If you’re already running a successful Google Ads campaign, there’s a pretty simple question worth asking: why aren’t you running that same campaign on Bing?
Technically, Bing Ads is now called Microsoft Advertising, but a lot of marketers and business owners still refer to it as Bing Ads. Whatever you call it, I think it remains one of the most overlooked opportunities in paid search. Businesses spend a significant amount of time and money researching keywords, building campaigns, writing ads, optimizing landing pages, configuring conversion tracking, and improving Google Ads performance. Then, for some reason, they stop there.
That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, particularly because Microsoft has made moving a Google Ads campaign into Microsoft Advertising incredibly easy. Microsoft’s Google Ads import tools allow advertisers to connect their Google Ads account and import existing campaigns instead of rebuilding everything from scratch. Campaign structure, keywords, ads, bids, budgets, creative assets, targeting settings, and many other campaign elements can be transferred directly into Microsoft Advertising.
Microsoft also supports scheduled imports, which makes it possible to continue bringing changes from Google Ads into Microsoft Advertising over time. That dramatically reduces the amount of work required to operate campaigns across both platforms.
That doesn’t mean I recommend importing your Google campaigns and never looking at them again. Microsoft Advertising and Google Ads are still different platforms. Search volume, competition, cost per click, audience behavior, and conversion performance can all be different. I look at the Google campaign as the starting point. Once Microsoft starts producing enough data, I want to optimize that campaign based on what is actually happening inside Microsoft Advertising.
The important point is that you’re not starting from zero. You’ve already paid for the keyword research. You’ve already written the ads. You’ve already built the landing pages. You already know which services, products, keywords, and offers are producing results. If you’re already investing in digital marketing services, moving your strongest campaigns into Microsoft Advertising is one of the simplest ways to see if you can generate incremental business from another search audience.
Bing Is a Bigger Search Opportunity Than Many Businesses Think
One of the most common objections I hear about Microsoft Advertising is some version of, “Nobody uses Bing.”
That’s simply not true.
Microsoft Advertising provides access to searches across Bing and other parts of the Microsoft search network. Depending on campaign settings and market availability, Microsoft Search ads can also extend beyond Bing itself and appear across partner properties. You can learn more about the reach of Microsoft Search advertising directly from Microsoft.
Google is obviously much larger overall, and I’m not suggesting otherwise. Google should remain the primary search advertising platform for most businesses. What I’m suggesting is that Microsoft represents additional search volume that many businesses are simply choosing not to compete for.
There is also an interesting difference in the audience.
Microsoft Edge is deeply integrated into Windows, and Bing is closely tied to the Microsoft ecosystem. For many Windows users, Edge and Bing are simply the tools that are already sitting in front of them. Microsoft even provides instructions for users who want to change their default search engine in Microsoft Edge, which illustrates how closely the browser and search engine are connected.
That matters because not every customer behaves like a digital marketer. Most people aren’t installing five browsers, testing different search engines, changing default settings, or thinking much about which search platform they’re using. They turn on their computer, open what is available, and search.
Microsoft’s search audience can also skew differently than Google’s audience depending on the market and industry. In particular, Microsoft Advertising has historically been interesting for businesses targeting older consumers, homeowners, professionals, B2B decision-makers, and people searching from desktop computers.
The point isn’t that every Bing user is older. They obviously aren’t. The point is that Microsoft gives advertisers access to a somewhat different audience mix than they may be getting from Google alone.
Search Behavior Is Changing, Especially With Younger Consumers
The other side of this conversation is what is happening with Google and younger audiences.
Search behavior is becoming much more fragmented. A customer looking for a product today may start on TikTok, move to Google, watch reviews on YouTube, ask ChatGPT or another AI platform for recommendations, read Reddit discussions, compare products on a retailer’s website, return to Google, and finally make a purchase several days later.
That journey is very different from somebody typing a specific product or service into a search engine, clicking an ad, evaluating the company, and converting.
Recent consumer research from McKinsey has also documented the growing role of generative AI and social media in the consumer shopping journey, particularly among younger shoppers.
I think that trend is only going to accelerate. It’s also why businesses need to think beyond traditional Google rankings and Google Ads when developing their overall SEO strategy.
Google is still enormously important, but the customer journey around Google is getting more complicated.
In my experience, Microsoft traffic can sometimes behave differently. Depending on the industry, Bing users may have a more direct search path. They search for something specific, evaluate a smaller number of options, and make a decision.
I would not claim that Microsoft always has a shorter path to purchase. That’s something you need to measure within your own analytics. But I have seen enough differences between Google and Microsoft traffic that I think it is absolutely worth testing.
Less Competition Can Create an Opportunity
Google Ads is an incredibly mature advertising marketplace. Almost every serious advertiser knows they need to be there. That creates a lot of competition around valuable commercial keywords.
Microsoft often has fewer advertisers fighting over those same searches.
That difference can translate into lower costs per click, better ad positions, or more visibility for a smaller budget. It won’t happen with every keyword or within every industry, but it happens frequently enough that Microsoft deserves consideration.
This is especially interesting for smaller businesses competing against large advertisers with significantly bigger Google Ads budgets. You may struggle to maintain impression share on Google for competitive keywords but find that Microsoft provides another opportunity to get your brand in front of qualified customers.
A cheaper click by itself doesn’t mean anything. Cheap traffic that doesn’t convert is still wasted money. What matters is whether you can generate qualified traffic and conversions at an acceptable acquisition cost.
That is exactly why I don’t view this as Google Ads versus Bing Ads.
I view it as Google Ads plus Microsoft Advertising.
Google gives you scale. Microsoft gives you incremental reach.
If I were spending $10,000 a month on Google Ads, I wouldn’t automatically pull $5,000 away from Google and move it into Microsoft. I would start by taking some of my strongest campaigns, importing them into Microsoft Advertising, setting an appropriate test budget, and measuring the results.
If it works, increase the investment.
If it doesn’t, you have your answer.
That same test-and-measure approach is a big part of how I approach digital marketing strategy in general. Marketing decisions should be driven by actual performance, not assumptions about which channels should or shouldn’t work.
Microsoft Advertising Tracking Is Strong
Another reason I’m comfortable testing Microsoft Advertising is that the measurement capabilities are solid.
Microsoft uses Universal Event Tracking, or UET, to measure what visitors do after interacting with an advertisement. With a Microsoft UET tag installed across your website, advertisers can track conversion goals, create remarketing audiences, support automated bidding, and send valuable conversion data back into Microsoft Advertising.
That means you can track the actions that actually matter to the business rather than simply counting clicks.
For a lead-generation business, that could mean form submissions or phone calls. For an eCommerce business, it could mean purchases and revenue. Depending on the site and implementation, additional events can be used to better understand what happens between the initial click and final conversion.
This is also where I think businesses make a mistake when testing new advertising platforms. They put a few hundred dollars into a new channel, don’t configure tracking correctly, look at clicks and impressions for two weeks, and decide whether the platform worked.
That isn’t a real test.
If you’re going to test Microsoft Advertising, configure the tracking correctly. Make sure conversions are firing. Make sure revenue is being passed when appropriate. Make sure you understand which campaigns and keywords are generating those conversions.
Then compare Microsoft against Google using the metrics that actually affect your business. Look at cost per click, conversion rate, cost per lead, cost per acquisition, revenue, return on ad spend, lead quality, and ultimately whether Microsoft is generating incremental business.
The Barrier to Testing Bing Ads Is Extremely Low
Years ago, I could understand a business saying it didn’t have the time or resources to build another paid search program.
Today, that argument is harder to make.
Microsoft has deliberately made it easy to take what you are already doing in Google Ads and extend it into Microsoft Advertising. You can import existing campaigns, reuse much of your campaign structure and creative, schedule ongoing imports, install conversion tracking, and start gathering data without building an entirely new marketing program.
You’ve already done most of the expensive work.
The question is whether those same campaigns can generate additional customers somewhere else.
Maybe Microsoft Advertising generates another 5% of your paid search revenue. Maybe it generates 10%. Maybe certain campaigns perform better on Microsoft than they do on Google. Or maybe you test it and discover that your particular audience simply isn’t there.
All of those outcomes are useful because now you have data.
What doesn’t make sense to me is never testing it.
If your Google Ads campaigns are already generating leads or revenue, Microsoft Advertising should probably be somewhere on your paid media testing roadmap.
Import your strongest campaigns. Check the settings. Configure UET. Give the campaigns enough budget and time to generate meaningful data. Optimize them based on Microsoft’s performance rather than assuming they should behave exactly like Google.
Then let the numbers tell you what to do next.
Because if you’re already doing all the hard work in Google Ads, the real question is still pretty straightforward:
Why aren’t you running those campaigns on Bing too?
If you need help evaluating Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, conversion tracking, or your overall paid search strategy, you can contact me here.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bing Ads and Microsoft Advertising
Is Microsoft Advertising the same as Bing Ads?
Yes. Bing Ads was rebranded as Microsoft Advertising. The platform still allows advertisers to run paid search campaigns across Bing and other Microsoft search properties.
Can I import my Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Advertising?
Yes. Microsoft Advertising allows you to import campaigns directly from Google Ads. This can include campaign structure, keywords, ads, bids, budgets, and many other settings. You can also schedule recurring imports to help keep campaigns aligned.
Is Microsoft Advertising cheaper than Google Ads?
It can be. Microsoft Advertising often has less advertiser competition than Google Ads, which can result in lower costs per click in some industries. That does not automatically mean better performance, so conversion rate, cost per lead, and return on ad spend still need to be measured.
Does Bing have a different audience than Google?
Yes, the audience mix can be different. Microsoft Advertising often reaches more desktop users and can perform well with older consumers, professionals, B2B buyers, and people using Windows and Microsoft Edge. The actual audience varies by industry, so it should be tested rather than assumed.
How do you track conversions in Microsoft Advertising?
Microsoft Advertising uses Universal Event Tracking, commonly called UET. UET can track actions such as purchases, leads, form submissions, and other important website events. It can also support remarketing and automated bidding strategies.
How much should I spend when testing Microsoft Advertising?
There is no single correct budget. A good starting point is to import a few of your strongest Google Ads campaigns and give them enough budget to generate meaningful conversion data. The goal is to evaluate performance based on actual business results rather than a few days of clicks.
