The changes will prioritize mobile-optimized sites in Bing's search results
Microsoft is adjusting how it ranks Bing search results for mobile users, prioritizing sites that display better on smaller screens to accommodate the increased use of mobile search.
The changes, announced Thursday, come less than a month after Google started prioritizing mobile-optimized sites in its search results. Both companies are looking to attract more users by providing a better search experience on smartphones and tablets.
Microsoft said it expects to roll out the changes in the coming months. Sites that display well on smaller screens will also be flagged with a new "mobile friendly" tag.
In the U.S. last year, Bing had roughly 6 percent of the mobile search market, compared with Google's 83 percent, according to figures from StatCounter.
The changes don't mean mobile-optimized sites will necessarily appear at the top of results. "You can always expect to see the most relevant results for a search query ranked higher, even if some of them are not mobile friendly," Microsoft said.
It considers a variety of elements to decide which sites display best on smartphones and tablets. For example, sites with large navigational elements that are spaced well apart will be prioritized, as well as sites that don't require a lot of zooming and lateral scrolling. Bing will also favor sites with mobile-compatible content. That means pages with Flash content, which doesn't work well on iOS devices, might get demoted.
Microsoft highlighted Fandango's mobile site as one that will be prioritized under the changes, more so than Movies.com.
The company has also developed a tool to help webmasters assess the mobile friendliness of their sites. It will be made available in a few weeks.
Zach Miners covers social networking, search and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow Zach on Twitter at @zachminers. Zach's e-mail address is zach_miners@idg.com
Welcome to the second episode of Launch Marketing Council’s new series exploring how Australian brands tackle launch marketing in the consumer packaged goods sector.
The most innovative organisations embrace failure. Why? Because it is often through failing the most creative out-of-box thinking happens. And with it comes vital learning opportunities that bring new knowledge and experience into teams.
Conflict is essentially a clash. When between two people, it’s just about always a clash of views or opinions. And when it comes to this type of conflict, more than the misaligned views themselves, what we typically hate the most is our physiological response.
In early 2020, I had the pleasure of staying at the newly opened Fullerton Hotel in Sydney. It was on this trip I first became aware of the Fullerton’s commitment to brand storytelling.
Extremely informative. One should definitely go through the blog in order to know different aspects of the Retail Business and retail Tec...
Sheetal Kamble
SAP retail chief: Why more retailers need to harness data differently
It's actually a nice and helpful piece of info. I am satisfied that you shared this helpful information with us. Please stay us informed ...
FIO Homes
How a brand facelift and content strategy turned real estate software, Rockend, around
I find this very strange. The Coles store i shop in still has Flouro lights? T though this would have been the 1st thing they would have ...
Brad
Coles launches new sustainability initiative
Well, the conversion can be increased by just using marketing, but in general if you are considering an example with Magento, then it is ...
Bob
How Remedy is using digital marketing and commerce to drive conversion
yo nice article
Bob
6 Ways to ramp up Social Media to Your Web Design