Two engines are better than one: why you shouldn’t ignore Bing for paid search

Paid Media / October 23, 2018

Often when we talk about paid search, we’re by default referring to Google Ads. Advertisers have a tendency to sideline the world’s second largest search engine — Bing, and its Bing Ads program.

But we can’t help wondering: if you have a paid search formula that’s working, isn’t more search traffic (at a lower cost per click) a winning strategy? Ultimately, aren’t two engines better than one?

There are myriad reasons why you should be advertising on Bing Ads — particularly going into the fourth quarter, when we all have a little extra advertising budget to spend. If you are advertising on only one search engine, you are missing out on a massive number of daily searches. Google users use only Google. And Bing users tend to use only Bing. If you are only advertising on Google Ads, there is a huge segment of the online population that will simply never see your ad.

It’s worth taking the time to understand the different types of users that prefer Google or Bing. And yes, they’re different (more on this below). With a little demographic research, you may learn that your target demographic is active on Bing, and you should be too.

Here are a few reasons why you won’t want to overlook Bing Ads as part of your online marketing strategy:

1. Easy to set up with Google Import

If you’re already running a Google Ads campaign, the folks at Bing have made it ridiculously easy to import your Google ads, keywords and settings into your new Bing campaign.

During your Bing Ads campaign setup, click Import Campaigns > Import from Google Ads and voila — your Bing account will be populated with Campaigns and AdGroups that look just like the ones you’ve been managing in Google Ads.

(But — make sure you check up on your import to make sure all your settings imported the way you want them. It’s an easy import, not a perfect one…)

2. Less competition = lower CPCs

Bing gets less traffic than Google. With less traffic comes lower competition and lower CPCs. Reportgarden points out that Google’s 2017 average cost per click was $20.08, while Bing’s was a puny $7.99. In other words, you might be able to get a much better ROI from your Bing ad spend — provided you’re hitting the right demographic and generating a steady clickthrough rate. More traffic for less — what’s not to like about that?

3. People actually search on Bing

Yes. Different types of people search on Google and Bing. In general, Bing users are older, less technologically savvy (many use the engine because it was installed by default on their Windows machine), and (at least according to Bing) 38% of them earn $100,000 or more annually.

Is your market in the US? According to Hootsuite’s AdEspresso Blog, Bing has 33% of the US market share, 16% in Canada and 23% in the UK. But if you’re managing an international campaign, you’ll probably want to stay with Google Ads for its more international user base — Bing has only 9% of the global market share.

In other words, there’s more to choosing Bing than simply wanting to advertise on another search engine. You need to be sure that Bing’s demographics align with the people you want to reach.

4. Bing’s network

Maybe you did your demographic research and found out that your target customers are hanging out on Bing’s network websites (such as AOL, MSN and Yahoo) which run Bing Ads. This alone is a great reason to expand your campaigns to Bing. Alternatively, some people simply want their ads to be everywhere… without Bing, you won’t be on the world’s second largest search engine… nor will you be featured on any of its network pals.

5. Bing Partner Program

Bing has built a pretty robust network of seasoned ad managers who can help you with your campaign. The Bing Partner Program allows you to browse a directory of Bing-certified agencies and campaign managers… including Bloom. If you’re an agency or an ad manager yourself, you can become a Bing Partner to generate new leads and referrals.

If you don’t test Bing, how will you know?

We have helped dozens of our clients find success on Bing. The fact is, if you’re only running SEM campaigns on Google Ads, how will you know what you are missing? Bing may bring you traffic, leads and sales from a new demographic not seen on Google Ads. Or you may find that you’re doubling up — finding more of the same goodness on an entirely separate network. The best way to start is to run a test. Import your Google Ads campaign, add a little budget and see what you can learn.