Reach New Heights With Bing Ads

Bing Ads isn’t the small by-product of PPC marketing it was once considered. The Microsoft alternative to Google AdWords is fast becoming a sleeping giant of search marketing, with huge advances in recent months and volume increases that make it an attractive proposition for businesses who want to get their products and services in front of a wider target audience. Here we take a look at six reasons for businesses to utilise Bing Ads in their search marketing approach.

Windows 10

Windows 10 has been offered as a free upgrade to existing Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 users during the last 12 months, which has had a big impact on Bing Ads traffic.

The built-in search for Windows 10, located on the toolbar as a handy search box, also runs by Bing as a default engine – this can’t be changed. That means any users searching using Cortana or this search bar will go through Bing – meaning more traffic for those with ads on Bing.

Windows 10 also comes with a new browser from Microsoft called Edge, which definitely isn’t Internet Explorer wearing a mask, that offers Bing as the default search engine.

For those users who are less tech-savvy or don’t feel the need to actively switch the homepage browser to Google, they will be searching and browsing on the Bing network. This means more potential traffic for any businesses that utilise Bing Ads.

Siri-Spotlight On iOS

This may be a feature that many are unaware of – we certainly were! For those on iOS devices, Siri and Spotlight search functions both utilise Microsoft’s Bing Ads engine for searches. 

Once again, there are real opportunities for businesses to get their ads in front of a new audience, particularly as smartphones and tablets are becoming more commonplace in households across the UK and beyond.

Bing-AOL partnership

A blast from the past for most users, AOL remains prominent as a search engine with millions of users still active. Bing announced at the start of 2016 it would provide a paid search platform across AOL’s web, tablet and mobile devices. This means that for any business using Bing Ads, the ads will be shown across AOL search engines by default.

Bing powers close to one-third of all US PC web searches, which is a massive opportunity for any businesses that operate globally with customers based in America, as well as Canada.

Demographics & Purchase Intent

Bing Ads’ general demographic involves those aged 35-44, with good levels of disposable income and a tendency to have more purchase intent than those on other networks. This may prove beneficial for retailers offering products for online sale, or for services looking for users to perform other actions – such as getting a quote for a service.

If your business seeks to target a younger demographic aged 16-25, then it may not be your network of choice for impact due to its effectiveness. That being said, Bing offers demographic targeting for paid search ads, meaning you can adjust bids to target and exclude certain age ranges if necessary.

Other demographics bidding covers gender as well as age, while bids can also be modified for the location of the user and the device type they are using. The flexibility of targeting means that businesses can trial and then optimise their targeting approach in order to get their ads in front of the most relevant audience.

Bing Ads Shopping

Towards the end of 2015, Bing Ads introduced Bing Merchant Centre and Shopping Campaigns. These new features allow the use of Shopping Ads in search results, to rival that of Google’s Shopping platform. 

Existing Shopping campaigns in AdWords can be directly imported into Bing Ads, making the setup seamless for retailers currently active on Google’s platform. To find out more, consult Bing’s handy guide on setting up a Bing Merchant Centre.

A long-awaited addition to Bing Ads, this will certainly appeal to e-tailers looking to boost website traffic and sales through search advertising. It may especially interest those with existing campaigns on AdWords as they look to target a new market, and take advantage of the lower competition and reduced cost per click often associated with Bing Ads.

Search Remarketing

Introduced towards the end of 2015, Bing now allows businesses to target users who have previously visited their website before. This is done to encourage users to complete an action which they may not have done before (such as leaving the site before completing a sale) or in order to get repeat business from a customer.

Remarketing can work in two ways on Bing Ads. Firstly businesses can set up campaigns that only target previous visitors, in order to offer specific and relevant ads to the existing users which will encourage them to return to the site and complete an action.

Secondly, they can market to all users, with an increased bid modifier on previous visitors; essentially meaning that they will bid more to secure the click of a previous visitor – paying more to secure traffic from previous visitors without losing out on the traffic from new visitors in the same campaign.

Bing has had a huge 2015, and the upcoming features for 2016 would indicate that its growth is set to continue. There’s no better time to get on the Bing Bandwagon.