Microsoft Search Ads: A Practical Guide to Getting Started with Bing PPC

B2B companies throw everything at Google Ads while Microsoft Search Ads sits there waiting. Our Microsoft Ads management for B2B advertisers watch clients pay many less per click on Bing’s network with way fewer competitors breathing down their necks. Advertisers won’t touch this platform with a bargepole, yet you’ve got UK desktop searchers using it.

Why Microsoft Ads Deserves Your Attention

Bing attracts older professionals with real budgets who make purchasing decisions. These aren’t your typical window shoppers either. They’re researching during work hours, they’ve got money for B2B services and they’re ready to buy.

Microsoft Ads hits significant unique searchers every month across the UK on desktop and mobile. Bing users love their desktops, especially during work hours.

Microsoft Ads costs run 30-many cheaper than Google for identical keywords. Not because the traffic’s but because fewer advertisers means you’re not fighting tooth and nail for every click.

LinkedIn audience data flows straight into the platform. You can target based on job titles, company size and industry with surgical precision, which makes it perfect for our B2B marketing campaigns where quality trumps quantity.

Microsoft’s automated bidding has finally stopped feeling like the bargain basement option. Target CPA and target ROAS deliver decent results now and you won’t find yourself constantly second-guessing the AI decisions like you used to.

Setting Up Your Microsoft Ads Account

Account setup looks deceptively simple but mess up the basics and you’re stuck with problems for months. Make sure you link any existing Google Ads account before you do anything else because the import feature will copy over campaigns, keywords and ad copy without you having to rebuild everything from scratch.

Whatever you do, don’t just accept the import settings without checking them first. Choose GBP billing during setup if you’re UK-based because Microsoft won’t let you change currency later without creating a completely new account and those conversion fees add up fast. Account approval usually happens within 24 hours once you’ve verified your phone number and added payment details, which is considerably faster than what you’d get with Google.

Campaign Structure and Organisation

Microsoft has its own little quirks but campaign structure follows the same basic rules as other platforms. Our Microsoft Ads management guide covers these structural foundations in detail. Things get messy fast if you cram more than 20 keywords into each ad group, so keep them tight with related terms.

SKAGs work wonders for competitive B2B services where every penny counts. We’ve watched tiny Quality Score improvements slash costs dramatically when you apply surgical precision to high-value terms.

Build campaign names that tell you what’s what instantly. Campaign type, match type and targeting location should all be there at a glance. Something like “Brand_Exact_UK” or “Services_Broad_London” keeps everything sorted once you’re running dozens of campaigns.

Microsoft Ads lets you drill down to postcodes, set radius targeting around your office or block out areas you don’t serve, so don’t just pick “United Kingdom” and call it done. Mobile clicks don’t convert nearly as well, so we often run separate mobile campaigns with different bids and copy that works on smaller screens.

Keyword Research and Match Types

Microsoft Advertising Keyword Planner becomes your go-to tool for research on this platform. Don’t expect search volume data to mirror Google’s numbers because it won’t and that surprises quite a few people.

Measuring success means looking way past those first conversions that grab your attention. Phone calls, face-to-face meetings and all those other conversions that happen away from your website can get imported straight back into Microsoft Ads through offline conversion tracking.

Bing search volumes typically run many Google’s figures for the same keywords. Commercial intent keywords perform better here though, so the conversion rates often make up for lower traffic volumes.

Match types function much like Google’s system but with notable differences. Broad match stays more controlled and won’t pull in as many random searches, which saves budget when you’re counting every click.

Watch out for phrase match because it gets quite liberal with close variants and synonyms compared to exact match. Search term reports need regular checking and your negative keyword lists will grow fast.

Those expensive long-tail keywords on Google? They’re bargains on Bing because the competition just isn’t there yet.

Ad Copy and Extensions

Business minds are browsing Microsoft Ads, so your copy should sound like it belongs in a boardroom even when you’re targeting everyday shoppers. Sure, you get the same 30 characters per headline as Google, but forget the clever wordplay. Bing’s algorithm wants clear s and those 90-character descriptions work brilliantly for addressing specific buyer objections. B2B customers expect concrete benefits that speak directly to business outcomes.

Expect Microsoft’s editorial team to be pickier than Google’s ad extensions. Your sitelink extensions better lead to properly targeted landing pages because they’ll scrutinise every submission.

Large, well-organised websites see Microsoft’s search ads perform brilliantly. We’ve watched search queries match service pages with impressive accuracy, especially across our technical SEO and development work.

Bidding Strategies and Budget Management

Different competitor behaviour and lower search volumes mean you can’t just copy your Google bidding strategy over to Microsoft Ads. Start with manual CPC bidding so you can see how keywords perform, then move to automated options once you’ve got the data.

Enhanced CPC works well once conversion data starts building up. The platform makes bid adjustments based on conversion probability, similar to Google’s approach but usually more cautious with the modifications.

Target CPA bidding won’t work properly until you’ve got 30+ conversions within 30 days. Set your initial targets many above what you’re aiming for, giving the algorithm room to learn without choking your campaigns.

Budget your Microsoft Ads campaigns around their unique traffic patterns because this platform works completely differently from the others. B2B campaigns absolutely smash it during business hours whilst weekdays consistently outperform weekends by miles.

Dayparting becomes your secret weapon here since professional searchers follow such predictable routines. Dial back those bids once everyone’s clocked off for the day.

You’re constantly juggling reach against efficiency when you set geographic bid adjustments based on search locations. Urban areas might convert better but the competition there is significantly higher, so fine-tuning performance becomes this balancing act that never really ends.

Tracking and Measurement

Install Microsoft’s UET tag across every single page of your website because it functions similarly to Google’s conversion tracking but demands complete coverage. Without this Universal Event Tracking code everywhere, your audience building and conversion data will be completely useless.

UET captures page views, session duration and scroll depth alongside your standard conversions. All this extra data feeds into automated bidding algorithms and makes audience targeting far more accurate.

E-commerce sites should configure revenue goals whilst service businesses get better results tracking lead generation. Different business models require completely different goal types in Microsoft Ads.

Standard last-click attribution works fine initially. But once you’ve accumulated enough conversion data, data-driven attribution becomes available and that’s where you’ll see the complete customer journey across multiple touchpoints.

Connecting Google Analytics requires additional configuration work but the behavioural insights make it worthwhile. You’ll want consistent UTM parameters across every Microsoft Ads campaign to properly compare performance against other marketing channels. B2B campaigns especially benefit from this since sales cycles often stretch well beyond that initial website visit.

Audience Targeting and Remarketing

LinkedIn’s professional database feeds directly into Microsoft Ads targeting options and honestly nothing else comes close. You can drill down to job functions, seniority levels, company sizes and specific industries with precision that’ll leave other platforms scrambling.

When you’re after B2B services, Microsoft Ads absolutely destroys Google’s performance with in-market audiences. Custom audiences won’t activate until you’ve got 1,000 website visitors, but trust us they’re worth waiting for. Your engagement rockets up while cost-per-conversion plummets compared to those broad targeting approaches.

Feed quality customer data into similar audiences and they work like magic. We’ll upload email addresses or phone numbers from your top clients, then Microsoft takes that foundation and builds out a massive pool of prospects who act exactly the same way.

Competition on Microsoft’s remarketing platform is practically non-existent compared to Google. You’ll watch your costs drop while impression shares soar and your prospects see your ads at every stage of their buying process without you battling for space.

Nothing drains budgets faster than showing ads to people who won’t buy. Exclude existing customers, job hunters and competitors.

Performance Optimisation and Scaling

Resist the urge to mess with campaigns too early on Microsoft Ads because you won’t get Google’s data volumes. Statistical significance takes much longer here, which means patience becomes your best friend when you’re itching to make changes.

Those first few months require weekly search term report reviews. Hidden keyword opportunities will surface alongside budget-draining irrelevant searches you never saw coming.

Microsoft calculates Quality Score differently and puts ad relevance way ahead of your landing page performance. So nail that keyword-to-ad-copy alignment first, then think about page tweaks later.

Your negative keyword lists need regular maintenance and proper structure from the start. Shared lists save hours of admin work across multiple campaigns and stop you wasting budget on traffic that’ll never convert anyway.

Microsoft’s lower search volume means ad testing moves at a snail’s pace compared to Google. We typically wait 30 days for reliable data, though statistical significance sometimes shows up earlier if you’re lucky.

Budget increases need a gentle touch when campaigns hit their stride. We stick to many weekly bumps so performance doesn’t wobble while we expand reach.

Microsoft results can guide your Google strategy in ways most people miss. Those keywords crushing it on Bing deserve bigger budgets on Google Ads, while the ones falling flat tell you exactly what to cut from both campaigns.