Are Bing Ads Really Worth It?

When you are considering running a pay-per-click campaign for your business, the first platform that will undoubtedly come to mind is Google Adwords, and as the biggest PPC platform utilising the largest search engine in the world, it’s easy to understand why.

However, there are other options available aside from Google, with Bing Ads being just one of your alternative platforms to target customers? But the big question is, is it really worth it? Do enough people use the Bing search engine to ensure you get the desired return on investment?

It’s time to explore just that subject and then leave it for you to decide whether you think it’s worth giving Bing a go, or you opt to stick for the tried and trusted formula that comes from Google.

Why it’s worth giving Bing a go

It’s a growing platform

Whilst Google holds the greatest share of search traffic, Bing has seen growth in recent years. Although not as prosperous as in the US, where it has been recorded to hold a 17% share in the market, Bing has grown in popularity in the UK as users look for alternatives to Google.

With more people using the platform, it offers an opportunity for you to get your ads in front of their eyes.

Higher click-through rate (CTR)

Not all pay-per-click platforms have the same levels of performance, and adverts in Bing record better click-through rates compared to Google. This is likely to be due to better ad placement, with fewer businesses using the platform, therefore, allowing improved matches between search terms and adverts.

Less competition

If you don’t currently advertise on Bing, the chances are slim that your competitors are too. This, therefore, provides you with an opportunity to swoop in and claim some of the search traffic on Bing and establish yourself as the recognised name in the field before your competitors get there.

The advertising platform continues to improve

Many people moved away from Bing ads when Google took control, however, Bing hasn’t stood still and have made various improvements to their platform in order to compete. They have taken into consideration the positives around using Adwords and have enhanced their user experience to make it seamless and intuitive.

They have also enabled many of the features you can find on Adwords, such as ad extensions and the Expanded Text ad format to replicate what you can do with a Google Adwords campaign.

You can synchronize with Google Adwords

The above point leads nicely into this one as, should you already have campaigns set up and running in Adwords, you can easily import them over to your Bing Ads campaign. As a result, you can develop cohesive advertising campaigns across search platforms to reach the largest possible audience.

This saves the time and effort of painfully searching for the keywords you want to target, developing different ad groups and re-writing the tried and tested ads that you’ve created for Google previously.

It’s still the default search engine for many

Whilst a large number of people navigate towards Google when searching for something, Bing is still the default search engine for many people and businesses. This means that if people don’t know how to change their default search engine or are in the fast-moving business setting and want to search for something as soon as they open the internet, they are far more likely to stick with Bing.

Three for the price of one

As Bing is owned by Microsoft, when advertising on Bing your ads will actually appear across Bing, Yahoo and AOL. This means that you essentially get to advertise on three search platforms for the price of one!

Where Bing could let you down

Older audience

Almost 40% of the Bing audience are between the ages of 35-54, so if your target market is on the younger side, veering towards Google where the younger generation tend to search may be a better option and ensure you achieve a good return on your investment.

Less reach

The fact that fewer people use Bing in comparison to Google means any ads you run on the platform will ultimately reach fewer people than they would if you advertised on Google.

If you sell low-cost items where large sales are required to make a profit, you need to be reaching as many people as possible, which Bing simply might not be able to provide.

Some audience quality might be questionable

Yes, we may have pointed out that you get three for the price of one in a benefit above, however, you actually get a little bit more as your ads will also go out on the Bing Ads network too, which includes sites such as duckduckgo.com and slickdeals.net. Now the audience quality on Bing, Yahoo and AOL is likely to be good as they are well known and established platforms, yet the audience on the Bing network is a little more questionable.

On running your ads on such sites, you could see low-quality traffic coming through to your site, which could mean you are burning cash without seeing any return.

As it turns out, and what might surprise you on reading this, is that Bing Ads might not be a bad option for your businesses- depending on what it is you’re selling and the audience you want to sell to.

The platform has lots of positives and despite not being as established as Google Adwords or used by as many businesses, it seems that when it comes to pay-per-click, Bing is only on the way up.

Many businesses seem to choose either Google or Bing to run their paid adverts on, yet few tend to choose both. There’s no doubting the fact that Google has a huge audience that uses the platform each and every day and is a great place to start when first developing paid advertising campaigns for your business. However, when you get a campaign that is running well in Adwords, getting the click-through rates you desire and providing that all important return on investment, there’s no real reason not to import the campaigns over and run them for a while on Bing too.

It might not bring the same level of traffic, but it could provide a nice boost to what you are already doing via Adwords and perhaps even give you an improved cost per conversion thanks to better ad placement, less competition and more refined audiences.