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How to Optimise Bing Places And Improve Your SEO Rankings

Even though Bing does not have the lion’s share, you should not only focus on improving your Google rankings. I know that Google is the most popular search engine. Whenever you have a question, you “Google” it rather than “Bing” it (or “Swisscows” it, in case you know Swisscows search engine. I found it accidentally while googling for “swiss chocolate”).  

Google is a powerhouse dominating the market share. I agree. But still, Bing enjoys more attention than you think. According to Stat Counter, 3.94% of Australians have used Bing during 2020.

Do you think that this small percentage is not relevant? Statista says that 20.32 million Australians use the Internet. 3.94% of 20.32mil is 800,608. How many potential Australian customers would you lose among 800,608 people? Of course, I can’t answer this question. It depends on your business model and the products or services you sell. 

I’m not a statistician but what I am trying to highlight is that every potential customer counts. Why should you lose online customers who use Bing? Just because Google has a massive edge over the rest of available search engines? Of course not. 

However, I usually do not share the same information in my posts. In this article, I have already explained the main reasons why you should use Bing Places. You will also find a step-by-step guide to Bing Places setup. 

This post has therefore a different purpose. Since I have already explained previously how to set up Bing Places, now I would like to teach you how to optimise Bing Places for SEO rankings. Do not apply the one-time “set it and forget it” system. If you want to attract new customers, you should apply a local SEO strategy. 

Important – My post is just a guide to Bing Places optimisation and not a guide to Bing SEO strategy. There are some differences between Bing SEO and Google SEO that you should consider if you want to increase your Bing search traffic (I’ll give you just one example: Google is known for using semantic search and understands keyword context – meaning that for Google, exact match keywords are not so relevant. With Bing, you should use targeted keywords whenever possible). 

However, the differences between Bing SEO and Google SEO are different and is a more complex topic that I won’t bring up now. Even though there is no doubt that Bing Places helps you increase your visibility in Bing local search results.

Table of contents:

  1. Top 5 tips to optimise Bing Places for SEO Rankings
  2. Tip 1: Add a deal or a discount
  3. Tip 2: Fill out your complete profile
  4. Tip 3: Improve your NAP consistency 
  5. Tip 4: Add images to your listing and use keyword filenames for them
  6. Tip 5: Get reviews and respond to each of them

1. Top 5 tips to optimise Bing Places for SEO rankings

Man Optimising Bing Places

Below you will find 5 essential tips for optimising Bing Places in order to improve your SEO results:

2. Tip 1: Add a deal or a discount

On Bing Places, you can list offers or discounted products and services for free. The offers can be active for up to 90 days. 

Log in to your Bing Places listing dashboard and select “Add deal or discount” from the “Offers” section. You will be requested to select the “Title of the deal or discount”. Choose between “Free” or “Discount”. Fill in the additional fields concerning your deal (for example, the type of service or product that you are giving for free – e.g. Two ice cream for the price of one). Then set a timeframe for the offer and add a URL in case you have the offer on your website. Once you fill out all the required fields, click save to publish your deal. 

Discounts Optimise Bing Places

3. Tip 2: Fill out your complete profile

To gain visibility and attract customers, you need to fill out your complete profile. When you set up Bing Places, you are allowed to skip some steps concerning your company’s profile. If you did this, make sure you go back later to add the specific details about your business, such as working hours, contact information, and a description of your products or services.

Add a category for your business. Bing enables you to choose multiple categories and I recommend you select as many categories as you can (you can choose a primary category and then select more subcategories to support your primary category). This is because people conduct searches using different words to find a business and if you select more categories you will collect all leads using similar keywords. 

A small piece of advice – Fill in the “Advanced Information” listing section as well. It will show up after you complete the initial setup process and you will be requested to add your LinkedIn and Instagram profiles. Bing will also inform you that “details on this page might only be used in ranking your listing in search results and not get published”.   

4. Tip 3: Improve your NAP consistency

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number. Of course, it refers to your business’s name, address, and phone number and not your private details. NAP consistency is when you use the same business name, address, and phone number across all websites that show your company’s details. 

NAP consistency is extremely important for local SEO and search ranking. Bing (just as Google) compares your NAP data from your Bing Places account with the NAP details listed on different online directories, your social media, and company’s website. Also, displaying consistent NAP is important for your potential customers that should find accurate and consistent information about your business. Would you like to search for a company’s phone number and get 3 different results? Probably not.  

A great way to avoid NAP inconsistency (that makes you lose potential customers) is to get a permanent business virtual address that you don’t need to change as you scale up. With physical office space, you might need to change location as your business grows or shrinks. But with a virtual address included in a high-quality virtual office package, you can easily scale up without changing your NAP.     

Bing Places Optimisation For SEO Rankings

5. Tip 4: Add images to your listing and use keyword filenames for them

Did you know that Bing Places uses images more than Google My Business? To see for yourself, try to search for a local business on Google and then on Bing. You will notice that Bing displays a larger strip of images related to a specific business. Therefore, using at least 10 high-quality images for your Bing listing is extremely important. Bing enables you to upload up to 100 photos. 

Make sure you always remove outdated images. Refresh your list of photos at least once a year (e.g. add photos of a business event that you organised). Do not forget to name your images for SEO. There are different tools that you can use to do keyword research (click here to learn more about Bing’s keyword research tool). Save your images using the targeted keywords and upload them to your Bing Places profile.

6. Tip 5: Get reviews and respond to each of them

Reviews are important for every business as they build trust and credibility. Use your social media profiles to ask people to rate their experiences with your business (this is because Bing does not have a native review feature and gets reviews from various sources such as Facebook, Tripadvisor, and Yelp!). For this reason, it is important to protect your online reputation and respond to all reviews, including the negative ones. 

Check as often as possible the reviews you receive and answer them. I strongly recommend you answer negative reviews diplomatically. I know that you have the right to select your clients and avoid difficult customers but if you don’t stay calm while answering negative comments you will harm your businesses reputation. To deal with frustrated customers, YOU MUST NOT USE CAPS LOCK. 

 Reviews Matter For Bing Places Optimisation

Conclusion – Bing Places is a great tool that can help you boost your business’s visibility in local search results. But remember that the “set it and forget it” system won’t bring significant results. You should audit your listing regularly and make sure you provide consistent and up-to-date information about your company. There are also more optimisation techniques that you can apply to your Bing Places page but use this list as a great starting point.

Also, if you think that one of the B2B HQ’s virtual packages can help you fix your local business NAP issues and improve your organic rankings, please do not hesitate to contact us. With a virtual office, you will never have to change your NAP profile unless you decide to switch from a virtual office to a physical office. We do not try to convince you that a virtual office is the best solution that fits your business but to show you that your NAP profile is one of the most significant factors of local SEO. Consistency matters for your business. 

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