Microsoft Ads Agency

One advantage of Microsoft Ads being overlooked is that there’s usually less competition running on their networks (compared with Google). Cost is a crucial factor in any PPC campaign, making Microsoft Ads a serious contender for any advertisers looking to test and experiment with new ideas, and achieve profitable growth. Typically, we expect a 30% lower cost-per-click (CPC) compared to an equivalent Google Ad bid.

Bing appeals primarily to affluent users aged 35-54 (43% of UK users are 45+) who prefer their devices’ default search engine. With 37% of users in the top 35% income bracket and spending 38% more than average online shoppers, Microsoft Ads is particularly effective for luxury brands and businesses targeting this demographic.

Bing’s 10% global search engine market share expands to 13% when including Yahoo traffic, with particularly strong performance in specific segments like U.S. console users (55% share): the only device segment where it outperforms Google. As the second-largest search engine, Bing attracts 500 million unique monthly visitors, while adding Yahoo (exclusively served by Bing Ads since 2019) means that it equates to nearly 2.7% of the global market share.

Bing generated $6.24 billion in net ad revenue in 2022. Moreover, Microsoft reported $12.2 billion in search and news advertising for the 2023 fiscal year, representing a 5.26% year-over-year increase. Microsoft’s total revenue is projected to exceed $100 billion by 2027.

While marketers often import Google Ads data to Microsoft Ads, the platform uniquely enables B2B advertisers to target users by LinkedIn profile data, including job title, company, and industry. This makes it valuable for B2B businesses and SMEs seeking affordable alternatives to LinkedIn’s high minimum CPC rates.

Microsoft Ads offers diverse formats including text, shopping, responsive search, multimedia, video ads and image extensions, appearing in search results and across the Microsoft Audience Network (MSAN). The MSAN covers native ads on Microsoft partner sites like MSN, Outlook, and Edge, where users are 3x more likely to search for brands, visit advertiser websites, and make purchases. Microsoft have also launched their own iteration of Google’s e-commerce powerhouse, Performance Max, bringing Shopping and product ad targeting in line with Google Ad’s approach.

Microsoft offers industry-leading integration features, making it easy to import campaigns from Google Ads into Microsoft Ads. This simplifies managing campaigns across both platforms. Additionally, Microsoft Ads utilises artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimise ad targeting, bidding, and placements, which ultimately leads to a better ROI for businesses.

Microsoft Advertising operates on a global scale, serving ads in over 190 countries. Its strongest market presence is in the US, Canada, and the UK. In some regions of North America and Europe, Bing holds a significant market share, giving Microsoft Ads a competitive edge and positioning them as a serious alternative to Google Ads.

Microsoft has reported that its audience tends to spend more than the average Google user. This translates into higher conversion rates as the audience has greater purchasing power.