Bing Ads: A Practical Guide to Microsoft Search Ads

Bing Ads is the former name of Microsoft Advertising, the pay-per-click platform that places search ads on Bing and on partner search engines such as Yahoo and AOL. It works on the same auction model as Google Ads, but the audience, competition and some targeting options differ enough to justify a plan of their own, which is the approach behind our Microsoft Ads management for B2B organisations.

Microsoft renamed Bing Ads as Microsoft Advertising in April 2019, explaining that clients already knew the business as Microsoft and that the advertising offer had grown beyond search. Bing Ads, Microsoft Ads, Microsoft Advertising and Bing PPC all describe the same platform and it is owned and run by Microsoft. Most advertisers still search for it as Bing Ads, so the older name appears alongside the new one here.

What Bing Ads Are and Where They Appear

Bing Ads are text-based search ads that appear above and alongside search results when someone searches for a term you have bid on. You pay when someone clicks and the price of each click is set by an auction against other advertisers bidding on the same searches.

Microsoft’s own explanation of the Microsoft Advertising Network says search ads can appear with results on Microsoft Bing, AOL, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia and other partners. Ad distribution settings let you choose between the whole network and Microsoft’s own sites with select partner traffic, which is a useful control if partner placements bring in poor-quality clicks. The same account also runs audience advertising across MSN, Microsoft Edge and Outlook.com, although search is where most B2B advertisers start.

• Bing Ads is the old name for Microsoft Advertising and the two are the same platform.
• Search ads appear on Bing, Yahoo, AOL and other partner search engines.
• Campaigns can be imported from Google Ads, then refined for Bing.
• LinkedIn profile targeting is available for search campaigns as a bid adjustment.
• Conversion tracking relies on the UET tag, which needs consent signals for UK users.

Each point is covered below. Microsoft Advertising rewards the same discipline as Google Ads, applied with an understanding of where Bing behaves differently.

Is Advertising on Bing Worth It for UK Businesses

For most B2B organisations, Bing advertising is worth testing alongside Google Ads because it reaches a share of searchers that a Google-only budget misses. It rarely replaces Google and it should be judged on the leads it produces rather than the volume of traffic it delivers.

Bing’s reach is concentrated on desktop, which suits B2B buyers researching suppliers during the working day. StatCounter’s figures for UK desktop search engine market share put Bing at 18.33% in September 2026, against 75.99% for Google. Bing’s share on mobile is much smaller, so the platform matters most for campaigns aimed at people who research and compare suppliers from a desk.

Search volumes are lower than on Google, so campaigns take longer to gather data and Priority Pixels recommends running Microsoft Advertising alongside Google Ads rather than instead of it. Our comparison of Microsoft Ads and Google Ads for B2B sets out where each platform tends to perform better.

Setting Up a Microsoft Advertising Account

Setting up a Microsoft Advertising account means choosing the right currency and time zone, importing or building campaigns and installing tracking before any budget is spent. A few of those early decisions are hard to reverse, so they are worth getting right first time.

Currency is the clearest example. Microsoft’s guidance on what gets imported from Google Ads confirms that changing currency later means setting up a new account and moving your campaigns across, so UK advertisers should select pounds sterling at the start. The same page explains that bids or budgets below Microsoft’s minimums are raised automatically during an import and that bid strategies Microsoft does not support are converted to an alternative with recommended bids.

Google Import is the quickest route for advertisers already running Google Ads campaigns. It copies campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ads, extensions and negative keyword lists and it can run on a schedule so changes in Google flow through to Microsoft. That convenience has a cost, because Microsoft’s help on scheduled imports warns that edits made in Microsoft Advertising, including status, bid and budget changes, may be overwritten the next time an import runs.

A sensible approach is to import once, review every campaign and then decide which settings should stay in sync. Location targeting, ad schedules and conversion goals all deserve a manual check, because what suits Google does not always suit Bing.

Campaign Structure, Keywords and Match Types

A well-structured Bing account groups closely related keywords into tightly themed ad groups, with campaigns split by service, location or audience so each has its own budget. Clear campaign names make the account easier to manage as it grows.

Microsoft Advertising supports broad, phrase and exact match and its help page on keyword match types describes how each one behaves. Broad match is the default and can match searches that do not contain your keyword at all, while exact match gives the most control and the least reach. If you bid on the same keyword in more than one match type, exact match takes precedence and missing bids are inherited from the less restrictive match type.

The search term report is where match types prove their worth or cost you money. Priority Pixels reviews search term reports weekly to add irrelevant queries as negative keywords and to turn strong queries into keywords of their own and shared negative keyword lists make that work quicker across several campaigns. Our article on Google Ads keyword match types covers the same principles on Google, which helps when both accounts are managed together.

Writing Responsive Search Ads for Bing

Responsive search ads are now the standard search ad format on Microsoft Advertising and advertisers can no longer create or edit expanded text ads. Microsoft’s help on responsive search ads explains that you can supply up to 15 headlines and four descriptions, which the platform combines into the ads people see.

Good Bing copy for B2B audiences is specific and plain. Headlines should reflect the keyword theme of the ad group, name the service clearly and give a reason to choose you, such as sector experience or a defined next step. Pinning a headline to a fixed position is useful for compliance wording or brand terms, but every pin reduces the number of combinations the system can test, so it is worth using sparingly.

Ad extensions add sitelinks, callouts, call details and locations beneath the ad. Sitelinks should point to relevant landing pages rather than the homepage and each landing page should match the ad, load quickly and meet accessibility standards so paid clicks have a fair chance of becoming enquiries.

LinkedIn Profile Targeting and Audiences

LinkedIn profile targeting is the feature that most sets Microsoft Advertising apart for B2B advertisers. Microsoft’s LinkedIn profile targeting documentation describes it as the only advertising platform other than LinkedIn that lets you target people by company, industry and job function from their LinkedIn profiles.

On search campaigns, LinkedIn targeting works as a bid adjustment rather than a filter. Targeting a job function does not stop your ads showing to everyone else, but it lets you bid more for searchers who match the profile you care about. Our article on LinkedIn integration in Microsoft Ads goes into the set-up in more depth.

LinkedIn data sits alongside several other audience options, all of which can be applied to search campaigns. The cards below summarise the four most useful for B2B accounts.

These details come from Microsoft’s guide to Universal Event Tracking and audiences. Exclusions matter too, so existing customers and job seekers are worth removing from prospecting campaigns where the data allows.

Bidding, Budgets and What Bing Ads Cost

Bing Ads have no fixed price. You set a daily budget for each campaign and pay for each click, with the cost decided by the auction, your bid and the quality and relevance of your ad, so two advertisers bidding on the same keyword can pay quite different amounts.

New accounts usually benefit from a controlled start. Manual CPC bidding gives you visibility of how individual keywords perform before conversion data builds up and automated strategies such as Maximise Conversions or Target CPA become more reliable once the account records conversions consistently. Priority Pixels tests Microsoft’s automated bidding strategies where they suit the campaign goal, but always with manual oversight, because lower search volumes mean the algorithm has less data to learn from than on Google.

Ad scheduling deserves attention for B2B campaigns. If enquiries come mainly during office hours, lower bids in the evening and at weekends protect budget for the periods that produce leads. As part of our wider PPC management across Google, Microsoft and paid social, budgets are set against what a qualified lead is worth to the business rather than a share of another platform’s spend.

Conversion Tracking, UET and Consent Mode

Conversion tracking on Microsoft Advertising runs through the Universal Event Tracking (UET) tag, a single script added to every page of your website. It records the actions you define as conversion goals, such as form submissions, calls or purchases and it supplies the data behind remarketing lists and automated bidding.

Consent is now a requirement rather than a recommendation for UK advertisers. Microsoft’s FAQ on UET and user consent says advertisers must send consent signals through Consent Mode for UET or the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework and that from 5 May 2025 it began enforcing this for all clients with end users in the EEA, UK and Switzerland. Where consent signals are missing, Microsoft stops tracking UET-based conversions and populating remarketing lists, which leaves automated bidding without the data it relies on.

That requirement sits alongside UK law. The ICO’s guidance on cookies and similar technologies requires consent for cookies that are not strictly necessary, so the UET set-up should work with your cookie banner rather than around it. The steps below set out the usual order of work.

For B2B advertisers, an online enquiry is only the first step. Offline conversion imports let you feed qualified leads and closed deals from your CRM back into Microsoft Advertising, so bidding learns from lead quality rather than raw form fills. UET set-up, conversion goals, offline conversion imports and GA4 integration all form part of how Priority Pixels delivers Microsoft Ads. Our guide to building a B2B lead funnel with Microsoft Ads covers the stages that follow that first enquiry.

Measuring and Improving Bing Ads Performance

Bing Ads performance should be measured on cost per qualified lead, conversion rate and return on ad spend rather than clicks or impressions. Lower volumes mean differences between ads and keywords take longer to become reliable, so early changes often respond to noise rather than a trend.

In the first few months, weekly search term reviews and steady negative keyword work usually bring the clearest gains. After that, the focus moves to testing ad assets, refining audience bid adjustments and moving budget towards campaigns that produce enquiries your sales team values.

A periodic audit keeps the account honest. Priority Pixels audits cover account structure, keyword choices, ad copy, targeting settings and conversion tracking and our guide on auditing and improving Microsoft Ads campaigns sets out what to check. Clients receive weekly updates and monthly performance summaries, with live access to the Priority Pixels reporting dashboard so spend can be judged against outcomes at any point in the month.