Bing Ads: All You Need To Know

Bing Ads: All You Need To Know
Bing Ads (officially known now as Microsoft Ads) are a smaller player in the advertising world, but a savvy marketer will realize its huge potential.

The 30-Second Rundown

What? Bing Ads are Search Ads on Bing–Microsoft’s Search Engine. While Google is the big player, Bing still commands a sizeable portion of the market and shouldn’t be ignored.

Why? Google and Facebook Ads are so big that Bing is often unfairly overlooked and is a platform with large marketing potential for your business.

Will This Affect Me? Bing is the second largest search engine in the world, ignoring it will definitely have negative implications for your online advertising.

Here at Optily, we cut the 🐂💩.

We don’t waste time, we optimize.

If you have read enough information, fantastic – we’re glad we could help!

If you need more information, scroll down to learn all you need to know about Bing Ads!

As a marketer, I would be crazy to assume that you aren’t aware of Facebook Ads and Google Ads. They’re the two biggest players in the game.

Over 90% of all internet searches occur on Google.

On average, adults spend 57 minutes per day on Facebook.

This is an age-old fight that we all know too well.

With players this big in the game, it’s no wonder we sometimes forget about some of the other platforms. So what about Bing Ads?

Although a smaller player, Bing is the second largest search engine in the world and commands around 15% of all US desktop searches.

What are Bing Ads?

The official name of Bing Search advertising is now Microsoft Ads, however, many people still use the term “Bing ads.”

Microsoft (Bing) Ads is Microsoft’s version of the somewhat better-known Google Ads.

It allows you to advertise on the Bing search engine as well as its partner networks, such as Yahoo and AOL.

Microsoft Ads have a similar display to Google Ads and appear at the top, bottom, and side of the search engine results page.

 

Why use Microsoft Ads?

The main reason: If you don’t use Microsoft Ads, you are potentially letting a lot of money slip by you.

Bing is the default Windows search engine. This means that hundreds of millions of Microsoft products use Bing as their primary search engine.

Worldwide, there are 639 million unique Bing users.

If that doesn’t entice you, then maybe money will? Bing users spend 36% more online from their desktop computers than other internet users!

Using Microsoft Ads

There is a tool that allows you to directly import your ads from Google Ads. If you’re already advertising on Google, this means that one single click will open the door to 659 million more people!

This tool can also be automated to ensure any changes you make in Google will automatically follow through to Microsoft Ads.

The interface looks like a throwback to Google Ads. It even includes a Microsoft Ads Editor that you can download and functions like old-school Google Ads Editor.

Any advertiser used to Google Ads should feel at home in Microsoft Ads.

Optily Expert Top Tip: I, personally, don’t keep the import automation on, but rather use it to quickly recreate campaigns in Microsoft Ads.  From that point onwards, you should treat them as different ad sets, because they are!

Microsoft Ads vs. Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads

As you can probably tell there are many similarities between Microsoft Ads and Google Ads. Facebook Ads are slightly different as they are paid social ads as compared to paid search ads so we might leave that for another day. You will find that certain types of ads might be more engaging on Microsoft vs. Google, or vice versa, so it’s worth doing your own testing.

We decided we’d make things easy for you and show you the benefits of both platforms compared to each other.

There are three main differentiating factors between Microsoft and Google Ads:

  • Volume

The biggest difference between Microsoft and Google is the search volume. While different websites quote a wide array of market shares for these two companies, one thing they can agree on is that Google is about three times bigger.  This means that Google Ads should get more engagement as there is more potential for impressions, clicks, sales, and conversions.

  • Cost-per-Click (CPC)

On a very positive note for Microsoft Ads, the average click costs 35% than it does on Google. That’s a pretty dang big margin! So Google may be bigger, but Microsoft is cheaper.

  • Your Competitors

Think about it, you came into this blog thinking Microsoft Ads isn’t worth your time. Your competitors think that too, but you know you’re wiser. As we mentioned already, there are fewer advertisers on Bing, so you can expect to see higher CTRs and lower CPCs than Google. Less competition means that your ads will get better placement, which can potentially lead to better results for your business!

Using Microsoft Ads with Optily+

Simple.

We already know the benefits of Microsoft Ads so we’ve made it as easy as possible for you to start advertising there.

To see the true benefit of properly optimized ads across all platforms including Bing, sign up for Optily+ today.

No seriously. Stop scrolling and wasting time.

We’re here to cut the b***s**t.

Sign up now and grow your business through optimized ad spend across a range of platforms with bidding, creative and strategy support from our award-winning team!

Conclusion

All in all, we hope you can now see the benefit of using Bing Ads.

Don’t get us wrong, use Google Ads because it has the lion’s share of online searchers. You should always market to your audience, and mostly they tend to be on Google.

With that being said every business has a fantastic opportunity to find some hidden gems on the Bing network with Microsoft ads.

You’d be a fool to miss out.

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