Maximize your Customer Reach and Budget with the Integration of Bing Ads

If you’re looking to reach fresh audiences with your ads while keeping costs affordable, consider Bing ads.

If you want to attract more customers to your business while still making the most of your pay-per-click (PPC) ad budget, you might want to consider Bing ads.

Six per cent of searches in Canada between April 2023 and April 2024 were done on Bing, which has a surprisingly high number of users. While Google pulls over 90 per cent of all global searches, the remaining audience that is regularly using Bing cannot be ignored. Over 900 million searches are performed on Bing daily, providing advertisers with a potential goldmine of new audiences.

Understanding Bing’s value as a search engine

Bing is a search engine created and operated by Microsoft that has been live since June 2009. While it’s never come close to Google in pulling massive amounts of users, there are still ways Bing stays relevant.

It’s not uncommon for people to use more than one search engine, especially if they are using multiple devices with different operating systems.

Bing is often integrated with other Microsoft products. Anyone buying a PC in recent years has likely encountered Internet Explorer or Edge installed as the default browser, which automatically directs users to Bing for search. Smaller search engines partner with Bing, and popular voice assistants, such as Alexa and Cortana, also use Bing.

The result? More people than you may have realized are using Bing every day. If you’re running paid ads as part of your marketing strategy, it’s smart to compare options to see if Bing ads could be effective for your business.

Introduction to Bing ads (now Microsoft Advertising)

Bing ads – now called Microsoft Advertising —are a PPC advertising option that can be valuable for marketers who want to reach targeted audiences while keeping costs down.

Why are Bing ads interesting? First, they represent a new potential channel of customers. Some may be using Bing as their favourite search engine; others may adopt the habit after buying a Windows device with the Microsoft operating system installed. Either way, these may be new audiences who have never seen your ads before.

Second, the number of advertisers trying to reach them will be smaller, resulting in less competition and likely a lower cost per click for your ads. This is an attractive detail for many advertisers, as the cost per click for Google ads can be pricy for the most desirable and highly searched keywords.

Bing vs. Google

Bing and Google both offer platforms for PPC advertising online. When a user types a query on either search engine, they’ll see a list of results with matching paid ads at the top followed by organic matches.

Advertisers compete for their PPC ads to be shown to as many relevant users as possible. The cost is based on the number of times users click on an ad. When you set up ad campaigns on either platform, the amount you pay per click will vary depending on how many other advertisers are competing to appear in the same search results.

Google Ads may have the potential to reach an enormous audience, but many businesses simply want to target a relevant, high-value group of potential customers who are likely to buy. If Bing happens to offer you a lower cost per click on a high-value keyword, it could be worthwhile to test ad campaigns there to see if you garner a better return.

As well, Bing has some interesting options for targeting and refining your ad campaigns, including by using information gleaned from LinkedIn accounts. This can make Bing ads appealing for marketers looking to target potential customers by their occupation or place of work.

Benefits of using Microsoft Advertising

You may be able to maximize customer reach and your budget by integrating Bing ads into your digital marketing strategy, despite its modest user base compared to Google. Here are some potential advantages Bing ads offer:

• Less competition for high-value keywords will help your budget go further.
• The platform provides a fresh audience for your ad campaigns.
• It’s great for businesses that could benefit from customers using voice search assistants like Alexa and Cortana.
• It allows for new ways of targeting based on LinkedIn data, such as places of work and job titles.
• Fewer advertisers are competing for traffic, allowing your ads to be seen by more people.
• Bing’s user base may include demographics that are valuable to your business.
• It integrates with Microsoft products and services, which may help you access valuable audiences.
• Its search partner network differs from Google, offering extended opportunities to reach new audiences with your ads.

How can you tell if Bing ads will work for you? 

There are no magic formulas to tell you which platform will work best for your business, but that doesn’t mean you can’t test and figure it out.

Any marketer looking for the best use of their ad budget should be reviewing options and testing any platform that seems a good bet. Depending on your industry and the type of audience you’re targeting, it’s possible that Bing will be effective in generating a return for you.

As you plan your campaigns, try comparing the platforms and testing results. Remember to do your keyword research first, then check to see what your cost would be per click on both Google and Bing to run ads for that keyword.

Next, test the audience targeting and see if you can refine the targeting in ways that align with your campaign goals and where you hope to deliver ads. Set up a campaign and test your results. With any advertising campaign, you’ll want to run tests and repeat what works well so you can adapt your campaigns for greater success over time.

If you have a lot of competition for the keywords you want to rank for or your advertising budget is modest, Bing could be an interesting opportunity for you.

Looking for more support? Book a consultation with a Postmedia expert or download our SEM Guide to learn more.