Guide on Microsoft Bing Ads + improvement tips

Microsoft properties, partner sites, and apps are popular for running ad campaigns. In this article, we will explain how Microsoft Ads work, how to set up your first ad campaign, and suggest optimization tips, including using negative keywords and applying target options.

Microsoft Ads, previously known as Bing Ads, is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform that helps businesses and individuals promote their products or services across Microsoft-owned properties (Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and MSN).

Bing Ads uses a bidding system, meaning the higher your bid compared to competitors, the more likely your ad will appear for a specific keyword. You're only charged when someone clicks on your ad, and you can set a daily budget to avoid unexpected costs.

The ad is displayed based on the bid amount and the relevance to the user’s search query.

Obviously, Google Search is the market leader. However, Bing, as the search platform, is often underrated. According to StatCounter, its market share is still large - 6.75% worldwide and 12.76% in the USA, especially considering that Google's market share is 89.66% and 86.73%, respectively.

The platform has the most desktop users, and mobile share is just 2.87%. Desktop searches often indicate higher intent and deliver better conversion rates than mobile, particularly for high-value or enterprise-level services.

According to Conquer the Internet, Bing's average cost per click is $1.54, 42% lower than Google Ads' $2.69.

Since Google has the largest market share, competition on the Microsoft platform remains low. This advantage can be strategically used in niche or local markets to capture a share of impressions and market presence without a large, enterprise-level budget.

In 2016, Microsoft integrated LinkedIn profile data to set up campaigns. That's a significant advantage for B2B marketers. On Bing, B2B marketers can reach users based on job title, company size, industry, company name, and more.

In addition to traditional Bing search ads, Microsoft Ads offers access to such search partners as Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo, and AOL. Advertisers can also display ads across a wide range of Microsoft-owned properties, partner publisher sites, native ad placements, and entertainment platforms.

Bing typically attracts an older demographic. According to Microsoft search data, 54% of its users are married, and 59% have children. Bing’s users tend to be more affluent, with 36% reporting higher household incomes.

Google’s audience is generally spread more evenly across age groups, with a concentration in the 18-34 demographic.

Bing also has a strong presence among professionals and business users. Conversely, Google’s user base skews toward a broader, more consumer-oriented audience.

Google Ads provides advanced ad group management, keyword research tools, demographic targeting, and remarketing capabilities. Besides, Google provides data insights that make it easy to optimize Google Ads campaigns.

On the other hand, Bing Ads supports keyword targeting via match types, bidding strategies, negative keywords, and demographic filters such as age, location, and device type.

Bing users often search longer, more specific terms, so advertisers face lower competition and high-intent long-tail keywords.

Google Ads typically has higher cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-acquisition (CPA) because the Google platform has a broader reach and higher competition.

Some businesses and industries get better CTRs and conversion rates on Bing Ads thanks to its unique audience profile and reduced competition.

A good practice is to search for the keywords you want to target before running the campaign. Like Google Ads, Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing Ads) has a Keyword Planner, which can be found in Tools → Keywords.

Create an ad group for matching keywords and use them during ad creation in headlines and descriptions to improve ad quality and relevancy.

1. In the Campaign section of your Bing Ads account, click Create → choose the type of campaign you want to create. For this article, we will select the Search advertising campaign type. For more details on the campaign types, please check Microsoft documentation.

2. Choose where you want to display your ad - mobile or desktop.

3. Add the campaign setting:

4. List the keywords you want your ad on. Microsoft suggests the list of keywords, you can also compare it with your Google Ads campaigns if you run such previously.

5. Add Final URL, which stands for the target page you want users to visit, and optionally, the Path.

6. Add the headlines and descriptions for the ad. It is recommended that you add as much as possible.

7. Add tracking parameters to your ad URLs to monitor ad performance using analytics and CPMs. On the configuration page, it is "Ad URL options". These parameters help analytics platforms (such as Google Analytics 4) determine the source of your traffic (keyword, campaign, and medium).

8. On the next step, you can add assets:

For more details on the available Microsoft Ads extensions, check their documentation.

One of the most helpful and versatile assets is Sitelink extensions.

9. The following configuration includes setting the budget and bid strategy. To better control the budget, you can also set a maximum CPC.

10. Optionally, you can schedule the ad to run according to your needs.

11. You can also choose where you want to show your ad.

12. The last step is a summary to check whether everything is set correctly. Then you can start running a campaign by clicking Go live.

According to Wordstream data, Bing’s average CPC is $1.54, 42 percent lower than Google Ads. While Bing’s average conversion rate is 2.94%, depending on the industry, it ranges from approximately 1.58% to 6.81%. And Bing’s average CPA across industries is $41.44.

Negative keywords play a crucial role in optimizing Microsoft Ads campaigns. They are the terms you exclude to prevent ads from appearing in irrelevant search results.

Common examples of negative keywords include:

There are numerous lists of negative keywords on the web, but it is worth carefully filtering them before applying them to your campaign.

When you create an ad campaign, you can choose where to show the ad on the Bing Network. However, you should also target the right users using audience, demographic, and device settings.

After running the campaign for some time, you can see the list of segmented audiences; however, you can also create your own audience based on your customer research and Google Ads campaigns.

Another targeting option is demographics, which allows you to reach the required audience based on age and gender. If you run campaigns aimed at the B2B segment, you can try the sections Industry and Job function - the integrated LinkedIn profile data.

Last but not least, devices. It's a well-known fact that desktop users convert more than mobile ones. In the section Devices, you can adjust bidding.

Microsoft Ads offers a list of Ad Extensions that allow you to attract more attention to your ad. For example, you can add a promotion extension for Microsoft shopping campaigns and show the promotion code, offer, and expiration date.

Consistent ad performance tracking is essential for campaign optimization. While creating the campaign, you can configure "Ad URL options," as described in the section above. Also, on the group level, you can add UTM parameters.

Microsoft doesn’t officially support the Conversions API, so there is no option to configure server-side tracking for this platform. However, to have more complete data on your conversions, you can set up Microsoft Ads offline conversion tracking.

The ability to send offline conversion data from the server GTM container to Microsoft Ads Offline Conversions offers advertisers advantages:

It helps bridge the gap between online and offline interactions, delivering insights and assisting businesses to make informed decisions.

Most of the metrics listed in this section can be found in the campaign overview.

CTR measures the ratio of clicks to impressions (how often an ad is viewed). It’s calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions.

According to Wordstream data, the average click-through rate on Microsoft across all industries is 2.83%.

CPC represents the amount you pay for each individual click on your ad. To calculate CPC, divide the total cost of all clicks by the number of clicks received.

The average CPC on Bing is $1.54. Depending on the industry, such values for CPC are average:

CPA indicates how much you spend for each conversion. It’s calculated by dividing the total advertising spend by the number of conversions achieved.

On Bing, the average CPA is $41.44. As for the industry breakdown, please check the table below:

POAS offers a more accurate measure of an advertising campaign’s effectiveness. Unlike Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), POAS focuses on actual profit by excluding extra costs such as taxes and shipping.

The formula for calculating POAS is:

For more details on this metric, please check our guide on POAS tracking.

Microsoft advertising has the option to import campaigns from different sources - Google Ads, Meta Ads, and Pinterest Ads. The most popular option is Google Ads. In the sections below, we also recommend gaining insights for Bing campaigns from Google campaigns.

However, importing the settings from other platforms can be tricky. If you try to set it up, you can accidentally miss the option to synchronize all settings, including budget and bidding. As a result, you can unexpectedly lose a lot of money on Bing campaigns.

In 2024, Microsoft introduced its own Consent Mode. This aligns with several privacy regulations, including the GDPR in the European Union. Similarly to Google, asking for consent before collecting data is required. We have a detailed guide on how to configure consent management in Microsoft.

That's a platform worth trying, especially if you target an older audience or the B2B segment. Ad running costs on Bing are cheaper, and a large share of users prefer desktop over mobile. However, Microsoft's search share is way lower than that of Google.

Microsoft reports that 54% of its users are married, and 59% have children. Bing users are also more affluent, with 36% indicating higher household incomes.

Businesses that target the B2B segment and older, more affluent audience should try Microsoft for advertising campaigns.