Don’t You Forget About Bing

Google may be the 800-pound gorilla in Paid Search, but Bing shouldn’t be the forgotten search engine. It may surprise many in the Marketing world, but Bing Advertising offers several targeting advantages currently not offered on Google. Additionally, other enhanced capabilities on Bing can generate strong performance for both Branding and Direct Response efforts. When it comes to weighing your search engine options, here’s why you should consider adding Bing to your marketing strategy.   

What is Bing?

Bing is a search engine that was launched in 2009 by Microsoft, and ever since its launch, it has emerged as Google’s closest rival when it comes to online search and the advertising choice for business owners. It was previously called Windows Live Search and MSN search.

Pros of Bing Advertising

Market Share and Reach

Google which has been in existence since 1998 has obviously gained dominance in the search engine market, but Bing is the second most used search engine in the world behind Google. Through its search partner networks such as Yahoo and LinkedIn, Bing now has more than 5 billion monthly searches and 122 million unique monthly searchers giving it about 35 percent of the total market share in the search engine category.  In addition, searchers on Bing spend more time online than the average internet searcher by 33%.

In the US, Bing rose from its 31% to 36% global search share from 2015-2019; while in currently holds 23% and 22% global search share in the UK and Canada respectively. Nonetheless, it becomes vital to know that Ads on Bing reach about 63 million searchers that Google Adwords do not reach.

Audience Sizes

Audience type and size are two major factors that determine the success or failure of any marketing campaign, getting the right audience is a must when executing an online campaign; and this is exactly one of the offerings Bing brings to you. 

Bing is known to have a rich and diverse audience base, giving business owners the ability to target their audiences online. According to Bing, about half of its searchers are either married or living with a domestic partner.  It is also reported that about nearly half of Bing searchers are under the age of 45, and over one-third have a household income of over $100,000. In addition to this, the Bing platform boasts of a more educated group of searchers, which are majorly college graduates.

Target Industries: Google Vs Bing 

Bing Advertising reaches people you can’t find on Google in the US and has significant market share in the following verticals vs Google.  

Largest US Search Categories on Bing  Include, but are not limited to: 

• eCommerce / Retail Industry: 45 Million New Searches per Month 
• Business / Financial Industry: 33 Million New Searches per Month 
• Education Industry: 24 Million New Searches per Month 
• Travel / Hospitality Industry: 23 Million New Searches per Month 
• Automotive Industry: 13 Million New Searches per Month 
• Telecommunication Industry: 10 Million New Searches per Month 

Bing Targeted Advertising Capabilities are Powered by Data Partnerships

Through their data partnerships, Bing is providing advertisers with more flexibility than ever vs Google. 

Microsoft, Adobe and SAP have partnered to create the Open Data Initiative, a single view of core business data, to empower companies to create more value from their Advising Efforts and deliver higher quality digital experiences for their customers.  This has resulted in a 43% lift in search exposure and 2.3% life in Click Through Rates (CTR’s). 

Unique to the Microsoft / Bing Search Network and powered by Core Search + Microsoft Data Partnerships, Bing offers Advertisers the following capabilities:  Audience Solutions, Microsoft Audience Network, Vertical Solutions, and AI-Powered Solutions.   

Transform your Bing Advertising efforts using the following enhanced capabilities: 

• Reach Your Ideal Customer – Audience Targeting Capabilities:

• • User Intent Targeting: Search, In-Market Audiences, Custom Audiences, Product Audiences, Similar Audiences, Remarketing 
  • User Profile Targeting: Linkedin Profile Targeting, Age and Gender Targeting 
  • Location & Device: Location Targeting, Device Targeting 

• Deliver the Right Message at the Right Time – Personalized Audience Segmentation Capabilities: 
  • By using audience segments, targeted device campaigns and location targeting, Bing can message shoppers in real time, allowing companies to capitalize on searchers in the buying cycle.  
  • Customizable Search Solutions for PPC Ads:  Price Extensions, Action Extension, Multi-Image Extensions, Filter Link Extensions, Video Extensions, and Flyer Extensions. 
  • Customizable Display & Product Feed Ads:  Brand Loyalty Extensions, Merchant Promotions, Free Shipping Promotions, Local Inventory Ads, Product Ratings, and Price Drop Alerts. 

• Increase Performance and Reduce Management – Platform Optimization Capabilities: 

• • Automated Extensions: Optimize ads dynamically with the best performing extensions powered by user interaction rates. 
  • Dynamic Search Ads:  Automatically create ads for keywords missing your campaign and are receiving higher click through rates in other campaigns. 
  • Auto Bidding: Achieve your bidding goals with max clicks, conversions or target CPA.
  • Shared Budgets: When running multiple Ad Accounts, ability to Reallocate budgets in real time to maximize clicks.

Better Ad Positioning 

Still, don’t see why you should opt for Bing? Well, let me ask of what importance is a larger audience yet with very low visibility?

This is one of the many upsides of switching your advertising to the Bing network. The positioning of your Ad is vital to having users click on it. It has been found that advertisers have about 35% higher advantage of having a better positioning of their ads on Bing vs Google. This means that due to lower competition on Bing, ads placed on Bing appear in better positions when compared to those on Google.

Marketers should consider the advantages of placing Advertisements on Bing to transform your digital marketing efforts and expand your ROI to new search channels outside of Google.