Bing Ads
Bing Ads, now officially called Microsoft Advertising, is Microsoft’s pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform. It allows businesses to display search ads across the Microsoft Search Network, which includes Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and partner sites. While it holds a smaller market share than Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising reaches a distinct audience that often skews older, higher-income, and more desktop-oriented.
How Microsoft Advertising Works
Like Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising operates on an auction-based model. Advertisers bid on keywords relevant to their products or services, and ads appear alongside organic search results when users query those terms. You only pay when someone clicks your ad. The platform supports search ads, shopping ads, audience ads (native display), and responsive search ads. Campaign setup, keyword research, and bid management follow a similar workflow to Google Ads, which makes cross-platform management straightforward.
Why Advertise on Bing
The primary advantage is less competition. Because most advertisers focus exclusively on Google, cost-per-click (CPC) rates on Microsoft Advertising are often 20-35% lower for the same keywords. The platform also reaches users that Google does not, particularly in enterprise environments where Microsoft Edge and Bing are default browsers on Windows devices. For B2B companies and display advertising software users, this can mean accessing decision-makers at a lower customer acquisition cost.
Google Ads Import Feature
One of Microsoft Advertising’s most practical features is its Google Ads import tool. You can replicate your existing Google Ads campaigns, including keywords, bids, ad copy, and targeting settings, directly into Microsoft Advertising with minimal manual effort. This significantly reduces the barrier to running campaigns on both platforms simultaneously.
Getting Started
To launch campaigns, create a Microsoft Advertising account, set up billing, define your target audience by location, demographics, and device, and build your keyword and ad group structure. Start with your highest-performing Google Ads campaigns to validate performance before expanding. Monitor metrics closely during the first few weeks, as conversion rates and user behavior on Bing can differ from Google. For broader context on paid media performance, check out our advertising statistics roundup.
Related Resources
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