When it comes to optimizing a website, SEO professionals typically focus on Google. After all, it’s the world’s most popular search engine.
But what about Microsoft Bing? Is it worth optimizing your site for, as well?
Let’s see how these two search giants, Microsoft Bing (rebranded from simply ‘Bing’ in October 2020) and Google, compare.
Google vs. Microsoft Bing Market Share
One of the first distinctions between Microsoft Bing and Google is market share. According to Statista, in February 2021, Bing accounted for 6.7% of the global search market, while Google took 86.6%.
That’s pretty huge.
And while that may make it tempting to focus on Google alone, Microsoft Bing provides good conversions and has a user base that shouldn’t be ignored.
That 6.7% of search users accounts for millions who use Microsoft Bing every day.
It’s particularly important to optimize for Bing if you’re targeting an American audience. In fact, one-third of online queries in the U.S. are powered by Microsoft properties when you factor in Yahoo and voice searches.
Some have wondered over the years whether Bing is an acronym for “Because It’s Not Google.” I’m not sure how true that is, but the name does come from a campaign in the early 1990s for its predecessor, Live Search.
Another fun tidbit is that Ahrefs recently did a study on the Top 100 Bing searches globally and the #1 query searched was [Google].
Comparing Google vs. Microsoft Bing’s Functionality
From a search functionality perspective, the two search engines are similar, but Google offers more core features:
| Feature | Microsoft Bing | |
| Text Search | Yes | Yes |
| Video Search | Yes | Yes |
| Image Search | Yes | Yes |
| Maps | Yes | Yes |
| News | Yes | Yes |
| Shopping | Yes | Yes |
| Books | Yes | No |
| Flights | Yes | No |
| Finance | Yes | No |
| Scholarly Literature | Yes | No |
How Google & Microsoft Bing Differ in Size of Index and Crawling
Google says:
“The Google Search index contains hundreds of billions of webpages and is well over 100,000,000 gigabytes in size.”
Even so, not even Google can crawl the entire web. That is just not going to happen.
This is why using structured data is so important. It provides a data feed about your content so Google can understand it better, which can help you qualify for rich results and get more clicks and impressions.
Microsoft Bing hasn’t released similar figures. However, this search engine index size estimating website puts the Microsoft Bing index at somewhere between 8 to 14 billion web pages.
The two engines have shared a little about their approaches to web indexing.
Microsoft Bing says:
“Bingbot uses an algorithm to determine which sites to crawl, how often, and how many pages to fetch from each site. The goal is to minimize bingbot crawl footprint on your web sites while ensuring that the freshest content is available.”
Around the same time the above statement was made, John Mueller from Google said:
“I think the hard part here is that we don’t crawl URLs with the same frequency all the time. So some URLs we will crawl daily. Some URLs maybe weekly. Other URLs every couple of months, maybe even every once half year or so. So this is something that we try to find the right balance for, so that we don’t overload your server.”
Google has a mobile-first index, while Microsoft Bing takes a different stance and does not have plans to apply a mobile-first indexing policy.
Instead, Microsoft Bing maintains a single index that is optimized for both desktop and mobile, so it is important to make sure your site experience is optimized, loads quickly, and gives users what they need.
Google has evolved into more than just a search engine with products like Gmail, Maps, Chrome OS, Android OS, YouTube, and more.
Microsoft Bing also offers email via Outlook, as well as other services like Office Online or OneDrive.
Unlike Google, however, it does not have its own operating system. Instead, it uses Windows Phone 8 or iOS on Apple devices.
Now, let’s take a look at where Bing is on par with Google – or superior.
Differences in User Interface & Tools
Google has a clean, simple interface that many people find easy to use.
So does Microsoft Bing, though; in my opinion, Bing is actually a little bit more visual.
Both search engines display useful information about related searches, images, companies, and news and do a great job of informing users of everything they need to know about a given topic.
SEO professionals love our tools and data.
Thankfully, both Google and Microsoft Bing have decent keyword research tools that offer insights into performance:
One area where I think Google falls behind is the data it provides in Google Search Console. If you want to learn how to use it, check out How to Use Google Search Console for SEO: A Complete Guide.
One of the cool feature sets in Microsoft Bing is the ability to import data from Google Search Console:
Another Microsoft Bing feature that I think beats Google is the fact that it provides SEO Reports.
According to Bing, these reports contain common page-level recommendations based on SEO best practices to improve your rankings.
The reports are automatically generated biweekly and provide tips as to what to work on or look into.
See A Complete Guide to Bing Webmaster Tools to learn more.
Microsoft Bing May Excel in Image Search Over Google
When it comes to image search, Microsoft Bing may have a leg up on Google by providing higher-quality images.
I like the filtering features in its image search, too, because you can turn titles off and search by image size, color, or type.
Test out Bing Visual Image Search, which allows you to do more with images. Check out its library of specialized skills to help you shop, identify landmarks and animals, or just have fun.
Then, see to learn more.
Google has more images available for viewing than Microsoft Bing. Make the most of it with the tips in A Guide to Google’s Advanced Image Search.
However, Microsoft Bing provides more detailed information about the image users are searching for.
How Microsoft Bing & Google Handle Video Search
Microsoft Bing provides a much more visual video search results page, including a grid view of large thumbnails.
Google’s video results are more standard, featuring a vertical list of small thumbnails.
Microsoft Bing also provides a preview of certain videos and clicking on them does not take you away from Bing, which is cool. From my perspective, it also provides much more information in video results.
As you can see from the screenshot of a movie search below, they include ratings and reviews, as well as the cast and even where you can watch the movie, which is great.
I did not get this experience with Google video search.
This is one area where Microsoft Bing definitely outperforms Google.
Map Listings on Both Search Engines Matter for Local SEO
Both engines have similar functionality for maps, including map listings and local listings in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Make sure you claim all your listings in both Microsoft Bing and Google and optimize your profile with business information, photos, proper categories, and links.
Accurate name, address, and phone number (NAP) information are key.
See A Complete Guide to Google Maps Marketing.
Optimizing for Google Search vs. Microsoft Bing
Google is primarily concerned with E.A.T: Expertise, Authority, and Trust.
Google Searches are powered by machine-based algorithms that take into account users’ previous search history and location when generating results.
This means that if a particular user wants to find something specific on Google, it will be much easier than on Microsoft Bing because Google has a more complete picture of who that person is before they type anything in the browser.
Google has always been a link-orientated search engine in which the quality of links still matters instead of quantity. Links are not as important on Microsoft Bing.
In my opinion, Microsoft Bing has always been focused on on-page optimization. It puts more weight on content that is well optimized, or that includes important on-page elements like titles, descriptions, URLs, and content.
Unlike Google, Microsoft Bing states in its webmaster guidelines that it incorporates social signals into its algorithm. That means you should also focus on Twitter and Facebook – including building good quality content on your site and social platforms – if you want to rank highly in Microsoft Bing.
Content is extremely important for both search engines. Always focus on high-quality content that satisfies the user’s informational need. By creating useful and relevant content, users will naturally love it and link to it.
So, for example, if I am looking for cars, you should show me valuable content on the topic: how I can buy a car, cost, maintenance, what the shopping experience is like, etc.
Both speed, mobile-friendliness, and proper tech infrastructure matter for both engines. However, Microsoft Bing focuses more on anchor text usage. Bing has been known to reward sites with matching anchor text for a page title, which was devalued by Google many years ago.
Make sure you check out these resources for optimizing for various search engines:
- Going Beyond Google: SEO on Other Search Engines
- 7 Alternative Search Engines That Do Social Good
- DuckDuckGo SEO: What You Should Know
Google Search vs. Microsoft Bing: The Verdict
Both Microsoft Bing and Google satisfy the informational needs of millions of people every day.
They both offer opportunities for your brand to reach new users and put you in front of millions of qualified customers who are looking for information, products, and services.
Optimizing for both search engines is similar. Microsoft Bing is more focused on on-page optimization and incorporates social signals, while Google is more focused on E.A.T. and links.
Microsoft Bing has definitely improved over the last year and is more competitive with Google, especially in its unique features.
That’s why I recommend optimizing for both, to reach the lion’s share of internet searches and maximize visibility.
More Resources:
- How to Use Microsoft Bing Site Explorer for SEO
- 17 Great Search Engines You Can Use Instead of Google
- How Search Engines Work
Image Credits
All screenshots taken by author, March 2021.
Category SEO Digital Experience
FAQs
Google vs Microsoft Bing: A Detailed Comparison of Two Search Engines? ›
The Biggest Differences
Keywords: Both Google and Bing offer a tool for keyword research but the biggest difference is that Bing has a lower search volume. Click-through-rate (CTR): Bing offers numerous resources for both financial and shopping services.
The Biggest Differences
Keywords: Both Google and Bing offer a tool for keyword research but the biggest difference is that Bing has a lower search volume. Click-through-rate (CTR): Bing offers numerous resources for both financial and shopping services.
In our use, we found that both search engines delivered reasonably accurate results. Both offer a list of links to relevant web pages as you'd expect from a search engine. In fact, the result pages don't look that different from each other too.
What is the 2 most popular search engine? ›- 1 The Best Search Engine in The World: Google.
- 2 Search Engine #2. Bing.
- 3 Search Engine #3. Baidu.
- 4 Search Engine #4.Yahoo!
- 5 Search Engine #5. Yandex.
- 6 Search Engine #6. Ask.
- 7 Search Engine #7. DuckDuckGo.
- 8 Search Engine #8. Naver.
Publisher traffic.
7 (the day the new Bing launched), Bing made up just 1.22% of Search Engine Land's organic search traffic. Now Bing is up to a 2.6% share. Google still dominates – it has dropped from 98.2% prior to Feb. 7 to 96.7% now.
This is based on the fact that Google examines websites further than Bing does, and provides search-specific results rather than relating results. In short, Google is more search-specific with their results, while Bing is more topic-specific.
What is the difference between Google and Microsoft? ›Google is an American Multinational tech-based company that basically focuses on Internet-based products and services. Microsoft is an American Multinational tech-based company that basically focuses on developing and selling PCs, computer-based products, software, and services.
What is the main difference between Google and Bing? ›While Google offers users a wider selection of images and an Advanced Search function for helpful filtering, Bing offers higher-quality images with more detailed information than Google.
Why does it keep using Bing instead of Google? ›Google redirects to Bing happen because a browser hijacker has infected your system. It is a type of malware that forcefully alters your browser settings to promote suspicious websites. Luckily, you can easily get rid of it to finally enjoy an uninterrupted browsing experience again.
What is the best and most accurate search engine? ›Google. Google is the world's most popular search engine, with a market share of over 93% (as of March 2023). Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded it in 1998. It uses a vast number of algorithms (called “ranking systems”) to provide users with fast and accurate search results.
What is the #1 search engine used today? ›
1. Google. With over 86% of the search market share, one hardly needs to introduce readers to Google.
What are 5 best search engines? ›- Google Scholar. Google Scholar is the clear number one when it comes to academic search engines. ...
- BASE. BASE is hosted at Bielefeld University in Germany. ...
- CORE. ...
- Science.gov. ...
- Semantic Scholar. ...
- Baidu Scholar. ...
- RefSeek.
That's a lot for a search engine that we thought no one uses anymore. Contrary to popular belief, Americans seem to like Bing just fine. Actually, 62 million people say they use both Bing and Google, while 66 million Bing users claim to turn to this search engine exclusively.
Can Bing beat Google? ›Could an AI-Powered Bing Beat Google Search? We asked ChatGPT this question, but it wasn't sure. It hedged: It is possible that an AI-powered Bing search engine could outperform Google in some respects, but it is also possible that Google could maintain its advantage in other areas.
Why hasn t Bing improved to become better than Google? ›Google, due to its reputation of being a more innovative and a more developer friendly company, and because of its market position, was able to attract much better talent. Bing suffered from the anti-Microsoft sentiment among developers and wasn't able to attract a similar quality of talent.
Which search engine is powered by both Google and Bing? ›Qrobe not only searches Google and Bing, it also adds Ask to the mix. You enter the term you're interested in finding into the space provided, hit Search, and let Qrobe work its magic.
Do all search engines give the same results? ›Keep in mind that the results you get from one search engine may not match the results you get from another search engine. In fact, they are often different due to the way each search engine behaves. Therefore, it may actually be beneficial to use more than one search engine on a regular basis.
Who is more trustworthy Google or Microsoft? ›65.7% of US residents say Google is trustworthy followed by Amazon at 65.1%, Microsoft at 64.9% and Apple at 63.6% and Samsung at 62.3%. 1 in 5 Americans will always trust Google results.
Which browser is better Microsoft or Google? ›In a test that lasted 23 days, Edge managed to block 96% of socially-engineered malware attacks thrown at it – from malicious links to pop-ups. Comparatively, Google Chrome blocked 88%. Microsoft Edge wins here if security and performance are key concerns of yours.
Is it easier to get into Google or Microsoft? ›
Employees at Google were most likely to rate the interview process as “difficult” or “very difficult” (49%). Microsoft was close behind at 47%.
What is Bing best known for? ›Microsoft Bing (commonly known as Bing) is a web search engine owned and operated by Microsoft. The service has its origins in Microsoft's previous search engines: MSN Search, Windows Live Search and later Live Search. Bing provides a variety of search services, including web, video, image and map search products.
Is Bing the most used search engine? ›Search engine usage in different countries
Google is the most frequently used search engine worldwide.
Google. With over 80% of the search market share, Google is undoubtedly the most popular search engine.
Why can't I remove Bing from my computer? ›Go to the “three-dot” menu again, and click “More tools”, then “extensions.” Click the switch under “Microsoft Bing Homepage & Search for Chrome” to turn it off.
How do I get rid of Bing and go back to Google? ›On the Settings page, click Search engine in the navigation pane on the left. 3. In the Search engine section, check what search engine is set in the dropdown menu beside Search engine used in the address bar. If it's set to Bing, click and change it to another option, like Google or Yahoo!
How do I stop Bing from hijacking Google? ›- Step 1: Remove Bing using Settings. ...
- Step 2: Restart your PC in Safe Mode. ...
- Step 3: Remove Web Extensions From Browser. ...
- Step 4: Reset Web Browser Settings. ...
- Step 5: Uninstall Suspicious Applications. ...
- Step 6: Delete Temporary Files. ...
- Step 7: Install an Antimalware and Perform a Scan.
- DuckDuckGo.
- StartPage.
- Qwant.
- Searx.
- SearchEncrypt.
- Gibiru.
- Yippy.
- Ecosia.
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo is easily the most well-known private search engine around—and the antithesis to Google when it comes to favoring user privacy.
- Google Search. Google Search, commonly known as Google, is a search engine launched in 1997. ...
- Bing. Bing has a history that dates back around the same time Google was launched. ...
- 3. Yahoo! ...
- Baidu. ...
- Yandex. ...
- DuckDuckGo. ...
- Ask.com. ...
- WolframAlpha.
What percentage of users use Bing? ›
The search engine with the biggest market share is Google.
Google has 92% total search visits and 96% mobile search visits. Bing only has 3.9% total visits and 1.4% mobile visits.
- China. 35.25% 27.10%
- United States. 26.51% 4.74%
- Germany. 3.28% 3.75%
- France. 3.07% 4.42%
- United Kingdom. 3.06% 1.27%
- Others. 28.83%
The picture gets even bleaker for Microsoft Bing when you look at search engine market share worldwide, across all devices (desktop, mobile, tablet), also via Statcounter. While Bing is at just 2.79%, Google is at 92.63%. Why this number is a problem: Bing's market share peaked in October 2022, at 3.59%.
Which search engine has the best algorithm? ›Over the years, the Google ranking algorithm has been enriched with hundreds of other factors (including the help of machine learning) and still remains the most reliable way to find exactly what you are looking for on the Internet.
Who owns DuckDuckGo? ›Gabriel Weinberg - CEO & Founder - DuckDuckGo | LinkedIn.
Why Google is the most used search engine? ›Speed. Google is generally quicker than the other search engines at bringing back results. It is able to deliver millions of results in 0.19 of a second. This is down to their technical infrastructure, which is much better than the other engines.
Do Japanese people use Google? ›While Google is the #1 search engine, Yahoo is the most popular site in Japan. Finally, it should be noted that Yahoo Japan is not owned by Yahoo in the US, and the technologies used are completely different. So no assumptions can be made between the Yahoo US and Yahoo JP search Engines.
Why is Bing not popular? ›Some don't like Bing's algorithm and find its search results to be of lesser quality. Others dislike Microsoft's tactic of forcing Bing on them as the default search engine with no easy way out. Or, like the Apple vs. PC debate, some people dislike Bing simply because it isn't Google.
Does China ban Bing? ›The reason why Bing is blocked in China is the same reason many other websites are blocked. Bing allows users to access information freely available and published all over the world. In particular, this means accessing democratically-published newspapers and content that may be in opposition to the Chinese government.
Why are more people using Bing? ›Bing Chat isn't the only reason for increased usage of Microsoft's search engine. Microsoft Edge has also helped contribute to Bing usage, as Microsoft aggressively pushes its search engine defaults with Edge updates, Windows updates, and even prompts to stop people downloading Google Chrome.
How many people use Bing vs Google? ›
Publisher traffic.
7 (the day the new Bing launched), Bing made up just 1.22% of Search Engine Land's organic search traffic. Now Bing is up to a 2.6% share. Google still dominates – it has dropped from 98.2% prior to Feb. 7 to 96.7% now.
| Characteristic | Share of traffic |
|---|---|
| China | 35.25% |
| United States | 26.51% |
| Germany | 3.28% |
| France | 3.07% |
Why does my Google Chrome keep redirecting to Bing? You probably have a web hijacker infecting your computer and altering Google Chrome's settings. You need to uninstall recently installed extensions and apps, then scan your PC with a secure antivirus scanner like Norton.
How does Microsoft Bing compare to Google? ›The Biggest Differences
Keywords: Both Google and Bing offer a tool for keyword research but the biggest difference is that Bing has a lower search volume. Click-through-rate (CTR): Bing offers numerous resources for both financial and shopping services.
Popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing collect a lot of data about you – your IP address, user agent, a unique identifier (stored in browser cookies), and your search terms.
What is the disadvantage of Bing search engine? ›Cons of Bing
Relative lack of speed: Despite its promising features, Bing is still not as fast as, for example, Google. This is a serious disadvantage, considering the number of 'the faster, the better' minded people nowadays.
Almost half of the US runs a search powered by Bing every month. That's not saying that everyone turns to Bing.com for every search—but many users are “bi-searchual” and use both Google and Bing powered search engines to perform different tasks or use different search engines across their different devices.
What is the advantage of Bing search engine? ›One of its best-known advantages is Bing's Image Search, which incorporates high-quality, visually stunning images into search results pages. Searchers can filter by layout and access other filters that, while they exist on Google, are a lot easier to find on Bing.
Why was Bing unsuccessful? ›Google, due to its reputation of being a more innovative and a more developer friendly company, and because of its market position, was able to attract much better talent. Bing suffered from the anti-Microsoft sentiment among developers and wasn't able to attract a similar quality of talent.
What is the Bing search engine controversy? ›The technology has stoked controversy, however, after reported troubling results in which it expressed a desire to release nuclear secrets, compared a user to Adolf Hitler and repeatedly told another user it loved him, among other examples.
What percentage of search traffic is Bing? ›
The picture gets even bleaker for Microsoft Bing when you look at search engine market share worldwide, across all devices (desktop, mobile, tablet), also via Statcounter. While Bing is at just 2.79%, Google is at 92.63%. Why this number is a problem: Bing's market share peaked in October 2022, at 3.59%.
What is the number one search engine in the world? ›1. Google. With over 86% of the search market share, one hardly needs to introduce readers to Google.
Who uses Bing anymore? ›Nearly 50% of US citizens use Bing as their default search engine. In March 2019, 126 million unique users performed 6 billion searches on Bing. That's a lot for a search engine that we thought no one uses anymore. Contrary to popular belief, Americans seem to like Bing just fine.