It’s Time to Pay Attention to Bing

Bing is on the rise because ChatGPT uses the search engine’s index and platform. And Bing’s advertising program is reportedly growing. I’ve corresponded with companies that state Bing’s ads (i.e., Microsoft Advertising) perform much better than Google’s.

It’s time to pay attention to Bing.

Start by verifying your site at Bing’s Webmaster Tools.

Webmaster Tools

Verification

Verify your site by (i) placing an XML file in the root directory, (ii) adding a meta tag to the home page, or (iii) creating a CNAME record to your domain name server, such as GoDaddy or similar.

From there, allow Bing about 24 hours to collect the data. Then access Webmaster Tools, which are similar to Google’s Search Console.

Bing Webmaster Tools provides three ways to verify a site.

Performance

This section displays queries on Bing that drive impressions and clicks for your domain. The report shows the number of impressions and clicks per query, the click-through rate, and your site’s average ranking for each query.

You can filter and export the data by date range, country, and device type.

Site Explorer

Site Explorer shows a site’s structure as experienced by Bing’s crawlers. Users can block or request indexing for any folder, see when each was last indexed, and obtain performance stats.

Site Explorer shows the structure of a site as experienced by Bing’s crawlers.

URL Inspection

This tool can inspect any URL on your site to ensure Bing can crawl and index it. Unlike Search Console, Webmaster Tools offers a quick analysis of any page to improve its search performance.

Sitemaps

Like Search Console, Webmaster Tools allow the submission of XML sitemaps for faster discovery and crawling.

IndexNow

This section facilitates quick indexation requests of any URL. It claims to work faster than sitemaps. Bing supports third-party indexing integrations such as Cloudflare and the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) WordPress plugin.

Backlinks

This report lists links to your site, showing the linking page, the anchor text, and the URL on your site with the inbound link.

Free Ranking Tools

Bing also offers a few free tools to optimize search rankings:

• “Robots.txt tester” won’t help you understand or translate your robots.txt file, but it will report errors.

• “Keyword research” is handy for finding new (but limited) keyword ideas. It also includes your high-ranking URLs and titles for any keyword, helpful for perceived search intent.

AI Optimized

Overall, Bing Webmaster Tools is basic but free and therefore worth a look. The indexation features (sitemaps and IndexNow) can increase the likelihood of being cited by ChatGPT and Copilot (Microsoft’s AI assistant). It’s another step to being AI optimized.

How to Track Rankings with Search Console

Google now blocks third-party organic rank-tracking tools. Here’s how to monitor rankings in Search Console.

1. Enable the ‘Average position’ option

By default, rankings do not show in Search Console’s “Performance” reports. To enable, click the “Average position” option on top of the Performance graph. Once checked, see your site’s position for each search query.

Click the “Average position” option at the top of the Performance graph.

2. Understand ‘Average position’

Google’s “Average position” can be confusing. Occasionally the average position shows, say, “1” or “2,” and yet there’s no actual traffic for the query. That’s because Google’s search results are dynamic and personalized, resulting in:

• Fresh content temporarily at the top of search results.
• A page at the top for searchers who recently visited it.

In those examples, ranking “1” or “2” in the Performance graph is typically short-lived.

Ranking “1” or “2” in the Performance graph is often short-lived.

3. Exclude branded search

Create a filter to exclude brand name queries from reports of organic search rankings.

• Click a “filter” icon above the reports.
• Select “Top queries.”
• Choose “Does not contain” in the drop-down.
• Type your brand name and click “Done.”

Filter brand queries from appearing in ranking reports.

4. Limit reports

By default, the “Average position” report lists all URLs. To analyze specific pages:

• Click “Add filter” above the Performance graph.
• Select “Page.”
• Choose “URL containing” from the drop-down.
• Paste the URL string (excluding the domain name) and click “Apply.”

The Performance reports will now include only pages containing that URL string.

Add a filter to analyze specific pages in the reports.

5. Export ranking data

Search Console retains data for 16 months. To access beyond that period, regularly export your reports.

Search Console can directly export data to Google Sheets, including the average positions and clicks for a given period. Unfortunately, the exports are not particularly useful as they do not include the URLs that rank for those queries.

“Search Analytics for” is a Google Workspace app that exports Search Console data, including the query and the ranking URL, into Sheets.

“Search Analytics for” can export data with the ranking URL into Sheets.

To create an export:

• Install the app.
• Open a new Google Sheet.
• Click “Extensions.”
• Click “Search Analytics for Sheets” from the list.
• Click “Open sidebar.”
• Select the date range and add “Query” and “Page” in “Group by.”

Optionally add more filters. The screenshot below limits a report to search queries that include “free.”

Select the date range and add “Query” and “Page” in “Group by.”

The filters are the same as native Search Console versions, such as (i) limiting exports by any keyword in queries or URLs, (ii) excluding queries with a certain word, and (iii) restricting data to a country or device.

Additionally, the app provides automated backups, each in a new tab. The app’s free plan allows unlimited backup requests of 25,000 rows each — more than enough for most sites.

How to Audit HTML Headings on Any Page

HTML headings are among the most important search engine optimization elements on a page. An H1 heading is the main headline, which Google often uses instead of the title tag to create an organic search snippet.

H2 and H3 subheadings add structure to a page, help it get featured, and introduce calls to action — all while inserting more keywords.

Here are tools to audit HTML headings on any web page — competitors, experts, and more.

Sitewide Headings

Screaming Frog is a freemium crawler that identifies headings on every page on a site, listing the page URL and the heading type, words, and number of characters.

Download the report as a .csv, Excel file, or Google Sheet.

Screaming Frog is free for up to 500 URLs. Paid access for unlimited crawls is €239 per year (approximately $250).

Screaming Frog identifies headings on every page on a site, listing the page URL and the heading type, words, and number of characters. Click image to enlarge.

Quick Analysis

SEO Pro Extension is a free Chrome extension that pulls SEO info — images, links, schema — from any page. It has a dedicated tab for headings, making analysis quick and easy.

Download the heading report as a .csv file.

SEO Pro Extension, a free Chrome extension, pulls images, links, schema, and more from any page. Click image to enlarge.

Compare Headings

Serp.tools pulls title tags, meta descriptions, and H1, H2, and H3 headings for up to 100 URLs — all for free. The interface can hide or show all subheadings on a page. It is a helpful tool for comparing your own on-page tactics against competitors.

Download the report as an Excel file.

Serp.tools pulls title tags, meta descriptions, and H1, H2, and H3 headings for up to 100 URLs — helpful for comparing against competitors. Click image to enlarge.

Keywords in Headings

WebCEO is a premium SEO tool that identifies keywords in HTML headings. When analyzing headings, keep in mind:

• The primary and secondary keywords.

• Character length and details.

• Tactics for engagement. For example, are the headings questions or CTAs? On-page engagement is a confirmed ranking signal, and headings elevate CTA visibility.

Pricing at WebCEO starts at $36 per month for a Solo Plan with a free 14-day trial.

WebCEO identifies keywords in HTML headings. Click image to enlarge.

My Top SEO Tools to Analyze Backlinks

Link building is critical for optimizing organic search rankings. External backlinks, especially from trustworthy sites, remain a key ranking factor and generate clicks and engagement.

Here are my top three tools to analyze a site’s backlinks.

Google Search Console

The “Links” tab in Search Console provides data for your own site(s), including:

• Pages with the most external and internal links.
• Top anchor text of external links.
• Top linking sites.

Clicking rows in these reports will list pages containing backlinks to your site.

Search Console provides only a snapshot of your site’s backlink profile. It doesn’t include all the backlinks Google detects nor reveal if those backlinks affect its ranking algorithm. Google often ignores irrelevant or manipulative backlinks.

Search Console is free to use.

Moz

Moz allows registered users to see top backlinks pointing to any site for free. Users can run 10 backlink reports daily without upgrading to a premium account.

Moz’s Link Explorer includes:

• Inbound links, sorted by Moz’s Page Authority metric.
• Linking domains, sorted by Moz’s Domain Authority metric.
• Anchor text of inbound links, sorted by the number of domains using that text.
• Top pages, sorted by the number of external links pointing to each page.
• Spam score: pages linking to your site, sorted by Moz’s quality score.

Users can expand rows in any section to see the URLs linking to a page or using a specific anchor text. Users can also compare their backlink profile to competitors’.

Moz provides a helpful, quick overview of any site’s top backlinks and pages for free. Premium plans start at $49 per month.

Here’s the “Top Pages” report of my own site.

Moz’s “Top Pages” report shows the number of external links. Click image to enlarge.

Semrush

Semrush offers advanced filters to analyze any site’s backlink profile. The “Backlink Analytics” section includes:

• A backlink overview: top anchor text, categories of referring domains, backlink types, top-linking countries, sites with similar backlink profiles, and more.

• All backlinks, sorted by Semrush’s Authority Score (referring domains, number of backlinks, and organic traffic of each linking page). Filter this report by type (user-generated links or sponsored), the “follow” status, placement (footer, header, content, or sitewide), language, and linking site type (e.g., ecommerce, blog, wiki).

• Anchor text, sorted by the number of linking pages using specific text.

• Referring domains, sorted by the number of backlinks and by Authority Score.

• Indexed pages, sorted by the number of linking domains pointing to each page.

• Outbound links and domains.

Semrush also provides “live” updates of the latest acquired links for any domain. It claims to be the fastest such tool, with links appearing in its database within 15 minutes.

Semrush doesn’t offer a free version. Monthly plans start at $139.95.

Here’s a backlink overview of my company’s site.

Semrush’s backlink overview lists categories of referring domains, top anchors, and more. Click image to enlarge.

Free SEO Spreadsheet for Better Rankings

Optimizing a site for organic search rankings involves identifying the best-performing pages, missed opportunities, and areas of improvement. The process typically requires aggregating page and query data on multiple spreadsheets.

Expensive tools can help create these spreadsheets, but few small and medium-sized businesses can afford them. Here’s how to create a detailed SEO spreadsheet for free.

1. Export from Search Console

Start with Google Search Console’s “Performance” section to export the best- and worst-performing pages into a Google Sheet or Excel. Search Console is free and provides detailed reports that include:

• Organic clicks for each page within a specified period,
• Average position of your site for organic queries,
• Organic click-through rate for each keyword.

A freemium Google Workspace app called “Search Analytics for Sheets” facilitates customized exports from Search Console, such as consolidating and exporting two key sections, “queries” and “pages”:

• Best performing URL,
• The search query driving the most clicks to that page,
• The page’s average position for each search query,
• Number of clicks that URL generates from all queries.

You may end up with a spreadsheet with URLs listed multiple times. To remove in Google Sheets, select the column listing the URLs and then go to Data > Data cleanup > Remove duplicates.

To remove duplicate URLs in Google Sheets, select the column listing the URLs and then go to Data > Data cleanup > Remove duplicates. Click image to enlarge.

You can now sort and filter the spreadsheet to see underperforming queries, lower-ranking queries that still send clicks, best- or worst-performing pages and how to improve them, and more.

For example, use conditional formatting to highlight queries that rank 3 or lower. This will immediately identify quick opportunities.

From that initial export, here are additional tools to add critical SEO data to the spreadsheet.

2. Add Search Volume

Add search volume to the spreadsheet via SearchVolume.io, which pulls the average monthly volume for up to 800 keywords in bulk. The tool requires no registration. To avoid the complexity of merging two spreadsheets:

• Sort both spreadsheets by queries (A > Z),
• Paste the spreadsheet with search volumes into the initial master sheet,
• Ensure the two columns with queries are the same,
• Remove the duplicate column with queries.

3. Add Titles, Meta Descriptions, Headings

For more ranking opportunities, pull each page’s title tag, meta description, and H1 to H6 headings.

Use Serp.tools to export this for free for up to 100 URLs. The web interface shows the complete list of headings. The Excel export places them all in a single cell.

Serp.tools pulls title tags, meta descriptions, and H1 to H6 headings for each page. Click image to enlarge.

Merge the two spreadsheets by sorting both by the URL column (like the search volume queries above).

The consolidated spreadsheet is a roadmap for on-page SEO. You can find missing elements to add or other areas of improvement — e.g., descriptive headings, better titles — to improve your site’s organic search performance. And it costs nothing!

How to Compare SEO of Competing URLs

Determining why one page outranks another on organic rankings is often impossible. Only Google knows some factors, such as click-throughs, long clicks, site authority, and reputation.

However, public data can be helpful. Examples include keyword usage, content structure, and backlinks.

Here are tools to easily extract public signals and compare them to competitors.

Thruuu

Thruuu offers a free tool to compare two URLs side by side. The comparison includes:

• Word count,
• Image count,
• Publication and “last modified” dates,
• Number of internal and external links pointing to a page (but not the links themselves),
• Schema usage,
• Content headings,
• Frequent terms and their count, as well as “unique” terms not on the competing page.

The comparisons of headings and unique terms were the most useful for me. Here’s a snapshot of the unique term comparison for the two pages I analyzed. It offers a helpful guide on what to add.

Thruuu offers a side-by-side comparison of common and unique terms for two URLs. Click image to enlarge.

Seobility

Seobility is another free comparison tool with useful rankings data:

The tool also rates each URL’s on-page optimization. But in my testing, it didn’t correlate with higher rankings. So I wouldn’t focus on those rankings.

Here’s a screenshot of the “image SEO” comparison.

Seobility’s tools include comparisons of image optimization for two URLs. Click image to enlarge.

Moz Link Explorer

Moz’s Link Explorer is one of the easiest ways to compare the backlink strength of two URLs.

The tool compares:

• Moz’s proprietary domain authority and page authority
• Spam score (developed by Moz based on a database of sites penalized by Google),
• Total backlinks,
• Percentage of total links that are external and followed,
• External followed links,
• Internal followed links,
• External nofollowed links,
• Internal nofollowed links,
• Total linking domains,
• Followed linking domains.

The comparison chart is color-coded with winning metrics in green.

Moz’s comparison chart is color-coded with winning metrics in green. This example compares Search Engine Land with Digital Marketing Institute. Click image to enlarge.

Semrush

Semrush compares rankings of two or more URLs inside its “Keyword gap” analysis. Paste the URLs, and the “Shared” tab will reveal the keywords the URLs rank for and their positions.

The report includes:

• Organic positions for all ranking keywords,
• Search volume of each keyword,
• Keyword difficulty,
• Search intent,
• Cost per click.

Add any of the keywords to your page to target those queries.

Other tabs with useful keyword data include:

• “Missing.” Keywords a competing page ranks for but not yours.
• “Weak.” Keywords a competing page ranks much higher than yours
• “Strong.” Keywords on your page outranking competitors.

Semrush’s keyword gap analysis reveals terms that are “Shared,” “Missing,” “Weak,” “Strong,” “Untapped,” and “Unique.” Click image to enlarge.

Google’s ‘About this result’ Explained

Google provides an “About this result” panel for organic listings. It appears behind the three dots to the right of every organic result and contains data about that page.

The panel does not appear on blended results, such as “stores,” “news,” and “Interesting finds.” Sometimes the only way to tell organic results from other listings is via the three dots.

Google’s “about” panel appears behind the three dots of every organic search result.

The panel may vary slightly, but it generally includes the following sections.

Options to Interact

The top section links to the page and provides options to share it on social media, save it, remove it from your personalized results, and provide feedback.

The top section links to the page and provides options to interact with it.

Search engine practitioners debate whether these options provide additional ranking data to Google. For example, could a page rank higher if enough people saved or shared it?

I’ve seen no direct confirmation from Google, but manipulating these signals (e.g., recruiting folks to save URLs or post negative feedback on a competitor) is a bad idea.

‘About the source’

This section contains summary info about the site. The sources are usually from the site itself or Wikipedia, although I’ve also seen AI-generated snapshots in this section.

“About the source” contains summary info about the page and site.

Click the “More about this page” button for more detail, such as:

• An in-depth description of the site (sometimes AI-generated),
• Social media channels,
• Author’s name and social media accounts,
• Reviews of the site or brand,
• Other pages mentioning the site,
• The domain age and SSL certificate,
• When it was indexed,
• Wayback archive (this recently replaced a link to Google Cache).

Check this page regularly to review what Google knows about your site and its competitors.

‘About this search’

This section contains Google’s rationale for ranking the page for the search query. Example info includes:

• Whether it is a personalized result,
• Keywords (including related keywords) on the page matching the query,
• Publish date,
• Relevant images,
• Links from relevant pages,
• Images on those relevant pages,
• Alignment with the searcher’s language and location.

For example, I searched “best waterfall trails in NY.” One of the panels included the following (I added the bold text):

• “These search terms appear in the result: best, waterfall, trails.”
• “Terms related to your search in the result: highest, waterfalls, falls, new york.”
• “This result has images related to your search.”
• “This result was published or updated recently.”
• “Other websites with your search terms link to this result.”
• “The result is in English.”
• “This result seems relevant for searches from: United States.”

Search on key queries and then check this section for higher-ranking pages. Note their keywords and other potential factors, such as recency and visuals.

Underused SEO Reports in Search Console

Google Search Console is among the most helpful free tools for search engine optimization. GSC‘s popular “Performance” section shows a site’s rankings, sources of organic clicks, and other info, such as:

• Highest-traffic pages,
• Best-performing search queries,
• Page and queries with traffic losses (after a Google update).

Yet the Performance section provides much more. Here are three little-used reports to improve SEO.

Visitors’ Devices

Smartphones are increasingly the top device for visitors and conversions. But sites vary. Some still have more desktop users than mobile.

Search Console reports the number of visitors searching and landing on your site on mobile and desktop devices. In “Performance” > “Search results”:

• Click “New” to create a new filter,
• Select “Device,”
• Click the “Compare” tab,
• Apply “Desktop” vs. “Mobile.”

The example below shows a site where visitors mostly search and click from desktop devices. Thus SEO for this site should focus on the desktop version.

Search Console’s Performance section shows visitors’ devices. In this report, most visitors use desktops. Click image to enlarge.

Traffic from Images

Google’s image results and image packs can generate many clicks. Yet there’s no easy way to identify the best performers. Search Console gives some insight at “Performance” > “Search results.”

• Select “Search type: Image,”
• Click to the “Queries” column
• Sort results by “Clicks.”

Then search Google Images for those queries to find your image that ranks and produces clicks. There’s no better way in my experience to see a site’s performance in Image search.

Keep an eye on your image optimization techniques — e.g., alt text, file type, size —and adjust the strategy accordingly.

Filter by “Search type: Image” to view traffic (clicks) from that source. Click screenshot to enlarge.

Visitors’ Countries

Searchers landing on English-language sites are likely from the United States because it is the most populous English-speaking country. But other countries offer much ecommerce potential.

To see visitors’ countries, use “Performance” > “Search results”:

• Click the “Countries” column,
• Sort by “Clicks.”

Get deeper insight into this data by creating a filter to reveal the visitors who translate search results into their native language before accessing your site. Countries with substantial clicks from translated results suggest a market better served in that language.

• Click “New” to create a filter,
• Select “Search appearance,”
• Choose “Translated results.”

In the example below, visitors from Indonesia translated search results the most.

Search Console can report the number of visitors that first translated in search. Click image to enlarge.

Get Your Free Bing SEO Scan

Search engine optimization tools can be pricey. But a few, such as Bing Webmaster Tools, are free. It provides several helpful resources, including site scans.

To use, verify your site with Bing. The process is easy if you’ve already verified on Google Search Console. Choose “Import sites from Google Search Console” and allow access through your Google account. Otherwise, verify through DNS, meta tags, or a file upload.

Once verified, allow Bing Webmaster Tools a day or two to collect performance and optimization info. Then go to the “Site Scan” section to start the crawl. (It won’t launch automatically.)

The scan can take about a day. The ensuing SEO report contains “Errors,” “Warnings,” and “Notices.”

Bing Webmaster Tools site scan report contains “Errors,” “Warnings,” and “Notices.” Click image to enlarge.

Errors

This section lists all pages with missing or incorrect components affecting organic search. Examples include:

• Missing meta descriptions,
• Pages returning 400-499 errors,
• Broken redirects,
• Broken canonical URLs,
• Missing title tags,
• Pages blocked by robots.txt,
• Pages returning server timeouts,

Of the reported errors, missing meta descriptions are the least worrisome since they don’t affect search results. Bing will generate a description itself, which it would likely do anyway based on the query.

In my experience, all other errors require fixing. Clicking any error will produce an explanation, instructions for resolving, and the affected pages.

For example, Bing provides the following explanation for the “missing tag” error:

What is the issue about?

The title is missing in the head section of the page. Search engines use the title tag as an important signal for determining the page’s relevancy for a given keyword search. It is important to ensure that your title tag is unique and descriptive, and contains accurate information about the content of the page. The title should be unique to each page on your website.

How to fix?

Add a title to your page using the title tag, which should be placed inside the section of the page’s source. Write a concise, descriptive, keyword-rich page title that best describes the page content.

Warnings

The Warnings section contains issues that could improve your site’s organic rankings but not prevent them. On my Smarty Marketing site, Bing reported these warnings:

• Images missing alt attributes,
• Pages with too-long title tags or meta descriptions,
• Pages with missing H1 tags,
• HTML is too long,
• Meta language tag missing.

Not all of these are critical. I don’t pay much attention to warnings on title tags, meta descriptions, meta language tags, and too-long HTML. Search crawlers are increasingly advanced and can handle longer HTML and missing language tags. Plus, Google has confirmed using longer title tags for ranking signals even if truncated in search listings.

Nonetheless, Bing’s recommendations won’t hurt. Certainly image alt texts and H1 tags could improve rankings.

Overall, Bing’s SEO report covers the basics. It’s an overview of potentially critical errors — at no cost.

SEO Tools to Analyze HTML Headings

HTML headings such as H2 and H3 are powerful ranking signals to search engines. Their importance is increasing because Google’s featured snippet algorithm looks for sections of a page to answer a query. Headings help Google better understand the content.

Thus analyzing competitors’ HTML headings and optimizing your own can improve rankings.

Here are three tools to help.

Devaka Tools

Devaka Tools SEO bookmarklet.

Devaka Tools offers a quick (and free) way to identify and extract on-page headings via a bookmarklet, which the site explains:

Bookmarklets are small JavaScript programs that can be stored as bookmarks in a web browser. Unlike regular bookmarks, which simply navigate to a specific webpage, bookmarklets perform actions on the current page you are viewing. They are executed by clicking on the bookmark, triggering the JavaScript code embedded within.

Install on any desktop browser. Then click the bookmarklet in your browser’s toolbar for any page, select “Headings” in the bookmarklet’s controls, and it will highlight all HTML headings.

Thruuu

Thruuu

Thruuu is an AI-powered analyzer of search engine result pages. Type in a keyword, and the tool will perform a SERP analysis that includes images, keywords, and HTML headings.

Use the “Extended view” to access heading information for every ranking page. The “Explore Headings” feature uses AI to pull headings from all ranking pages. Clicking the “i” icon to the right of any heading shows which URLs use it or a similar version.

Thruuu is a helpful tool for understanding competitors’ HTML headings relative to search queries.

Thruuu’s free trial includes 10 SERP analyses. Paid plans start at $13 per month for 75 SERPs.

Surfer

Surfer

Surfer is a content writing tool using AI to create search-engine-optimized copy. Like Thruuu, Surfer analyzes SERPs for keywords but doesn’t show the details, only the content recommendations.

To use, paste your article text into Surfer with the target keyword. The tool will then provide on-page suggestions — including the number of headings and their keywords — in a guided and clear process.

Pricing for Surfer starts at $89 per month to optimize 20 pages.

Thruuu is more affordable than Surfer and offers a free trial. Plus it provides more details on high-ranking competitors, which I appreciate. Yet busy entrepreneurs and managers may prefer Surfer’s streamlined approach.