More Ways to Find Search Data with Bing Webmaster Tools
December 13, 2013
Ever look at search engine referrals, and notice that your traffic numbers are increasing on Bing? I know it sounds crazy, but people actually do use Bing. I’m sure you’ve had that moment where you tried to find a person, a restaurant, a band, a Facebook page, or a business and could not find what you were looking for.
Some people might try other search engines to find what they need. This is one factor in why Bing is kind of becoming a 2nd rate leader in search.
You still don’t really ever hear anyone say, “Why don’t you Bing it?” So it’s still safe to say that Google is the search engine leader. But, if you have the time to analyze some other means of web analytics, I say why not.
Looking into Bing Webmaster Tools, I have found that the set up is pretty similar to Google Webmaster Tools (GWT). In fact, every time I log in, the navigation and tools are looking closer and closer to GWT. I know you’re DYING to know – what does Bing offer that Google does not? Here is a brief look at a few things I have found:
- Keyword Research. You can actually find organic search numbers for keywords/phrases. The data comes straight from organic search, unlike Google that comes from Ads search. You can also view the keyword trend: increasing or decreasing.
- 301 Codes. This shows how many 301 redirects (moving one link to another link). While there is no limit to how many links are redirected, this is a great tool to see a list of old pages, and if they are redirecting to correct page.
- Link Explorer. Here you can actually type in your URL and see what pages link to that URL. Google provides a list of back-links, but with link explorer you can type in the page URL and refine the filters.
So, is it really “better?”
There’s never a right or a wrong. However, in most cases, Bing traffic has not reached a significant amount of your search traffic. So the pool of data you can receive from Bing’s Toolbox is not the extent of your traffic. This analysis is to give you confirmation of what you already know from Google as well as to give you more search data that Google may not show you.
All in all, it’s important to look at other variables, other aspects of search, and to think outside of the Google box we tend to live in.
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Uyen Ochsner is an Account Manager at SEOhaus. If you would like to stay up-to-date on all of the latest SEO industry news and tips, you can subscribe to our blog here. Thanks for reading the SEOhaus blog!