How to Maximise Your Advertising Efforts Using Microsoft Advertising

Why should you use Microsoft Advertising?

In 1998, a long time before Bing Ads and in the very early stages of PPC, MSN Search was released. Ten years later Bing Ads was created as an attempt to rebrand the search engine. Nowadays Microsoft Advertising, as it is now known as, still matters because Bing is a default search engine for Internet Explorer.

So who uses Bing to conduct their online searches? According to Atilus, a typical Bing user is between the ages of 55 and 64, and one third of PC searches are completed through Bing. In the USA, 33% of Bing users have an annual household income of $100k or more. Usage of Bing could be partially justified by the fact Bing is a default browser for many companies, where people are restricted from downloading other browsers. If we look at Bing market share in the UK, we can see that it is estimated at 4.06%.

For a customer, a purchasing journey could start at work through browsing Bing and then continue at home through Google Chrome on their personal laptop or mobile. Therefore, Bing Ads should not be ignored. In fact, although Bing is often considered as less important than Google, here at SilverDisc we know that if we put effort into Microsoft Advertising campaigns our clients could be rewarded with increased revenue or leads at a lower cost per click.

How does Microsoft Advertising differ from Google Ads and what should you be aware of?

Microsoft recognizes that Google Ads is a main advertising platform, which is why it’s easy to import ads from Google Ads to Microsoft Advertising. For example, you can import your keywords, campaigns, bids, ad copy and many other attributes. If you use Search Ads 360, then the process of importing from Google to Microsoft Advertising is even easier and can be done within the same platform.

Having said that, there are some features that you can’t import from Google to Microsoft Advertising. Those include targeting settings for audiences. After importing campaigns, you should review you targeting settings and make any necessary changes.

The Microsoft Advertising interface is also different, resembling previous versions of Google Ads. If you are new to Microsoft Advertising, it may take some time to get used to it – but once you do, you could reap great benefits for your business.

Recent Changes to Microsoft Advertising Features

Microsoft Advertising now features a recommendations tab, where you can see all the suggestions relevant to your account. The same functionality was introduced to Google Ads some time ago. Some of the recommendations are particularly useful, especially those about keywords conflicts. However, before implementing some suggestions, such as bid increases, you should carefully consider the implications for your budget.

You can also now run experiments with Microsoft Advertising. Those are particularly useful if you want to test a new campaign budget or different keyword bids to check performance against those already existing in the account. 

Conclusions

In conclusion, despite having relatively small market share Bing is still a powerful platform for advertisers to take advantage of. If you’d like some help from an official Bing Partner, please contact SilverDisc online or call 01536 316100.