Bing SEO VS Google SEO for Medical and Dental Practices

Should my healthcare practice focus on Bing SEO just like Google SEO? Is Bing.com important for my practice?

The answer is a qualified Yes, but the same traffic from Google SEO produces higher conversions. Which means that if you have traffic of 1000 patients originating from Bing SEO (not Bing Ads) and traffic of 1000 patients originating from Google SEO (not Google Ads), PatientGain data shows 61% lower conversion rate for Bing traffic compared to Google SEO traffic. This data is ONLY FOR HEALTHCARE practices like medical, dental, mental health etc practices, and may not apply to any other industry.

Why is the Bing SEO traffic less effective?

Based on PatientGain’s data results generated by Bing are far less accurate than created by Google search. Hence the lower conversion rates. So PatientGain highly recommends that Google should be the main focus for your SEO strategy, specially if you want to take advantage of AEO algorithms and high quality patient traffic generated from Google’s SEO and AEO results.

Based on data from PatientGain.com, the 61% lower conversion rate for Bing SEO compared to Google SEO in healthcare stems from differences in Google’s superior search algorithms, user interaction with top area of Bing search, user intent, device behavior, and attribution gaps. PatientGain data shows that Google’s algorithms are much more superior in showing more accurate results to patients when they search, resulting in much higher conversion. In addition Bing’s search results are mixing paid ads with the organic search results, hence people do not trust results from Bing. All this adds to confusion and less accurate traffic. For paid PPC ads: Bing often brings lower-cost, top-of-funnel traffic – the quality of the traffic resulting from Bing PPC ads is much less likely to convert, as compared to Google PPC ads. This data is from PatientGain’s data for patients, and may not apply to other industries. Google better captures high-intent, mobile-driven searchers looking for immediate appointments, Call to action, as measured by the SPOC app from PatientGain. We tracked data from 200+ practices, from 2025 to 2026.

For example – if a practice has 1000 human visitors originating from Google’s SEO, Search results – we saw much higher conversion rates where patient took a conversion action. What is a conversion action? On a healthcare website, a conversion action is a desired action a visitor takes that indicates they are becoming a potential patient or lead, with the ultimate goal being to convert website visitors into patients. Common examples include making an appointment, filling out a contact form, or calling the office. These actions are typically prompted by clear calls to action (CTAs) on the website. Now compared to 1000 human visitors originating from Bing’s SEO, Search results producing 61% less than the results from Google’s SEO. There are many factors involved here. Google search algorithms are much more accurate that Bing’s. This is the foundation of PatientGain’s finding. Another area is that Google search is bundling AI Gemini, and Google Maps, and Local SEO listings. In the case of Bing.com, user mostly sees ads in the top area. And it is not very clear

Here is why that number is likely so low:

• Overwhelming Market Dominance by Google: Over 70,000 healthcare searches happen on Google every minute, and 77% of patients use Google before booking an appointment. With such high, dominant, and habitual usage of Google for health information, Bing’s share of search-to-appointment conversion is naturally reduced to a fraction.
• Search Behavior & Intent: Many people use search engines for research on symptoms, not necessarily to book an appointment immediately. The “Search engine is the triage” effect means users are often looking for quick answers rather than booking a service, and Bing users may have different search intents compared to Google users.
• Demographic and Platform Differences: Demographic trends show that younger users and those looking for specialized care are more heavily concentrated on Google,, Facebook, or specific directory sites like Healthgrades. Bing’s demographic is sometimes skewed older or uses it as a default, which might not align with high-frequency appointment booking behavior.
• Focus on Other High-Value Traffic Sources: PatientGain.com data indicates that 56% of leads originate from Google SEO, and 21% are direct searches (people searching for a specific practice name). In this context, Bing becomes a much smaller component of the overall patient acquisition funnel.
• The “Wait Time” & Direct-to-Site Preference: Patients often prefer to visit a website directly or call, and if they search, they are likely to click on the first, most prominent result (often Google My Business or a top-ranking SEO result on Google). 

How to add your healthcare website to Bing.com properly

Question: What is https://www.bing.com/indexnow?

IndexNow.org is a free, open-source protocol that allows website owners to instantly notify participating search engines—such as Microsoft Bing, Yandex, Naver, and Seznam.cz—when their website content is created, updated, or deleted. Instead of waiting for search engine crawlers to discover changes through traditional “pull” methods, IndexNow uses a “push” approach to trigger immediate crawling and indexing. 

How It Works

To implement IndexNow manually, follow these core steps: 

1. Generate an API Key: Use the online key generation tool to create a unique key.
2. Host the Key: Place a text file named after the key (e.g., your-key.txt) in your website’s root directory to verify ownership.
3. Submit URLs: Send an HTTP request (POST or GET) to the search engine endpoint with the updated URLs and your key.
4. Automatic Sharing: When you notify one participating search engine, it automatically alerts all other search engines in the IndexNow network. 

Key Benefits

• Faster Discovery: Content changes can be reflected in search results within minutes rather than days or weeks.
• Reduced Server Load: By telling search engines exactly which pages have changed, you minimize the need for frequent “exploratory” crawling, saving server bandwidth.
• Better Accuracy: Ensures users find the most current version of your pages, including real-time updates for product pricing, availability, or news.

Platform Support

Many popular platforms have native IndexNow integration, making manual setup unnecessary: 

• CMS Platforms: WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Duda, and GoDaddy.
• CDNs: Cloudflare offers a “one-click” integration through its Crawler Hints feature.

In summary: Bing is not a primary driver for immediate, new-patient booking conversions in the way Google is, but it remains a valid channel for niche visibility in the overall patient journey. So if you have a practice with 10,000 or more SEO visits per month, then focusing on Bing also becomes important. But if your website has lets say less than 3,000 SEO related visits, then basically focus should always be Google search, Google Gemini, Google Local SEO, Google maps listing.

Example of a Google search: “vaneer cost near me” – Notice purposely in this example Veneer is spelled incorrectly. If you check the results – first Google search is going to inform user that it is for “veneer” not “vaneer” . Then there is an AI overview, and there is SEO results at the bottom of the screen.

Example of a Bing search: “vaneer cost near me” – Notice purposely in this example Veneer is spelled incorrectly. If you check the results – first search result appears to be an ad – however, it is not clear if this is an Ad or a search result. Then next, there is a reference to Instagram – which appears to be SEO seo results. Next there are results from “Best campsite veneers” – However – the results are references “sponsored content” – And finally there is an SEO listing for Lowes home improvement stores for “Wood Vaneer at Lowes” – So it appears that results generated by Bing are less accurate then created by Google search.

NOTE: This data is ONLY FOR HEALTHCARE practices like medical, dental, mental health etc practices, and may not apply to any other industry.

Conclusion: PatientGain’s data shows that when SEO and AEO leads are generated for healthcare practices, from Bing, the conversion rates are much lower as compared to Google.

Contact PatientGain for an initial get to know meeting.