While the exact numbers vary, Compete.com’s recent search market share report identified similar trends to comScore data released earlier this year. Bing fielded 19.2 percent of all search queries in the month, which represented 0.3 percent growth from Compete’s numbers in July. Similar to comScore’s report, Compete’s data demonstrates the success Bing has experienced in recent months and the potential for increased traffic for companies including it in their SEO strategies.
According to Compete, Bing has seen a 4.2 percent increase in market share since August of 2011. While a portion of Microsoft’s search growth has likely come from Google’s market share, Yahoo’s continued struggles could contribute to more success for Bing. Compete found that Yahoo market share has dropped 1.6 percent in the last 12 months and currently fields 15.1 percent of queries.
For most marketers, SEO strategies tend to follow the best practices of Google, and its ranking fluctuations. A few strong months from Bing are unlikely to change this, but consistent improvements in terms of attracting users could intensify competition in the market.
Should more people start using Bing, it will be difficult for marketers to ignore the search engine. For most marketers, SEO strategies tend to follow the best practices of Google, and its ranking fluctuations. A few strong months from Bing are unlikely to change this, but consistent improvements in terms of attracting users could intensify competition in the market.
For most marketers, SEO strategies tend to follow the best practices of Google, and its ranking fluctuations. A few strong months from Bing are unlikely to change this, but consistent improvements in terms of attracting users could intensify competition in the market.
Still, Bing has a ways to go to truly cut into Google’s dominance. Compete found that Google’s current share is at 65.7 percent, down slightly from July and down 2.6 percent from the same month last year. Even with the losses, Google’s lead remains resounding. ComScore’s numbers put Google at a slightly higher market share, with 66.4 percent of queries. (More, comScore’s reports suggest the search giant has gained annual market share, compared to 64.8 percent in August of 2011.)
Even with its large share in the market, Google appears to have taken notice to some of Bing’s recent efforts to attract users. Brafton highlighted a Tweet from Google’s Matt Cutts in response to Bing It On, an effort from Bing to show users its results can outshine Google’s SERPs. Cutts shared a screenshot that found Google actually ranked BingItOn.com higher than Bing did after a query for the site’s name.
