For a while there it looked like Bing was on the decline and would never have an edge up on Google, but that tide may have turned recently. Bing announced that it will be “powered by Yelp” now, and will reap some of the benefits of the Yelp nation. This paring will help benefit the Local Search section of Bing and help give more power to local brick and mortar shops in each city.

According to a new study by Implied Intelligence that compared 19 different local search engines, Bing tied for first with Superpages and Yellowbook—two sites designed specifically for local search. This is a significant change from a previous study by Implied Intelligence that put Bing in fourth place, also earning a title for the most improved local search site. Google maps placed fourth in this same study, showing that they have some room for improvement if they want to keep up with the local search competition.

Because the partnership with Yelp was announced very shortly before the study was released, it is doubtful it was a factor at all. What does this mean for Bing? They will have to wait and see if their joint venture with Bing will help them grow or bring them down as Yelp was ranked #8 in the same study that placed Bing in the top spot or if Yelp will help fill in some search aspects that may be missing from Bing’s current search algorithm and help place it above all other search engines.

If you aren’t registered with Yelp or Bing as a local business yet, it’s time to get with the times and do it so you can take advantage of their number one local search ranking. It’s also beneficial to run some email marketing campaigns to try and generate reviews on all local sites to cover all possibilities and make it convenient for your customers to leave feedback. All 220 Marketing clients have access to our Social Media appointments where all of this will be covered, so if you haven’t taken advantage of this yet or want to learn more, make sure to contact us to get some help!

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