Bing’s Webmaster Guidelines, which have remained the same since 2012, were recently updated. The updated guidelines detail the changes they have made to the search engine and what the modern search results look like.
The Updated Document Shares How Bing Ranks Content
The 2020 version of the Webmaster Guidelines consists of an entire section that tells us how Bing ranks content. The main ranking factors mentioned by Bing are as follows:
- Relevance: It refers to how closely the landing page content matches the intent behind a search query. Semantic equivalents, such as synonyms and abbreviations, are also taken into consideration.
- Quality and Credibility: In order to evaluate the page itself, Bing considers factors such as the author’s or site’s reputation, the level of discourse, the completeness of the content, and the transparency of authorship.
- User Engagement: To determine user engagement, Bing considers factors such as:
- Did users click through to search results for a given query? If so, which results?
- Did users spend time on the search results they clicked through to, or did they return to Bing quickly?
- Did the users adjust or reformulate their query?
- Freshness: Bing generally prefers “fresh” content, meaning sites that consistently provide up-to-date information.
- Location: Bing also considers factors such as where a user is located, where the page is hosted, the language used, and the location of other visitors.
- Page Load Time: Bing considers slow page load time as poor user experience, and hence, prefers faster page loads.
Generally, the characteristics of goods or services do not affect how Bing ranks a site unless the content is potentially offensive or harmful to users. Sites that promote methods of suicide or purport to sell opioids or other potentially harmful drugs may get demoted by Bing.
What You Should Do Next
Bing’s updated search guidelines are a quick 10 minute read, and it is highly recommended that you take the time to go through it. If you are a pro in SEO, you will note that, unlike Google, Bing admits that user engagement is an important ranking factor.
If you happen to know anyone who is serious about marketing a website or is working on a website, ask them to go through the document, as all the details shared here are must-know information.