Bing Guide Their Users & Campaign Against Google

Microsoft Claims That Shoppers Are Being Scroogled

It was only a couple of months ago that Microsoft launched their ‘Bing It On Campaign’, in which web users were asked to choose between Google and Bing search results. Despite the general preference for results from Microsoft’s search engine, Google has managed to maintain a position of dominance. Now the brain-boxes at Bing are taking a swipe at Google’s much discussed Shopping Platform. It is claimed that the shoppers are being duped, or ‘scroogled’, as the number-one search engine only displays paid results on the retail pages.

Google have responded to the criticism by saying that ‘We believe that having a commercial relationship with merchants will encourage them to keep their product information fresh and up to date. Higher quality data – whether it’s accurate prices, the latest offers or product availability – should mean better shopping results for users.’

Bing Introduces Webmaster Guidelines

Those website owners who are keen to optimise their websites for ranking by Microsoft’s flagship search engine would do well to check out the new Bing Webmaster Guidelines. They emphasise the importance of factors such as site content, links and social media engagement. The guidelines also warn web site owners against cloaking, producing duplicate content and participating in link schemes.

Website marketeers may be particularly interested find mention of ‘ Search engine optimization [as] a valid practice which seeks to improve a website, making content easier to find and more relevant.’

Ex-Employees Given Restored Access To Webmaster Tools

A glitch in the Google Webmaster Central system has enabled a number of web users to gain access to the accounts of their old companies. This has caused a great deal of concern for business owners all over the world, as ex-employees with an axe to grind could cause a great amount of damage. More serious actions that could be taken include:

• Changing the robot.txt file and any preferred domains

• Alteration of parameter text and canonicalization

• Removal of key users from different webmaster accounts

Those web site owners who are particularly concerned about this issue should check their Webmaster accounts immediately. They may then remove any unverified account users.