If you are an experienced web surfer and you have spent any time on Bing latelyyou have probably noticed where they’ve positioned their “Related Searches” option. I know I have noticed itand I modified my selection behavior based on the recommendations. I found it interesting that Bing decided to place “Related Searches” so close to the topand on the left-hand side. Knowing that users scan from left to rightand from top to bottom – this makes perfect sense. Googleon the other handplaces its “Searches related to“ option at the bottom of their results or in the drilldown “Search Options” feature.
This got me thinking. I wonder how many people are using Bing’s “Related Searches” feature to refine their original search query and find our clients’ websites? It’s relatively easy to find outall you need to know is what to look for. When you click on a “Related Search” in Bing after your initial searcha unique parameter is appended to the URL (=R5FD1for example)which is very easy to locate when looking at a list of referring URLs in your analytics application. Interest2actioniCrossing’s proprietary SEO applicationhas a top-referring URL reportso this information was very easy to track down.
I analyzed data for a seven-day time periodacross a variety of clients in different verticals. Here are the results:
- Client 1: 568 of a total 15,290 referralsor 3.7% of all Bing-referring URLscame from “Related Searches” or included R5FD in the string.
- Client 2: 429 of a total 10,943 referralsor 3.9% of all Bing-referring URLscame from “Related Searches” or included R5FD in the string.
- Client 3: 153 of a total 5,539 referralsor 2.8% of all Bing-referring URLscame from “Related Searches” or included R5FD in the string.
- Client 4: 63 of a total 1,964 referralsor 3.2% of all Bing-referring URLscame from “Related Searches” or included R5FD in the string.
The “Searches related to” feature in Google has been available for quite some time nowbut I don’t think I have ever used itnot even once (for searching purposes). I pulled down referring URLs from Google using the same criteria as above (seven-day time framesame clients)and the average was less than .4%. While Bing may never catch up to Google when it comes to search engine marketshareit has the upper hand when it comes to related searches.
