Sometimes when you search for your website, you see a title appearing on a SERP that you did not create, and you wonder how it got there. Bing has released an article answering this problem and giving tips on how your chosen title may be shown.

In April we posted how Google chooses a title to display on a SERP, now it is Bing’s turn to explain.

Bing aims to optimize results in order to best suit the searchers needs and queries. They will also adjust snippets and URLs to allow the searcher to see the exact answers they are looking for (see image below).

“Bing has a complex set of rules that combine many different pieces of information to build titles, snippets and URLs in order to provide the optimal search experience to the user. For example, Bing needs to fit titles in the available space so long titles might get truncated. Bing may also learn that users favor a particular format or piece of information so Bing will try to incorporate those pieces of information in the title.”  

– Bing blog

Bing may also use other pieces of information found in OpenGraph annotations or prominent text from the URL. External data sources may also be used such as anchor text or ODP. The URL could even be used as the title if no other sources are available.

Some tips on making sure the title that you have written is shown on the SERP:

Make sure your HTML titles are relevant to search queries most commonly used to search your site.

Avoid generic titles.

Keep titles short and not repetitive.

Make sure all information about the page is consistent with the title you want.

If your site is listed on a directory,  make sure the entry is correct.

Don’t block the Bing crawler.

Whenever referencing your site anywhere on the internet, be consistent and ensure meta data is correct.

Overall, if you want to be in control of your title and description, make sure that it is concise and relevant to queries that you are aiming to rank for. But remember, sometime Bing can find a better way to get users to click on your site, so don’t be too worried.

About The Author

Rank Ranger is an SEO Platform designed to standardize management and reporting for the digital marketing world by filling the need for a comprehensive online marketing platform capable of tracking & monitoring campaign data, integrated with 3rd party software and services, providing fully personalized and customized reporting, 100% white label automated reports and a branded web interface.