
That sounds a lot like Google, right? True, but there are a few differences. First of all, both Yahoo and Bing encourage SEO techniques of all kinds, including connecting to customers on social media. For those looking to add videos to their site, Bing and Yahoo can crawl and understand Flash. (The Google bot can’t.) The older the site, the better their domain rank will be, though backlinks play a crucial role in their algorithm too. (We’ve got an entry on backlinks here to refresh your memory.) Finally, exact keywords are preferred. Instead of being semantic-based as Google has become since the 2014 Hummingbird update, Bing and Yahoo have stayed more literal.
Confused? Don’t be. All we’re saying is that if you already have a PPC campaign, a website, and some SEO/SEM methodologies in the works, they can be slightly modified to ensure that you appear on Yahoo and Bing. After all, the more exposure you have to a relevant demographic, the better your chances are at selling a car. If you’re not sure what you’ve got, though, we’ve got an excellent slideshow presentation we’d love to show you. Give us a call to schedule a time and let us walk you through our program that works on all three search engines, full blast.