Google defines search. From its catchy name to its innovative features, the company has leaded the way for online marketing since its origins. Although arguably a late starter when compared to the likes of Yahoo, Google’s features evoked a distinctive sense of empathy towards its searchers needs. It cared more about its users than its profits – at least it did. Boasting over 90% of the search share in many countries, Google is the search world’s lion. The hunter and not the hunted.
In terms of SEO, however, Google shouldn’t be allowed to prowl solo. Thanks to a merge of Bing and Yahoo, Google now has a competitor with an average search share of 28%. Although perhaps not strong enough to question’s Google’s capital, the figures are high enough to show that optimising for Bing-Yahoo is definitely worth your while. Reports have shown that through meeting the criteria of Bing-Yahoo websites can enjoy at least a 10% growth in traffic, and thus theoretically a 10% growth in profits. However placing some of your resources on Bing-Yahoo could have some knock on effects for your existing strategy.
The problems with focusing on Bing-Yahoo
Not enough know-how: Thanks to Google’s dominance in search the majority of the Search engine world have forgotten how to optimise for Yahoo, let alone have an understanding of the new Bing engine. Until now focuses on Yahoo and Bing have been minimal and there has been no real push for strategy guides. Many SEO’ers simply don’t know how Bing and Yahoo work, they’ve never needed too!
Could damage current efforts: Many SEO experts have claimed that due to the complexion of the engines, optimising for one engine will reduce your results for the other. If this is true then the whole idea will be unfeasible for marketers – no one can afford to let go of their Google ranking. However this idea is being debated with some people suggesting that the engines are actually very similar in their nature.
The balance of resources: By placing time, money and staff onto Bing-Yahoo, webmasters may lose their position on Google due to sacrificing their efforts on its engine. Will the 10% increase from Bing-Yahoo be enough to meet the drop of Google’s traffic?
Why the SEO world should be open-minded
Although at the moment it may not seem that appealing to optimise for Bing-Yahoo, it is a prospect that the SEO industry should never lose sight of. Google needs competition. It will both stop it from slacking in development and from becoming a monopoly in its service. After all, SEO is a technique that respects the existence of all search engines and not just Google’s. Exciting new developments such as Blekko should be treasured as they attempt to question the authority of their major rivals.
Here at the SEOtrafficLab our packages have been carefully crafted to offer our clients the ultimate balance in SEO. We respect the diversity in the search engine world and have integrated its potential into our services.
Thanks to years of experience our dedicated team know what it takes to make an SEO strategy work.
For a bespoke quote on any of our ground breaking services, call us on 0800 84 999 33 or email us at sales@seotrafficlab.com. Your business is our passion.
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