Just like browsers and mail servers, you have a choice when selecting an internet search provider. Whether you’re a die hard Google fan or you bounce around from one to another, you at least know where you will start a search. Since Google announced it was saying goodbye to keywords, odds are you may have done a little more exploring than usual to see what else is out there. After all, just because Google has cut off keyword data, doesn’t mean there’s no keyword play to be made anymore.
Chew on this
A new study by The Media Audit reveals 30% of those who surfed the internet in the past 30 days visited Bing, owned by Microsoft. This figure represents more than 37 million unique monthly website visitors across The Media Audit’s 80 measured cities. That’s certainly nothing to ignore.
The study highlights some differences between Bing and Google you may find surprising with regards to navigation and buying behavior. For instance, Bing users are 25% more likely to visit a daily newspaper’s website, and 17% more likely to visit Pandora.com. In addition, 67% of Bing users are frequent e-commerce shoppers, making twelve or more online purchases per year — compared to 60.4% for Google users. Bing users are also more likely to use social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter.
What does it mean
Before deploying any new marketing tactics, it’s important to understand your audience: Who they are, how the behave, where they spend time, etc… If your audience is likely listening to Pandora, actively shopping online and participating in social media then maybe Bing presents an opportunity for your organization you hadn’t considered before.
If you’re actively trying to improve rankings on one search engine, why not do the same with others that may be used by your ideal customers?
Does any of the data The Media Audit discovered change the way you think about Bing?
