Bing, Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) search engine, recently announced it has launched a new news portal named Bing News PubHub found at pubhub.bing.com.
The news portal is designed to make it easier for more content publishers to share their stories and have the stories discovered by more readers.
According to Bing, News PubHub will enable verified publishers — big or small, international or local — to submit their news websites to Bing for consideration of inclusion in Bing News.
Bing News
Bing says it helps millions of users get the most comprehensive and relevant news via its Bing News feature — with more than 20 percent desktop search market share in the U.S.
It adds that Bing News is syndicated in front of millions of Windows 10 users through Cortana and Outlook users through Outlook News Connector.
Moreover, Bing News is available inside the Bing search apps on iOS, Android and other places, which means your content could actually reach a massive and diverse audience if included in Bing News.
“When publishers submit their content through the Bing Publisher Network, they’ve just expanded their reach significantly, giving their stories and outlets even greater exposure,” Bing said in the blog post announcing News PubHub.
We have already discussed how small websites that incorporate news can expand their audience using Google News here on Small Business Trends, and it now appears you can do likewise with Bing News. Bing’s News PubHub could be another valuable tool in your business’ online marketing arsenal.
Bing News Submission
To get started with News PubHub and become a Bing News publisher, you first need to make sure your news website is verified in Bing Webmaster Tools and that it complies with Bing Webmaster guidelines.
After that, the Bing team will review your site and determine if it is suited for inclusion in Bing News. Bing says they judge a news website based on a number of criteria:
1. Newsworthiness: Report on timely events and topics that are interesting to users. Content that doesn’t focus on reporting, such as how-to articles, job postings, advice columns or product promotions, is not considered newsworthy. Similarly, content that consists strictly of information without including original reporting or analysis, such as stock data and weather forecasts, is not considered newsworthy.
2. Originality: Provide unique facts or points of view. Faced with numerous sources frequently reporting similar or identical content, originality or uniqueness becomes a critical way to determine the value to a user of an individual story.
3. Authority: Identify sources, authors and attribution of all content. News sites with authority maintain the highest level of trust and respect from our users.
4. Readability: Create content with correct grammar and spelling, and keep site design easy for users to navigate. Advertising should never interfere with the user experience.”
Since Microsoft intends to have Windows 10 running on a billion devices within the next few years, and Bing and Cortana recognized as valuable options on iOS and Android devices, the Bing News PubHub could well help news sites and marketing agencies expand their reach.
Image: Bing