by Florence Broder

You think search engine optimization and no doubt, you think Google, the number one search engine in the world. It was strong enough to put Yahoo’s engine out of business. Since its inception techies and marketers alike have tried to work with its algorithms to optimize sites with meta tags, key words, and more, to improve rankings.

However, at the recent SphinnCon Israel Conference on search engine optimization (SEO) I was surprised to hear many of the presenters talk about the importance of paying attention to Microsoft’s third generation search engine, Bing.

Believe it or not, Bing now has a 30% market share of the search engine market, despite its deficient algorithm as compared to Google.

How did they manage this feat in such a short time?

1. Microsoft purchased stakes in Facebook so all searches are now powered by … you
   guessed it – Bing.
2. Yahoo may have sunset its own engine, but it’s also now being powered by Bing.
3. Most PC computers are by default installed with Internet Explorer, who’s engine also
   utilizes Bing.
4. Even in Israel the potential to reach the Israeli market is huge because of a Bing
   partnership with Walla.
5. Last but not least, any Windows based smart phone also has Bing set as the default
   search engine.

So what does this mean for your nonprofit? It means that Bing has the potential to take over a significantly larger portion of the market. Therefore, it’s critical to ensure that your organization appears properly in the rankings and has a local listing. Get on board while it’s early in the game.

Florence Broder manages social media for the Jewish Agency for Israel.