Bing’s “Friend Effect” And What It Means for SEO
Writing by Brick Marketing in Search Engines
As you’ve probably heard, Bing is starting to use its partnership with Facebook to its advantage. Last week, Bing started providing users with personalized search results based on the opinions of their Facebook friends when they sign into Facebook and use Bing simultaneously. This is Bing’s next big step in trying to compete with Google, a search engine that has long been considered the king of search.
According to Bing, 90% of people seek advice from family and friends as part of the decision making process. Search was always driven by facts and links and hasn’t included this “friend effect” until now. In addition to seeing what your trusted Facebook friends “like” across the web, you are also able to see what people that you don’t even know “like”. This is what Bing calls “bringing the collective IQ of people to decision making”. The thought is that if lots of people “like” it, it should be considered in your decision process. Bing has even made it easier to “like” things by installing a universal “Like” button into its tool bar, so that users can “like” websites that don’t even have a Facebook “like” button installed.
Search is changing. It’s becoming more social and Bing is taking a giant leap into social search by incorporating Facebook user data into its search results. So, what does this mean for SEO? It means two big things:
First, it means that you need to have a social presence! More specifically, you need to have a Facebook presence. But it’s really so much more than that. It’s about people that “like” you- so be likeable! Not just on Facebook, but in general. Putting the power in the hands of web users/consumers makes it even that much more critical to have a good product or service, treat your customers with respect, and provide quality content. It’s necessary to be worthy of the important “like” button stamp of approval by users. This might make you a little uncomfortable, but that’s the reality of it.
Second, if you aren’t paying attention to Bing and are only optimizing for Google, it might be time to change that strategy. Facebook has become a huge part of our everyday lives. People love communicating and sharing with others. We also tend to be curious by nature, and enjoy seeing what others are up to. This Facebook integration means that Bing will likely get a lot more attention, especially since they are spending lots of money to get the word out, including spreading the message in a huge TV advertising campaign. Any news with “Facebook” attached will get noticed. Facebook is huge, which will only help Bing and definitely gives them an edge over Google when it comes to social search.
How do you think that Facebook “likes” in Bing search results will change SEO?
