When you hear the term "search engine", I bet the first thing on your mind is Google. This makes sense if you do. With nearly 6 billion searches every day, Google is certainly very dominant.
Thus, when the term "optimization for search engines" is mentioned, it makes sense that most people assume it simply means optimize for Google ... right? SEO certainly intended to improve the ranking of your website on the search engine Google, but what about the others, like Yahoo and Bing? These are many search engines too, is not it?
Due to the popularity of Google, many SEOs find themselves wondering if they should bother to optimize for Yahoo and Bing. I know that for my part I put the question well in the past: The SEO optimization for search engines other than Google is it a waste of time? Or, optimizing for Yahoo and Bing is it essential for a good SEO strategy? The short answer is: Yes, you have to optimize for Yahoo and Bing. Now here's the long answer.
Saving time with Yahoo and Bing
Thus, when the term "optimization for search engines" is mentioned, it makes sense that most people assume it simply means optimize for Google ... right? SEO certainly intended to improve the ranking of your website on the search engine Google, but what about the others, like Yahoo and Bing? These are many search engines too, is not it?
Due to the popularity of Google, many SEOs find themselves wondering if they should bother to optimize for Yahoo and Bing. I know that for my part I put the question well in the past: The SEO optimization for search engines other than Google is it a waste of time? Or, optimizing for Yahoo and Bing is it essential for a good SEO strategy? The short answer is: Yes, you have to optimize for Yahoo and Bing. Now here's the long answer.
Saving time with Yahoo and Bing
You may have hoped that the answer is no, it is not important to optimize for anything other than Google. You may be saying that we must have a lot of time to optimize for a single search engine! But know that the number 1 reason optimization for Yahoo and Bing is that you can just save time in the long run.
Assume that you have made all your SEO efforts on a seo optimization for Google and Google alone. You are on the first or second page of search results, excitement where you want to appear. Now, suppose something goes wrong - perhaps a change of Google algorithm penalizes your site and relegates to the depths of the rankings. If you spent all your time optimizing for Google, say goodbye to all traffic generated through search engines to your website!
So let's go back a little back before this hypothetical situation happens and change things up a bit. Ideal scenario:
You optimize your site mainly for Google, while you may spend 30% of your time optimizing for Yahoo and Bing. You did a good job that ensures the first page for all three search engines. Now if Google changes its algorithm and makes you fall from its search results, there is still a chance that potential customers can find you when they search on Bing or Yahoo, which is a boon if most of your traffic comes mainly from organic search engines.
Remember: Never put all your eggs in one basket, because you never know when or how Google could negate all the SEO work you have made so far.
Statistics on the use of search engines
I do not know about you, but personally, I sometimes feel that everyone uses Google and nothing else. After all, you've never heard someone ask you to "Binger" the answer to a question on the internet. That said, there are still a significant number of people using alternative search engines.
According to a study by comScore, while Google dominates about 67% market share of search engines in 2013, Yahoo and Bing combined had a little less than 29% market share, it's a lot of research. Note however that these figures do not take into account research on mobile, which can significantly skew the numbers. Especially that Google dominates widely.
Seo optimization SEO SEO google bing
Optimizing for Bing and Yahoo vs. Google
If you decide it is time to focus a little more attention to SEO optimization for Yahoo and Bing, here's the good news: Yahoo search is powered by Bing, which means that you are going to optimize for a single motor additional research and not two. Another important fact: The algorithms of Bing and Google are similar in many respects.
For example, URL optimization more meta tags in keywords and have a large number of high quality backlinks links are important similarly for Bing / Yahoo and Google. However, that's about where the similarity between the two search engines stops. For the differences, here are the main ones:
The type of website:
While Google gives more priority to new sites, popular and commercial in its results, Bing tends to favor older sites with official domain names, such as .edu or .gov. What does this mean? Well, Google is quick to offer socially relevant sites while Bing is more likely to provide relevant factual information.
Flash media:
While Google has trouble deciding on what to do with Flash media, Bing did a great job and indexing provides additional credit for sites that use them.
Local search:
Local search on Bing and Google often returns different results with Google favoring larger, more established companies and Bing more likely to show small businesses first. Why? Because when you do a search on local businesses on Bing, it assumes you want the company closest to you, which is not always the biggest or most popular company in your town. Google, however, gives you the most credible and therefore often the largest enterprise or business the best known.
Social networks:
One of the things that differentiates Bing Google is its approach to research by integrating social media. When a user performs a search on Bing, if a Facebook friend recommended or commented on the company or product mentioned, the user can see immediately on search results. Google has not been quite able to integrate social media into its search results as well as Bing.
SEO on-page:
Google is much smarter than Bing when it comes to keywords. While Google is much more intuitive on the textual content and context of a page, Bing still rely heavily on keywords found in the meta tags and SEO on the page, which means that more direct approach and specific keywords are the way to go for SEO Bing.
The real reason behind optimizing for Bing and Yahoo
True SEO professionals know that the most important thing that must be optimized not Google, not Yahoo or Bing either - it's the visitor that must be optimized. The ranking on the first page of a search engine is fine, but if your visitors are not interested in your site once you have brought them up to it, then all your hard work has been deployed for nothing.
Once you have created a good user-friendly website, be sure to optimize for Google, Bing and Yahoo so that your potential customers have the opportunity to find out what you have created.
What is the ideal length for a blog post
I am often asked this question: What is the ideal length for a blog post ?. This is certainly a sensitive issue, mainly because everyone seems to have a different opinion about it.
A quick search on Google you will probably be a lot of conflicting opinions on the total number of words to be met, although most will suggest an article of 250 to 500 words is ideal.
This does not work for me, as for many other bloggers. So what is the ideal length to meet? I'll give you an answer that a teacher gave students who asked how long respected for writing their dissertations: "As much as necessary."
(Very useful, right?) But honestly, your blog articles are no different. It should be as long as necessary to reach their goal - regardless of the nature of this goal.
Your article can achieve its goal in 250 words? Pitch Perfect. Stop writing. Finished. If you need more than words ... no problem. Keep writing. You have not finished.
When you finish talking about the subject you want to tackle and you have edited your article so that it is as clear and relevant as possible, and the item is as long as it should be. The end result is an article of 250, 500 or 1000 words, if your content is interesting and it brings a real added value then you will get good results in all cases.
My advice:
1) Do not be afraid of a long article ... or rather a short essay. There is no font for the word count;)
2) The brevity is certainly a good thing. If you can convey your message clearly and succinctly, great. Most Internet users do not like reading anyway.
3) If you are new in the field of writing articles for blogs and the idea of not having guidelines on the number of words you stress, take a look at what other blogs you enjoy doing. Just do not feel constrained by a word count!
It is natural to think that a very long article is difficult to write and short messages are easier. I would say the opposite is true. When writing passion and your passion meets the needs of your readers there is no real "limit" and you do not have to worry about the length of your articles.
By cons, do not forget the importance of the layout. You have to structure your article (Title, sections, paragraphs, use of lists when necessary, use a clear and easy to read font etc.) to convey your message easy, quick, logical and intuitive to your readers. The layout of your article should be as clear and user-friendly as possible so as not to bore or tire your readers.
It happened to me many times (and I'm sure you too) to waive the reading of an article before reaching the end of it and sometimes before you even start reading because of the setting website (text blocks condensed without any structure or ventilation etc.)
Personally for items from my blog, I never take into consideration the number of words.
Assume that you have made all your SEO efforts on a seo optimization for Google and Google alone. You are on the first or second page of search results, excitement where you want to appear. Now, suppose something goes wrong - perhaps a change of Google algorithm penalizes your site and relegates to the depths of the rankings. If you spent all your time optimizing for Google, say goodbye to all traffic generated through search engines to your website!
So let's go back a little back before this hypothetical situation happens and change things up a bit. Ideal scenario:
You optimize your site mainly for Google, while you may spend 30% of your time optimizing for Yahoo and Bing. You did a good job that ensures the first page for all three search engines. Now if Google changes its algorithm and makes you fall from its search results, there is still a chance that potential customers can find you when they search on Bing or Yahoo, which is a boon if most of your traffic comes mainly from organic search engines.
Remember: Never put all your eggs in one basket, because you never know when or how Google could negate all the SEO work you have made so far.
Statistics on the use of search engines
I do not know about you, but personally, I sometimes feel that everyone uses Google and nothing else. After all, you've never heard someone ask you to "Binger" the answer to a question on the internet. That said, there are still a significant number of people using alternative search engines.
According to a study by comScore, while Google dominates about 67% market share of search engines in 2013, Yahoo and Bing combined had a little less than 29% market share, it's a lot of research. Note however that these figures do not take into account research on mobile, which can significantly skew the numbers. Especially that Google dominates widely.
Seo optimization SEO SEO google bing
Optimizing for Bing and Yahoo vs. Google
If you decide it is time to focus a little more attention to SEO optimization for Yahoo and Bing, here's the good news: Yahoo search is powered by Bing, which means that you are going to optimize for a single motor additional research and not two. Another important fact: The algorithms of Bing and Google are similar in many respects.
For example, URL optimization more meta tags in keywords and have a large number of high quality backlinks links are important similarly for Bing / Yahoo and Google. However, that's about where the similarity between the two search engines stops. For the differences, here are the main ones:
The type of website:
While Google gives more priority to new sites, popular and commercial in its results, Bing tends to favor older sites with official domain names, such as .edu or .gov. What does this mean? Well, Google is quick to offer socially relevant sites while Bing is more likely to provide relevant factual information.
Flash media:
While Google has trouble deciding on what to do with Flash media, Bing did a great job and indexing provides additional credit for sites that use them.
Local search:
Local search on Bing and Google often returns different results with Google favoring larger, more established companies and Bing more likely to show small businesses first. Why? Because when you do a search on local businesses on Bing, it assumes you want the company closest to you, which is not always the biggest or most popular company in your town. Google, however, gives you the most credible and therefore often the largest enterprise or business the best known.
Social networks:
One of the things that differentiates Bing Google is its approach to research by integrating social media. When a user performs a search on Bing, if a Facebook friend recommended or commented on the company or product mentioned, the user can see immediately on search results. Google has not been quite able to integrate social media into its search results as well as Bing.
SEO on-page:
Google is much smarter than Bing when it comes to keywords. While Google is much more intuitive on the textual content and context of a page, Bing still rely heavily on keywords found in the meta tags and SEO on the page, which means that more direct approach and specific keywords are the way to go for SEO Bing.
The real reason behind optimizing for Bing and Yahoo
True SEO professionals know that the most important thing that must be optimized not Google, not Yahoo or Bing either - it's the visitor that must be optimized. The ranking on the first page of a search engine is fine, but if your visitors are not interested in your site once you have brought them up to it, then all your hard work has been deployed for nothing.
Once you have created a good user-friendly website, be sure to optimize for Google, Bing and Yahoo so that your potential customers have the opportunity to find out what you have created.
What is the ideal length for a blog post
I am often asked this question: What is the ideal length for a blog post ?. This is certainly a sensitive issue, mainly because everyone seems to have a different opinion about it.
A quick search on Google you will probably be a lot of conflicting opinions on the total number of words to be met, although most will suggest an article of 250 to 500 words is ideal.
This does not work for me, as for many other bloggers. So what is the ideal length to meet? I'll give you an answer that a teacher gave students who asked how long respected for writing their dissertations: "As much as necessary."
(Very useful, right?) But honestly, your blog articles are no different. It should be as long as necessary to reach their goal - regardless of the nature of this goal.
Your article can achieve its goal in 250 words? Pitch Perfect. Stop writing. Finished. If you need more than words ... no problem. Keep writing. You have not finished.
When you finish talking about the subject you want to tackle and you have edited your article so that it is as clear and relevant as possible, and the item is as long as it should be. The end result is an article of 250, 500 or 1000 words, if your content is interesting and it brings a real added value then you will get good results in all cases.
My advice:
1) Do not be afraid of a long article ... or rather a short essay. There is no font for the word count;)
2) The brevity is certainly a good thing. If you can convey your message clearly and succinctly, great. Most Internet users do not like reading anyway.
3) If you are new in the field of writing articles for blogs and the idea of not having guidelines on the number of words you stress, take a look at what other blogs you enjoy doing. Just do not feel constrained by a word count!
It is natural to think that a very long article is difficult to write and short messages are easier. I would say the opposite is true. When writing passion and your passion meets the needs of your readers there is no real "limit" and you do not have to worry about the length of your articles.
By cons, do not forget the importance of the layout. You have to structure your article (Title, sections, paragraphs, use of lists when necessary, use a clear and easy to read font etc.) to convey your message easy, quick, logical and intuitive to your readers. The layout of your article should be as clear and user-friendly as possible so as not to bore or tire your readers.
It happened to me many times (and I'm sure you too) to waive the reading of an article before reaching the end of it and sometimes before you even start reading because of the setting website (text blocks condensed without any structure or ventilation etc.)
Personally for items from my blog, I never take into consideration the number of words.
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