Summary: Bing SEO Ranking Factors on #seochat with Duane Forrester (@DuaneForrester)

Guest: Duane Forrester (@DuaneForrester)

@DuaneForrester: is a Sr. Product Manager with Bing’s Webmaster Program. He has also been an in-house SEM running SEO for MSN and was formerly on the Board of Directors for SEMPO. @DuaneForrester is the author of How To Make Money With Your Blog (http://amzn.to/GWFp4R) and Turn Clicks Into Customers (http://amzn.to/GWFntQ). @DuaneForrester can be found blogging at http://bit.ly/H58xoN .

@DuaneForrester: I’d like to thank my parents…and my dog…and my agent…and @ashbuckles for inviting me! …Oh, and if you’re not using Bing Webmaster Tools, get your a$$ in gear already!

What are the top ways & tools to get your pages indexed in Bing?

Submit URL tool, sitemap submissions and awesome content noted by others (socially), (note, we take RSS as a sitemap, too).

@lyena: How often do you re-visit a site map?
@DuaneForrester: As often as we deem warrants – there is no set time as it varies by the site, content, topic, query freshness, etc.

@markalves: Recognize MRSS feeds for video?
@DuaneForrester: WIP – inside the Submit Sitemap section is a link to where to send video sitemaps – worth sending the email

@SMN_Australia: Can incorrectly implemented http://schema.org hurt your rankings?
@DuaneForrester: Nope. #seochat Could hurt eventual CTR in the SERP, though, which certainly won’t help you in the long run.

How does authority play a role in indexation & rankings in Bing?

Our goal is to return excellent results to searchers. If you are an authority, you’re a solid bet to show to a searcher. Most of “authority” is not what we assign u, its what others tell us about u- links, social signals, engagement, etc. Authority signals come from all sources – onpage is a weaker signal than, say, positive reviews.

@PointBlankSEO: My ONLY question – will BWT provide backlink data like YSE once did? (you’d make a lot of SEOs happy!!)
@DuaneForrester: You really want that stuff? #seochat – Gimme a “holla” if you want the link data in BWMT like YSE used to have! use #BWMTSE.

@nuttakorn: If I switch over my entire site from http to https, is it impact on Bing?
@DuaneForrester: Only if we need to login to find your content. We don’t login.

@bryantdunivan: How do directories like yahoo avoid being paid links over at bing?
@DuaneForrester: They are still paid. Are you assuming some paid directories get a pass?
@bryantdunivan: Google gives them one based on their editorial oversight for acceptance/decline – that brought forth the question.
@DuaneForrester: *Guessing* that we follow a similar “trusted source” path, but cannot confirm currently.

@OptimizePrime: Does bing have anything similar to the first click free program?
@DuaneForrester: No idea – great question for me to ask the team tomorrow – but really we watch “realistic human behaviour”

What technical roadblocks commonly cause trouble for bingbot?

Bad commands in robots.txt; infinite loops suck; otherwise, it’s a pretty smart/tough critter. Bad sitemap URLs we can deal with (like most URL issues) – we may learn to mistrust the sitemap, though.

@bryantdunivan: My biggest notice on bing crawls is navigation – if the site is not set up boom – boom – boom indexation suffers at times.

@anseocompany: @bing would get a lot more attention from seos if they offer the old yse in bmt.
@DuaneForrester: 30% market share isn’t enough reason to pay attention…?
@anseocompany: Last feb it was 15.2% according to this @Forbes article.

@ChiragChhita: Are all search results on bing the same as on yahoo? If they are diferrent are ranking factors different?
@DuaneForrester: Each set of SERPs is unique – differences I cannot discuss – sorry.

@nuttakorn: Does Bing apply different bounce rate level on different type of landing page or site content?
@DuaneForrester: We kind of have to – not all content gets the same type, level of searcher interaction, so flexibility is key.

@OptimizePrime: Btw @DuaneForrester, all of us #seochat peeps root for the under dog. Just sayin. Go bing!
@DuaneForrester: I want to see a banner on the evening news!

@KeriMorgret: Appreciate all Bing has done, especially Webmaster Tools. Went back to G for searches because of deeper index.

What is Bing planning for Local Search that SEOs can prepare today?

Cannot speak to the future, but claiming their listing today would be a big step forward for most.

@lyena: What is the most common mis-conception about Bing?
@DuaneForrester: That traffic has little value – in fact, our traffic CONVERTS at a higher rate.

How is social impacting Bing search results and what should SEOs be doing more?

It’s a signal ABOUT you. Enough of that can influence us: good is great. Bad is a signal to us, too. Are you participating, or skipping? Take action, guide conversations around your business – BE an authority on your topic.

Worth noting: No signal for ranking stands alone – many, many signals contribute, so never look at one thing to save your bacon.

Worth noting: Social signals not just about followers, friends. RTs, likes, “sentiment” and more all play a role, too. Getting RT by me won’t get you squat…well, maybe a beer sometime if I thought you were funny.

@ashbuckles: Can you hint at what is a good / bad signal in social?
@DuaneForrester: Sure – followers: you have 6,000 and follow 100 ppl – YOUR voice is in demand = authoirty.
@LeydaHernandezV: But you can pay to get followers. i think the interaction (RT, mentions) is more important.
@DuaneForrester: No signal stands alone – we watch them ALL.

What can SEOs expect from Bing Webmaster Tools in 2012?

Cannot speak to the future, tho I was an enterprise level SEO for a long time, so the future is bright…gotta wear shades!

@kmullett: I am very displeased with BING essentially encouraging non social behavior on social media for signal.
@DuaneForrester: …do you feel an autofollow tool is “social” behaviour?
@kmullett: Your equating the two as the same. A premise I don’t share. Not everyone that keeps a decent ratio is autofollowing.
@DuaneForrester: This has merit – but depends on who you are sometimes – @guykawasaki could do it. @duaneforrester cannot.
@OptimizePrime: Hrmmm i have a feeling a few people will be whittling down their following list tonight.
@kmullett: That would be a sad, sad, outcome of this chat. A absolutely horrible move by BING.

@AnnieCushing: My fave thing about BWT is, unlike Google, you give us historical data. And click through position. #winwin