Comparing Bing Webmaster Tools to Google Search Console

Google is the dominant search engine in the UK, with 86% of the market share as of September 2021. Bing (and Yahoo which uses Bing to deliver search results), is the second most used search engine reportedly sharing 9-10% of the search market. Lesser-known names such as Duck Duck Go make up the remaining percentage.

While this may make it tempting to focus on Google alone, Microsoft Bing accounts for almost 900 million global searches per day, meaning it’s worth optimising your website’s SEO for both major search engines. It’s particularly important to optimise for Bing if you’re targeting an American audience, as ⅓ of all U.S online queries are made on Bing and Yahoo.

As a website owner, it is important to ensure that your site is optimised for search engines so that it can rank higher in search results and attract more traffic. There are several tools available that can help you with this, including Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console. In this guide, we will compare these two tools to help you decide which one is the best fit for your needs.

What Is Bing Webmaster Tools?

Bing Webmaster Tools is a free service which allows you to see how your website is performing in Bing search results, as well as identify any potential issues that may be affecting your ranking. Bing Webmaster Tools allow a greater understanding of how your website is performing in organic search and helps you see how your customers are finding your site. You can use tools and reports to find the keywords driving traffic as well as the impressions and clicks of those terms and find websites linking to you. Recently, Bing has been launching new features, some of which Google Search Console doesn’t have. Some of the features offered by Bing Webmaster Tools include:

Search Traffic and Query Data

This tool provides information about how much traffic your website is receiving from Bing search results, as well as the keywords that users are searching for to find your site. This data can help you identify which content is performing well and which areas may need improvement.

Sitemap Submission

Bing Webmaster Tools allows you to submit a sitemap of your website, which can help the search engine better understand your site’s structure and content. This can help improve your website’s visibility in search results.

Malware and Security Alerts

If Bing detects any issues with your website’s security or malware, you will receive an alert through the tool. This can help protect your site and your visitors from potential harm.

Backlink Auditing

Bing Backlinks has the ability to compare your website backlinks to any other domain by entering it on the similar sites section of the backlinks tool.

Keyword Research Tool

This is very similar to Google’s keyword research tool, although it does present data in a better way for organic research. Choose a keyword and it will give you the following data back:

• Impressions in the selected time frame (alternative to traditional search volume).
• Top countries for the chosen keyword.
• Related keywords.
• Question keywords.
• Newly discovered related keywords.
• Top 10 ranking websites for the chosen keyword.

That’s quite a broad set of data all accessible in single clicks. The breakdown of keywords is a helpful way to formulate your content and pull in long-tail traffic.

Site Scan

The site scanner audits for issues on your website and then categorises the errors into 4 sections:

• All issues.
• Errors.
• Warnings.
• Notices.

With each crawl, the page limit is 10,000 so this is more than adequate for most websites. For websites bigger than this, you can filter and limit certain areas/parameters of URLs, exclude subdomains, include only a single directory, and more – it’s fairly comprehensive.

What Is Google Search Console?

Google’s Webmaster Tools are more commonly known as Google Search Console. Google Search Console is another free tool that allows you to see how your website is performing in Google search results.From a search functionality perspective, the two search engines are similar, but Google offers more core features.

Some of the features offered by Google Search Console include:

• Search traffic and query data: Similar to Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Search Console provides information about the traffic your website is receiving from Google search results and the keywords that users are searching for to find your site.
• Sitemap submission: Google Search Console also allows you to submit a sitemap of your website to help the search engine better understand your site’s structure and content.
• Crawl errors: If Google finds any issues with your website’s crawlability, such as broken links or pages that are blocked from being indexed, you will receive an alert through the tool. This can help improve the overall usability of your site.
• Mobile usability: With the increasing importance of mobile-friendliness, Google Search Console provides information about how well your website is performing on mobile devices. This can help you identify any issues that may be affecting your mobile users’ experience.

Getting Your Website Setup On Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing is investing time in improving tools and engaging SEOs to use their software. One of the biggest hurdles, especially if your business has multiple domains, is getting all these sites verified in Bing Webmaster Tools. This is something that Bing has considered, and much like the Local Business Pages on Bing, they offer a one-click automatic verification of any website you have verified in Google Search Console.

SEO relies heavily on having multiple datasets to ensure you’re capturing all of the issues and the opportunities whether you’re analysing backlinks, doing keyword research, or auditing websites for onsite or technical SEO issues.  Businesses can use both SEO software options to maximise performance on both search engines. Bing Webmaster may also be more popular in specific industries that see more traffic on Bing.

Which webmaster tool is right for you?

Though they work for different search engines, both Bing Webmaster and Google Search Console offer very similar functionalities. Both Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console are useful tools for webmasters looking to improve their website’s presence in search engine results, and both offer valuable insights to help improve your website’s SEO. Users can leverage either software to find web crawler errors, see search terms viewers use to find your site and check for mobile usability problems. Bing Webmaster and Google Search Console both help users track and improve search performance.

Ultimately, the best tool for you will depend on your specific needs and goals. If you want to focus on improving your website’s visibility in Bing search results, then Bing Webmaster Tools is the better choice, while Google Search Console helps users improve their performance on Google’s search engine. It is worth considering using both tools to get a comprehensive understanding of your website’s performance and identify any areas for improvement.

One major difference is the size of the index. Google has a significantly larger index of web pages, meaning it has a greater ability to find relevant information for a search query. Bing, on the other hand, has a smaller index but does have a partnership with Yahoo, which expands its reach.

In terms of search results, Google tends to prioritise more popular and reputable websites, while Bing puts a greater emphasis on the relevance of the content to the search query. This can lead to slightly different search results between the two engines. Google also has a wider range of features and tools available, including Google Maps, Google Translate, and Google Images. Bing has similar features, but they are not as comprehensive. At least, not yet.

Work With Embryo

Here at Embryo, our expert SEO team are well versed in optimising websites for search engines. We’re a results-driven digital marketing agency with a strong emphasis on improving brand awareness and website visibility within search results pages.

Get in touch with us today to see how we can help your online business grow.