Should I Put Up Ads on Google, Bing, or Both?

Bing has accelerated its growth significantly in the last few years. More and more, advertisers are taking advantage. But if you’re not advertising on Bing yet, don’t worry. You’re not alone. In this post, we’re going to share with you the differences between Google and Bing advertising and why you should consider both.

Why Bing?

Believe it or not, people really do use Bing. As of Jan 2016, Google made up 63% of desktop and PC searches. 33% was covered by Microsoft and Yahoo. (Note that Yahoo’s search engine is powered by Bing.)

Google’s dominance is indisputable, but Bing’s market share is hard to ignore. Take a look at these stats:

Ignore Bing and you ignore 60 million searchers that cannot be reached on Google. Bing’s unique partnerships give you access to an audience Google advertisers will never reach. As Bing Ads Evangelist John Gagnon explains, “If you’ve used Siri and done a web search, a search from Yahoo.com, or on an Amazon Fire HD tablet – that’s powered by Bing, and ads come from us!”

What are the key differences?

Audience: According to Aborg, Google’s demographic is young, tech savvy and college educated. According to John Gagnon, Bing’s audience is “A little older, more income, more educated and slightly more female.” Consider also the industries that perform well on Bing. Across Autos, Business & Finance, Education, Telecom, Travel and Retail, Bing holds millions of exclusive searchers. If you’re in one of these markets you need to start advertising on Bing.

Costs and Conversions: Google’s audience is significantly larger. However, on average, Bing’s CPCs and CPAs are lower while their CTR’s are higher. There’s less competition on Bing which results in better ad placement at a lower cost.

Features:

Bing offers more granular control at the campaign and group level. This is particularly important if you target an international market. Bing allows you to set different time zones for different campaigns.
Bing gives you more analytics and transparency in your data. For example, The Share of Voice Report stands out against anything available on Google Adwords. This report allows you to see the impressions you’re missing out on. It tells you exactly why this is happening so you can focus your optimization on the areas that need it the most.

The Winner?

How do you know which platform is right for your business? Simply put, the best platform for your business is the one that brings you the best results. In order to know which one does that, you must put them both to the test.

But the real question isn’t whether to choose Google or Bing. It’s how can we use both Google and Bing to drive results in our business.

Both hold substantial market share, so ignoring either can be costly. Testing their effectiveness is a worthwhile exercise for any business.

Through our dashboard you can easily monitor which channel is driving the most results for your brand. You’ll be able to track powerful metrics such as post-click and post-view conversions, Cost-Per-Acquisition, and even revenue.

Getting Started on Bing

If you are reading this, you probably already know how to run campaigns on Google. If you’re interested in trying Bing, here are some simple tips to help you get started:

1. Start off by importing your Google campaigns into Bing. Just keep in mind that Bing and Google are different. Don’t expect your results from one to be replicated on the other. You’re going to need to test your approach and figure out what works best.

2. Take a look at Bing Keyword Planner for more insights and projections. Here is a visual example of the kind of insights available:

3. Make sure you download the Bing Ads Editor to easily create and edit your campaigns.

Have you tried using Bing before? What were your results? Let us know in the comments.