Google vs Bing: Why Your SEO Strategy Needs to Account for Both (And How They're Actually Pretty Different)

You know what's funny? Most people think SEO is just about Google. I totally get it — Google has like 90% of the search market, so why bother with anything else, right? But here's the thing I've learned after years of helping businesses in colorado springs and beyond: ignoring Bing is like leaving money on the table. Seriously.

Sure, Bing only has about 10% of the search market, but that's still millions of searches every single day. And honestly? Sometimes it's way easier to rank on Bing than Google. Plus, if you're trying to reach an older demographic or business users (who often use microsoft Edge/Bing by default), you're missing out on some real, valuable traffic.

The real kicker is that these two search engines work completely differently behind the scenes. What gets you to page one on Google might barely move the needle on Bing, and vice versa. So, let's break down exactly how their algorithms differ and what you can actually do about it.

The Speed Game: How Fast Do They Actually Find Your Content?

Let me tell you about something that happened with one of our clients here at Casey's SEO. We published a new blog post on a Tuesday morning. By Wednesday, it was already showing up in Google search results. Bing? It took almost two whole weeks. Wild, right?

Google's like that friend who's always checking their phone — constantly crawling, constantly updating, constantly looking for new stuff. Their bots are everywhere, and they've got the massive infrastructure to back it up. When you publish something new or update existing content, Google usually picks it up within hours or days.

Bing's more like your methodical friend who takes their sweet time. They focus on crawling the main pages and high-authority content first. New or lower-priority pages? You might be waiting a while. This isn't necessarily a bad thing — it just means you need to be more patient with Bing results.

What this means for you:

• Don't panic if your new content doesn't show up on Bing right away. Give it some time!
• Make sure your most important pages are super easy for Bing (and users!) to find from your homepage.
• Submit your sitemap to both search engines (yes, Bing has Webmaster Tools too, and it's super helpful!).

Mobile-First: Google's Obsession vs Bing's "Eh, It's Fine" Attitude

Here's where things get really interesting. Google went all-in on mobile-first indexing a few years ago. What does that mean? They look at the mobile version of your site first when deciding how to rank you. Totally makes sense — most people are searching on their phones these days.

Bing? They're still pretty desktop-focused. They care about mobile, sure, but it's not their main concern. This creates some weird situations where a site might rank great on Bing but struggle on Google because the mobile experience isn't up to par.

And don't even get me started on Core Web Vitals. Google's obsessed with page speed, how stable your page looks while loading, and how quickly users can interact with your page. These metrics directly impact your rankings. Bing considers page speed, but they're not nearly as strict about all that technical performance stuff.

I've literally seen sites with terrible mobile experiences rank well on Bing while getting buried on Google. It's truly wild to witness.

What this means for you:

• If you're only optimizing for one search engine, make it Google (sorry, Bing, but it's true!).
• But if you want to really shine on Bing, don't stress too much about having perfectly optimized mobile performance.
• Focus on basic mobile-friendliness for both, but definitely go the extra mile for Google.

The AI and Understanding Game: Who Actually Gets What You Mean?

Google's really, really good at understanding what you actually mean, not just the exact words you type. If you search for "best pizza joint near me," Google knows you want restaurants, not pizza-making equipment. They've got all this fancy AI (like RankBrain and now their generative AI features) that can figure out synonyms, context, and what you're really trying to find.

Bing's getting better at this, especially after integrating with OpenAI, but they're still playing catch-up. They're more literal in their interpretation. This actually makes Bing SEO a bit more predictable — if you want to rank for "Colorado Springs local SEO," you better have those exact words in your title and content. No guesswork needed!

I've noticed this a lot working with local businesses. Google might show a plumbing company for searches like "fix my sink" or "water leak repair" even if those exact phrases aren't on their website. Bing usually needs more explicit keyword matching.

Link Building: Quality vs Quantity (And Why Bing Still Cares About .edu Links)

Both search engines care about backlinks (links from other websites to yours), but they evaluate them differently. Google's all about quality and relevance. They want to see natural, diverse links from sites that make sense in your industry. A single high-quality, relevant link can be worth more than dozens of random directory listings.

Bing's a bit old-school here. They still put significant weight on:

• The total number of links (quantity actually matters more here than on Google).
• Exact match anchor text (if you want to rank for "plumber," having links that literally say "plumber" helps more on Bing).
• Links from .edu and .gov domains (they trust institutional domains heavily).
• Domain age and exact match domains (like "ColoradoSpringsPlumbing.com").

This creates interesting opportunities. I've seen newer sites struggle on Google but do really well on Bing because they focused on more traditional link building tactics.

What this means for you:

• For Google: focus on earning natural, relevant links through amazing content that people want to share.
• For Bing: don't ignore traditional link building tactics like directory submissions and using exact match anchor text.
• Both engines really value local citations (your business name, address, phone number listed consistently online) and links from relevant industry sites.

Social Signals: Bing's Secret Weapon

Here's something most people don't know: Bing actually looks at social media signals as a ranking factor. If your content gets shared on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, Bing notices and takes it into account. Google officially says they don't use social signals for ranking (though, full disclosure, many of us SEOs suspect they use them indirectly for discovery or something).

This means your social media strategy can directly impact your Bing rankings. I've worked with local Colorado Springs businesses where we focused on getting their content shared on social media, and we saw noticeable improvements in their Bing rankings. Pretty cool, right?

Keywords: Exact Match vs Natural Language

Remember when SEO meant stuffing your exact keywords everywhere? Well, Bing kind of still works that way. They place heavy emphasis on exact keyword matches in:

• Title tags (that's the title you see in the browser tab)
• URL structure (your website address)
• Header tags (like your H1, H2, etc.)
• Your actual content

Google's moved way beyond this. They care more about topical relevance and natural language. You can rank for "best Italian restaurant" even if your page talks more about "authentic pasta dishes" and "delicious pizza." Google's smart enough to connect the dots.

This makes Bing SEO more straightforward in some ways. If you want to rank for "Colorado Springs Google Maps optimization," make sure those exact words appear in your title, URL, and content. For Google, you could also rank well with content about "local search optimization" or "Google My Business improvement" because it understands the topic.

Technical Stuff: JavaScript and Redirects

Google's gotten really good at handling websites that use lots of JavaScript. Modern sites that load content dynamically? No problem for Google. Bing... not so much. They can handle basic JavaScript, but complex, JavaScript-heavy sites often don't get fully crawled by Bing. This means Bing might miss important content on your site.

Also, Google's pickier about redirects (when you move a page from one address to another). If you use temporary 302 redirects when you should use permanent 301s, Google might not pass full ranking power to the new page. Bing's more forgiving here.

What this means for you:

• If your site relies heavily on JavaScript to display its main content, you might naturally rank better on Google.
• Keep your technical SEO clean for both, but know that Bing is a bit more forgiving of minor issues.
• Make sure your most important content loads without JavaScript if you really want Bing to see it clearly.

Content Freshness: The Update Game

Both search engines like fresh content, but they handle updates differently. Google's faster to recognize and reward content updates. If you refresh an old blog post with new information, Google typically notices within days and can give you a nice ranking boost.

Bing takes longer to recognize updates, but they do value recency, especially for news and trending topics. The key difference is simply speed — Google's just faster at pretty much everything.

Local SEO: Where the Rules Get Weird

For local businesses, the differences become even more pronounced. Google's local algorithm considers things like:

• Distance from the person searching
• How relevant your business is to their search query
• Prominence (how well-known you are, based on reviews, citations, etc.)

Bing's local algorithm is less sophisticated but often more predictable. They rely heavily on:

• Exact business name matches
• Traditional directory citations (like Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc.)
• Consistent physical address information across the web
• Basic on-page optimization (making sure your location and services are clearly stated on your site)

I've seen local businesses rank #1 on Bing while struggling to crack the top 10 on Google, simply because they optimized for Bing's more straightforward approach.

If you're a local business wanting to dominate local search results, you really need different strategies for each platform.

Age and Authority: Bing's Respect for Experience

Bing has more respect for older, established domains than Google does. A 10-year-old domain with steady, consistent content generally gets more trust from Bing than a brand new domain with amazing content. Google cares more about current relevance and strong, recent authority signals.

This is also why exact match domains (like "ColoradoSpringsPizza.com" if you're a pizza place in Colorado Springs) still work better on Bing. Bing gives you extra credit for having keywords in your domain name. Google's more skeptical of exact match domains unless they've built real, undeniable authority and a strong brand.

What Should You Actually Do About All This?

Okay, so now you know the differences. But what do you actually do with all this information? Here's my practical advice, straight up:

1. Start with Google optimization. It's the bigger opportunity and generally harder to crack. Get your mobile experience solid, focus on page speed, create great content that truly matches what users are looking for, and build quality backlinks. Think of this as your SEO foundation.

2. Then layer on Bing tactics. Once your Google foundation is solid, go back and use exact match keywords more liberally, don't ignore traditional link building (like directory submissions), make sure your content gets shared on social media, and be more explicit about your target keywords throughout your site.

3. For local businesses, make sure you're optimized for both Google My Business and Bing Places. The tactics overlap, but they aren't totally identical. Give both platforms the attention they deserve.

4. Track both! Set up Google Analytics (or whatever analytics tool you use) to show you traffic from both search engines. You might be genuinely surprised how much Bing traffic you're already getting (or how much you're missing out on!).

The Bottom Line

Look, Google's the big player, and that's not changing anytime soon. But Bing represents real traffic and real opportunities, especially for local businesses and certain industries. The differences between these algorithms aren't just academic stuff — they represent different ways to reach your customers.

In my experience working with businesses here in Colorado Springs and beyond, the companies that understand and optimize for both platforms have a significant advantage. They're not leaving traffic on the table, and they often find it easier to really shine in their local market.

If you're feeling a little overwhelmed by all this, that's totally normal. SEO is complicated, and optimizing for multiple search engines adds another layer of complexity. That's exactly why we focus on helping businesses handle these challenges — because getting found online shouldn't be a part-time job for busy business owners.

The search world keeps evolving, but understanding these fundamental differences between Google and Bing gives you a solid foundation for whatever changes come next. And trust me, there are always changes coming!

What's your experience been with Bing vs Google? Have you noticed different results between the two? I'd love to hear about it — these algorithm differences are fascinating, and every business seems to have a slightly different experience with them.