Bing PPC Ads: How They Compare to Google Ads
If searching Google has ever let you down, you may have come across another search engine called Bing.This search engine is powered by Microsoft and aims to outdo Google at every turn.
Bing wants to revolutionize digital search and compete with the longtime industry leader. It's an ambitious goal, but the one place where Bing excels is in pay-per-click, or PPC, ads.
According to our guidelines, pay-per-click advertising is “ a form of search engine marketing ( SEM ) in which the advertiser pays for clicks on an ad.”
Simply put, the advertiser must pay the publisher whenever a visitor interacts with an ad. In exchange, the ad is added to the search engine's database, which displays it whenever the content matches the keyword the visitor is looking for.
While Google Ads offers the popular PPC feature, Bing has unique advantages that set it apart from the search engine giant. And if you're an SMB owner, you might be more interested in the benefits of PPC from Bing than from Google.
In this post, let's break down how Bing PPC Ads work, as well as how they compare to Google Ads.
Free Guide, Template, and Planner: How to Use Google Ads for Business
Bing PPC
Bing PPC ads run on three popular Microsoft search engines: Bing, Yahoo, and AOL. When you use Bing campaigns, your content is shared across all of these platforms at the same time.
More than five billion searches are performed on the Microsoft network every month, making Bing PPC an interesting marketing tool for paid advertising campaigns. In terms of functionality, Bing PPC ads work similarly to Google ads.
You bid on keywords based on the volume of their traffic, then your ad appears on searches for that keyword, and finally, you pay Bing whenever a visitor clicks on your ad. Like Google, your ad copy can be up to 80 characters, and Bing even has tool support to help your team build a cost-effective keyword list so you never waste money on ads that don't show up.
With Bing, you can also set up targeting filters that determine where and when your ad will appear. For example, if you want your ads to be shown only on mobile devices, you can select the "Mobile traffic " option. Or, if you only want the ad to appear on Yahoo, you can filter it from Bing and AOL. This gives your team more flexibility and optimizes the effectiveness of your PPC campaign.
Bing PPC ads provide a timely opportunity for marketing teams. It is less competitive than Google AdWords, and its users make 36% more online purchases than any other search engine. While Google AdWords is still a very powerful tool, Bing has some advantages that make it attractive to small and medium businesses.
So, now that we're familiar with how Bing PPC advertising works, let's discuss some of the key differences between Bing PPC and Google AdWords.
Bing Advertising vs Google Advertising
Because Google is the largest search engine, its ads can reach more people and its keywords have a higher search volume.
Bing ads can reach a more mature, educated, and wealthier audience, and the search engine tends to have higher hit rates for the financial services industry.
Bing ads are generally cheaper than Google ads.
Bing Ads offers unique filtering options and social extensions.
While both Bing PPC and Google AdWords allow you to filter the targeting of your ads, Bing software has a unique innovation that sets it apart from Google.
With Bing, you can set age filters for your search ads so that only visitors of a certain age group see them. Or you can set up a location filter so that visitors in a specific part of the world see your content. This way you make sure that your marketing campaigns attract qualified potential customers.
Another key feature where Bing has an edge is its social extensions. Social extensions are a line of text in your ad that tells the visitor how many social media followers your business has.
In Bing, this feature shows you your social media followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. However, Google AdWords can only show you the number of Google+ subscribers.
Google has more reach, but Bing's audience is older and tends to have a higher income.
According to Microsoft, Bing accounts for over 34% of the global desktop search market.
This means that approximately one in three users will use Bing instead of another search engine. In terms of the largest audience, Google is the absolute favorite. But that doesn't mean Bing isn't worth your investment.
Bing has over 137 million users who search approximately six billion times a month. These people tend to be older than Google users and have incomes above $100,000. So even though Google has a larger audience, Bing works with users who have significant purchasing power.
Bing users are interested in financial and merchant services, so you may see higher conversion rates on Bing depending on your industry. When testing Blue Corona, Bing PPC had a 34% higher CTR than Google ads.
In addition, a new study found that financial and merchant services had the most success with Bing PPC. This is mainly due to the popular financial reporting of MSN and Yahoo which gives more keywords related to online stores and business reports.
Bing users also tend to engage more actively with sites after clicking on ads. In one industry, the coefficient of bing ad conversions were 56% higher than Google AdWords. This is because Bing users tend to be more interested in E-commerce and willing to spend money online.
Bing ads often appear higher on the search results page.
Because Bing has fewer users, its ads tend to appear higher in search results than Google AdWords. Bing ads appear 35% more often in search results than Google ads.
Bing copies Google keyword auction method, which benefits its users because they don't have to outbid Google huge user base.
In Bing less competitive marketplace, you won't have to bid as high on keywords to keep your spot on the search results page.
Bing has a lower CPC.
With fewer competitors bidding on keywords, you can expect to spend less on Bing ads. One company spent 35% less on ads on Bing than it did on Google AdWords.
In terms of cost-per-click ( CPC ), ReportGarden found that Bing average CPC was $7.99, while Google was $20.08. Since there is less overall traffic on Bing, CPC is usually cheaper.
This offers a high ROI if you can capitalize on the right keyword at the right time.
Google Ads vs Bing Ads: Which One Is Right for Your Business?
If you're choosing between Google AdWords and Bing PPC, both tools can be valuable assets for your marketing team.
With Google, you have access to a huge audience of users across multiple demographics, and you can be sure your content will show up on the most popular search engine in the world.
However, the competition is high in this space, and you need to keep a close eye on your campaign if you want to get a positive return on your investment. Your marketing team will need a lot of resources and experience to make Google AdWords a reliable source of lead generation.
Bing PPC is a lower-risk option for paid advertising campaigns.
You still have access to a large audience, but keyword bids are not as competitive as they are on Google. The trade-off here is that Bing traffic is significantly lower than Google.
So while your ads may be placed higher and cost less, they may not be seen by as many people. This limitation can be discouraging for larger companies with large marketing budgets.
