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It's easy for businesses to get caught up in Google's
expectations for their sites, when trying to market
through search. That's certainly a wise thing to do,
considering Google dominates the search market by a huge
margin. Still, there are other search engines that people
are using, and it is also wise to make sure your site is
performing to the best of its ability in those too.
I'm obviously talking about Yahoo and Bing, but Yahoo's
share is declining, while Bing's is gaining.
Furthermore, if the deal between Microsoft and Yahoo goes
through, Bing search will be talking over Yahoo anyway.
We don't hear as much about what Bing wants out of a site
for rankings, but Rick DeJarnette of Bing Webmaster Center
has shared
some dos and don'ts of link-building for Bing. Not
surprisingly, a lot of his advice for honoring Bing's
policy, does not differ too much from advice that Google
would give you. It is, however, still always nice to see
how they feel, just to clear up any possible confusion.
Like Google, Bing places great emphasis on quality links
to determine its rankings. "Just don't make the
mistake of believing it will result in instant
gratification. Successful link building efforts require a
long-term commitment, not an overnight or turnkey
solution," says DeJarnette. "You need to
continually invest in link building efforts with
creativity and time."
What Not To Do
DeJarnette shared a list of things that you should avoid
in your link building efforts, if it is a good Bing
ranking that you are after. Here is what Bing says
will get your site reviewed more closely by staff:
1. The number of inbound links suddenly increases by
orders of magnitude in a short period of time
2. Many inbound links coming from irrelevant blog
comments and/or from unrelated sites
3. Using hidden links in your pages
4. Receiving inbound links from paid link farms, link
exchanges, or known "bad neighborhoods" on the
Web
5. Linking out to known web spam sites
"When probable manipulation is detected, a spam
rank factor is applied to a site, depending upon the type
and severity of the infraction," says DeJarnette.
"If the spam rating is high, a site can be penalized
with a lowered rank. If the violations are egregious, a
site can be temporarily or even permanently purged from
the index."
What To Do
DeJarnette also shared some tips for getting more quality
links. Following are Bing's tips for effective
link building (paraphrased):
1. Develop your site as a business brand and brand it
consistently
2. Find relevant industry experts, product reviewers,
bloggers, and media folk, and make sure they're aware of
your site/content
3. Publish concise, informative press releases online
4. Publish expert articles to online article directories
5. Participate in relevant conversations on blogs/forums,
referring back to your site's content when applicable
6. Use social networks to connect to industry
influencers (make sure you have links to your site in
your profiles)
7. Create an email newsletter with notifications of new
content
8. Launch a blog/forum on your site
9. Participate in relevant industry associations and
especially in their online forums
10. Strive to become a trusted expert voice for your
industry, while promoting your site
Most of the stuff DeJarnette shared is nothing any
savvy search marketer is not already aware of. That said,
there are clearly plenty of online (and offline for that
matter) businesses out there that don't have savvy search
marketers on the payroll. It can be quite helpful when a
search engine itself lays out what to do and what not to
do to help webmasters get better rankings.
Author Information
Chris Crum has been a part of the WebProNews
team and the iEntry
Network of B2B Publications since 2003.
Twitter: @CCrum237
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