Archive for June, 2009

When you search for your site in Bing, if it doesn’t come up in the search results or if its new, you can submit your URL in Bing Webmaster Tools:

Just go to Bing URL Submission and submit your site URL.

Create an XML Sitemap & Submit it to Bing Webmaster Tools

Whether your site comes up when you search for it in Bing or not, you still need to create an xml sitemap and submit it to Bing Webmaster Tools.

Go to bing.com

Click Extras in the top right corner and choose Webmaster Center.

Click on Sign in to Use the Tools. You’ll need a hotmail or live email account to do so, so if you don’t have one, simply sign up for one so you’ll be able to access Bing Webmaster Tools.

Once inside Webmaster Tools, just enter your web address and your site map address. Make sure, of course, that your sitemap address ends with dotxml

Next, you’ll need to verify ownership of the site by following the exact same procedures you follow when submitting your xml sitemap to Google and Yahoo.

If for some reason you are not submitting your sitemaps to Google and/or Yahoo, you absolutely must begin to do so.

Bing provides two ways to verify ownership:
XML file authentication or Metatag authentication.
Both require that you add an authentication code to your site that Bing provides.

As the technical details are far beyond the scope of this post, you can find specifics on creating your xml sitemap at xml-sitemaps.com and on verifying it at: http://help.sitesell.com/sitemaps/live-webmaster-tools.html#VERIFY

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The new Microsoft Bing search engine introduces us to seven new and useful features, ranging from categorized search and deep links to related searches and search history.

Best Match

Bing determines what it thinks is the best match for your search and features it at the top of the results.

Homepage Summary

When you move your mouse over a listing, a window appears in the right sidebar that shows you what’s on the page.

Deep Links

When you search Directory One, for example, and you mouse-over the orange dot, you get a description of the homepage along with links to five inside pages:

• Services
• Company Profile
• Our Process
• Biographies
• Press

These must be what Microsoft means by deep links, even though they are titled: Also on this page!

Categorized Search

Categorized search helps users organize their search by increasing the authority and diversity of results. Bing groups search results by category. For example results for a specific city may include weather, airport, restaurant, and hotel groups

What they mean by groups is, for example, when you search the word Microsoft, the results are grouped by categories as you scroll down the page. So categories for Microsoft include:

• Microsoft Products
• Microsoft Online Services
• Microsoft Investor Relations
• Microsoft Company History
• Microsoft Jobs
• Microsoft Images

You can also click on any of the category headings to generate more related results.

Does categorized search actually improve relevance?

Not necessarily. When I searched the word Bing on Bing, of course the Bing search engine came up first. But Bing Crosby came up third, which is higher than where he came up when searching Bing on Google.

The bottom line is search engines by their very nature will never be 100% relevant because it’s simply not possible to serve up results that will please all searchers all the time. As the old adage goes, “you can’t be all things to all people.”

Related Searches

Bing gives you the opportunity to click on related searches in three places. First, a dropdown menu that appears as you enter your search word.

For example, when you enter the word Houston, you get eight choices in the dropdown:

• Houston Chronicle
• Houston Astros
• Houston Community College
• Houston Texans
• Houston Rockets
• Houston Weather
• Houston News
• Houston Press

You get five more to choose from at the top of the left sidebar:

• Travel
• Restaurants
• Jobs
• Hotels
• Attractions

And then seven more Related Searches under those.

Search History

Below the Related Searches you’ll see links to your search results from the last 48 hours. This is a nice touch because if you’ve searched for something once, chances are you’ll go back and search for it again later. Guess in a way that means you didn’t find exactly what you were looking for the first time.

Telephone Numbers

Another useful feature that even Microsoft doesn’t mention, or at least I haven’t seen them mention, are telephone numbers. Business listings actually include either local or 800 numbers, in the window that appears in the right sidebar.

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1. Read the instructions
Sounds obvious enough but I can’t tell you how many times I tried to use commas when semi-colons were required or vice versa to create lists. Also if the last phrase on a list gets cut off between the words, it means the list is too long so simply delete your entire last entry.

2. When submitting multiple locations to Google Maps and Microsoft’s new Bing Local, each site needs to be verified. You’ll have the option to verify immediately by telephone or request they mail a post card to each location in about two to three weeks. When choosing the telephone option it’s absolutely critical to create a schedule and notify each location the day before. You’ll also want to allow about a half hour between calls from Google and call each location again just before you activate the call request. With Google when you submit multiple locations, if you don’t get verified on the first call, there may not be a second chance. You simply need to request the postcard alternative if the telephone verification link is not available.

3. For multiple submissions as you might expect Google Maps, Yahoo Local, the new Microsoft Bing and Superpages lead the way. The “big three” all provide a dashboard from which you can list and manage multiple locations from one page with a single email address and password. At Superpages, all you have to do is call and ask and they’ll set one up for you.

4. Take full advantage of the information opportunities offered by most of the local directories. Superpages leads the way, asking for almost the equivalent of a whole website’s worth of info, with Google Maps running a close second. Simply make sure to fill out the submission forms as completely as possible.

5. If you are submitting more than ten locations or websites, check out Google Maps multiple submission Excel data sheet. It enables you to submit both the basic information as well as optional data such business hours and payment types.

6. Take advantage of the opportunities to upload photos and even videos. What could be better than photos and videos directly accessible from your local directory listings?

7. Make sure to come up with a tasteful coupon offers for the local directories that offer them.

8. Briefly mentioned this one back in part one, “Submitting Multiple Locations to Local Directories:”
Do your keyword research and use keywords whenever appropriate in your site titles, descriptions, tag lines, products or services, specialties, photo & video file names, and video titles.

9. Whatever you do, don’t go overboard with keywords. Don’t just plug in keywords unless they make sense and are relevant.

10. Several local directories, for example, Microsoft Bing, offer the opportunity to include deep links. Make sure to use them appropriately by linking to pages inside your site that will provide useful or helpful additional information to your users.

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