Bing Ads hasn’t always had the best reputation. In fact, most people have considered this PPC platform to be hard to manage–even with a great amount of invested effort. But things are starting to change on the Bing Ads front. Not only is it easier to manage but those who consider themselves to be search engine marketing agencies in Singapore can look forward to an excellent return on investment. Let’s discuss a few reasons you should consider pursuing opportunities on this ever-evolving platform, as well as which tools can be the most beneficial to you.
Six Year Growth Proves That Bing Is No Longer The Underdog
SEM companies have hectic schedules that are constantly filling up with new tasks, so they rarely have time to search for new platforms. Sure, their lives may be largely automated with tools like Optmyzr, but their attention is often split between the most popular platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Amazon. In fact, if an ad platform has a management system that isn’t user-friendly, is too new to have established a solid reputation, or has little traffic and few leads, they will likely ignore the platform altogether.
Unfortunately for Bing, its past lack of traffic and leads is what caused it to continuously be overlooked. However, times are changing and Bing Ads should no longer be considered “too small.” Over the last six years, its share of the search market has grown exponentially. In fact, according to ComScore, in July of 2017 alone, its Network had over 100 million unique searchers. What’s even more interesting is that this platform is reaching the searchers that Google cannot reach on its own.
And this growth doesn’t just apply to big markets like the U.S. According to ComScore, other countries have felt the benefits of these changes as well–Canada with a 17% increase in reach, France with an 18% increase in reach, the UK with a 25% increase in reach, and Australia with a 12% increase in reach. The fact is, Bind Ads can have just as big of an impact on your Ad campaign as Adwords. Compare these two on a dashboard like Optmyzr MCC, and it’s easy to see.
Bing Ads Has Made Its Management Platform More User-friendly
While the market share has shown drastic improvement, this still leaves many advertisers to wonder if its management platform has followed suit. Is it still complex? Does it still require a disproportionate amount of time to create an outcome that is actually profitable? Well, these are concerns that Bing addressed when they performed a complete overhaul of their management platform.
Bing wanted their management platform to be reflective of the market share growth they were experiencing, so the search engine duplicated the look of Adwords. They realized that by making it look identical to Adwords, users would be more comfortable working with it because it would be more familiar to them. In fact, its features are so similar to its competitors that advertisers can import their account into Bing and sync everything. And many are using the Optmyzr tool to streamline the process.
Use Bing On Its Own
In some cases, syncing your Adwords account to Bing can be beneficial. However, if you’re doing ad work for your own client or as part of an in-house SEM agency team, then instead of syncing here and there, consider using Bing on its own. Optimise with the unique information that Bing offers. Here’s why: though the interface may be the same as Adwords, Bing’s marketplace and audience are completely different and distinct. A sizeable portion of searches are completely unique to the Bing Network, as evidenced by Microsoft’s July 2017 internal data. If advertisers assume that the two are the same, their account may not be well-optimised. In fact, even ads tend to resonate differently depending on which platform they appear. So instead of using Adwords as a qualifier for Bing, use Bing data in combination with a tool like Optmyzr to create the ideal ad text.
How searchers respond to ads isn’t the only difference between the platforms; there’s also a difference in competition as well. So consider changing your bidding strategy. Don’t just copy Adwords bids, deploy bids based on the data that Bing offers. If advertisers want to move up and at low increments, they should use tools like Optmyzr to find these CPC opportunities, use rule-based optimisation to create a custom bidding strategy, or invest in traffic that offers keywords that convert well.
Supplement Gaps With Other PPC Tools
Despite all of the progress Bing Ads has made, not everything is completely perfect. There are still a few gaps that advertisers need to be aware of. Just as is the case with Adwords, whose users have requested improvement in geo visualisations, n-gram reports, and historical Quality Score access, Bind Ads has a few short-coming as well. And this means that advertisers need to supplement their campaign with other PPC tools. Tools like Optmyzr can help you save time by addressing these gaps.
For instance, if you download an Excel user location report, you will soon notice that it’s not interactive. Unfortunately, this makes it more difficult to gain much insight because you can’t ask any questions. You will never be able to discover things like the unusual geo performance of different campaigns. In this particular case, if the advertiser were to use a tool like Optmyzr, they would optimise with the use of Geo bid adjustment.
10 Insightful Reasons to Compliment AdWords with Bing Ads
90% of all search queries globally are done using Google, and this is one of the primary reasons it is considered the best platform for search engine marketing. Over the years, the number of businesses running ads on this search engine has continued to skyrocket despite the high cost and uncertainty about the results.
Apart from creating robust paid ad campaigns, it is wise to consider using other platforms to increase your investment return. Diversification will also help you to target different audiences and enhance the sustainability of the campaigns.
One sure way of doing this is by complement Google AdWords with Bing Ads. Even though Bing only has a market share of 2.69%, it can help you get ahead of the competition in ways that you never thought possible. Unfortunately, most advertisers focus only on Google and spend thousands of dollars on ads and fail to hit the targets due to competition and other factors.
Here are 10 insightful reasons to complement AdWords with Bing Ads.
1. Campaigns are Subject to Less Competition
Competition is one of the main reasons why most digital marketing campaigns fail. Even if your strategies are unique, rest assured that your competitors will soon get wind about what you are doing to get sales and start using the same strategies.
Such unhealthy competition often forces the less-dominant companies to close shop. You can cushion the business from the competition by investing in Bing Ads. Most of your competitors are not using the platform, so making this bold move will position your brand for success.
Because competition for audience is low on Bing, it will be easier for you to channel traffic and qualified leads to your website. In some instances, you will be the only one bidding for a high-value keyword, meaning you will benefit from a low CPC.
2. Higher Return on Investment
Every digital marketing campaign developed should be poised to give you a certain level of return on investment (ROI). The higher the ROI, the better the advertising campaign and platform. Bing Ads results in higher click-through rates (CTR) than Google AdWords, even though the cost per click is low.
This translates into more traffic and sales at a low budget. It is also important to note that AdWords is often ideal for businesses that are focused on volume. Bing mobile search ads are user-centred and can be added to the ad campaign’s granular level at any time.
Photo Credit: Pinterest
3. It’s Used by 33% of Online Shoppers in the U.S
Like Singapore, the United States takes pride in having a large number of online shoppers. Businesses in the country are keen on targeting not only Singaporeans but also U.S consumers. We are pleased to report that 33% of the consumers in the U.S who shop online prefer using Bing to conduct searches as opposed to Google.
Ignoring Bing Ads means that you will be missing out on 33% of organic traffic that you can tap to expand your clientele base. The ads are customised to match the needs and expectations of the target customers from this country.
4. Easy to Setup
Apart from the competition, most businesses don’t like using Google AdWords to be the complex account setup process. You will need to spend several days studying how the marketplace works to create the account and set up the campaign correctly.
Bing is aware of this fact and determined to offer you a different experience as an advertiser. The account setup processes have been simplified to make the platform ideal for both novices and experienced paid search advertisers.
One of Bing Ads highlights is that it allows advertisers to seamlessly import and incorporate currently running campaigns on Google. You don’t have to create a whole new campaign – well, unless you want to target this group of customers differently.
5. Users Get More Control Over the Campaign
When running a paid ads campaign on search engines, it is important to monitor the ads’ performance to get maximum ROI from every dollar that you spend on the clicks.
Unfortunately, that is not the case with AdWords. Google bot and algorithms have a significant level of control over the campaign, which often hinders realisation of its full potential. Bing Ads is different as it offers advertisers more control.
For example, you can easily set ad campaigns for different time zones to maximise your reach. Such capability makes it easy to schedule ads and the monitor campaign.
Another major difference is that Google permits advertisers to set the location, language, network, ad rotation, and scheduling options at the low campaign level. The ad groups you create are subject to the stipulated campaign-level settings.
On the other hand, Bing Ads offers you all these options at your preferred ad group levels. You will be able to efficiently change any of the ad groups’ settings without tampering with other elements of the campaign.
It also offers new generation intelligent tools designed to give you a better understanding of the target keywords and search ads. The information from these tools will enhance the campaign and make it agile. That is, you will be able to change the campaign to respond to changes in the market.
6. Bing Ads Rules are Automated
As mentioned in the previous topic on increased campaign control, Bing has worked smart to automate all the ad campaigns’ rules. As the advertiser, you can automatically change the campaign based on the conditions and rules you define in the account.
For example, you can change the status and adjust the budget or bid on a fly. By automating the rules, Bing saves advertisers hundreds of valuable time that would have been spent managing the campaigns or creating new campaigns on different platforms. The level of efficiency that Bing offers is unequal to Google AdWords.
7. Bing Comprises of Three Search Engines
Unknown to more people is that Google is made up of three different search engines that work together to offer an accurate and quality user-experience to searchers. Google only has one search engine, and so its capabilities in terms of reach and helping brands get maximum returns from ad campaigns is limited.
When you run an ad campaign on Bing, your ads are displayed on AOL, Yahoo, and Bing search engines. This translates into more popularity as the ads will most likely be seen by millions of searchers who use these search engines to look up information online.
Concisely, by professionally creating the Bing Ad campaign, you will enjoy an exceptionally high click-through-rate without spending thousands of dollars.
8. Mobile Targeting is Better
By now, you already know that a majority of searches are done using mobile devices not only here in Singapore but globally. Bing is determined to help you connect with this segment of customers by offering improved mobile ad targeting features.
One of the highlights is that you can customise your ad campaign to target prospects who use a specific device based on the operating system and model type. So, if your product is only ideal for people who use Android smartphone phones, you can structure the campaign such that the ads are only displayed to such prospects.
Laser-focussed targeting will greatly help you get more results from your ads since they will only be shown to people who are highly likely interested in the product or service you are offering. Such a high level of accuracy and relevance is what you need when running an ad campaign.
Even if you have a flexible budget and can afford to spend more than your competition, you will benefit from the revamped mobile targeting.
9. More Traffic, Sales, and Leads for Less Money
The first thing to note is that low competition translates to lower bids per keyword and relatively low cost per click (CPC). Just a polite reminder, Bing will charge you based on the number of clicks that your ads get. The lower the clicks, the lower the cost and consequently the lower the traffic.
While that is true, competition for keywords on this search engine is low, so advertisers benefit from lower bids on the target keywords. The low price is due to the low number of advertisers targeting the same keywords. As mentioned earlier, you may be the only one bidding on a particular keyword.
Concisely, you will win high-value keywords at a reduced price and enjoy high traffic compared to advertisers using the same keywords to run ads on Google. More traffic will result in more sales, and the difference in revenue generated over time will be significant.
10. Better Transparency
Transparency is key to any digital marketing campaign’s success, irrespective of the platform you opt to use. Bing team is keen on providing marketers the best advertising experience by ensuring that all processes and terms are transparent. You will never have to guess whether a particular action is allowed since all the terms and conditions are highlighted on the Bing Ads page.
Bing also goes an extra mile to offer comprehensive details about the whole campaign, such as how the search partners impact your campaign. Each partner (Search engine) has a dedicated report with information such as conversions and impressions. The metrics will help you know which parts of the campaign to tweak or delete to maximise the marketing budget.
How to Create a Bing Ads Campaign?
Bing has made it utterly easy for advertisers to create a custom ads campaign even without prior experience. Here are the five steps you should take to set up the ideal ad campaign for your brand.
Also check out this video tutorial for more details on how to create a Bing Ads campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ5MnGzdCrg
Step 1: Creating A Bing Ads Account
You need to have a Bing Ads account to start creating the campaign. Click here to create one. If you have a Microsoft account, you can use it for this purpose, so all you need to do is log in. The sign-up process is simple and won’t take more than five minutes. Make sure that you provide the correct details for verification purposes.
Provide as many details as possible to get the best features. Remember to agree to the T&C (Terms and conditions).
Step 2: Selecting the Basic Settings
Once you sign-up and provide the details, Bing will ask if you would like to import the current Google AdWords campaign to the platform. They ask this because they already know most people start advertising using AdWords before diversifying to Bing Ads.
Go ahead and click on the “Create a New Campaign” tab to access new campaigns settings.
Select a name and language for the campaign and then specify the country or region you want the ads to display. To do this, click on “Let me choose specific locations,” but if the brand provides services to clients from all over the world, you can skip this step.
Location targeting is another brilliant feature that Bing Ads offers. You can leverage it to exclude specific states or countries from the campaign to get clicks only from qualified leads or people who match your description of ideal customers.
Concisely, specifying the location will ensure that you don’t spend thousands of dollars on clicks from people who are not interested in your products or services. This could be people who are just looking for information about the industry.
For example, if you offer car repair services only in Clementi, you would want to pay for clicks made by someone who resides in Jurong or any other city that you don’t service.
Step 3: Carry Out Extensive Keyword Research
The quality of the keyword research will determine the success of the ad campaign. The wrong keywords mean that your ads will be getting clicks from the wrong audience.
Find keywords that the target customers often use to search for products or services that your brand offers. Using the same example in Step 4, find keywords that people use to look for car repair services in Clementi.
Short-tail keywords are good, but to make your campaign even better, consider adding long-tail keywords and including the location in the keyword such as “car repair services in Clementi,” “Clementi car repair experts,” “Clementi car repair shop,” and the list is endless.
Check the monthly search column to know the number of people who use each of the terms. The goal is to find keywords that have a decent search volume and low competition.
Use location targeting to know the specific number of people residing or working in Clementi who use the keyword.
While there, look for negative keywords and add them to the list to increase your reach. What are negative keywords? These are terms that are not necessarily related to your car repair business, but people use them to land on your website or look up information on Bing.
A keyword with a high search volume is great but often very competitive as hundreds of other businesses will be bidding on it. Luckily, most advertisers side line Bing, so you can go ahead and bid for them.
Leverage Bing Ads Keyword Planner to find the right keywords for the campaign.
You could use third-party keyword research tools for the same purposes, but the results may not be accurate. This is because such tools rely on Bing and Google to fetch the information presented in the report. Keywords that are relevant on Google may not be relevant on Bing.
Bing has four different keyword match types. Let us briefly look at each match type to avoid making mistakes.
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Broad Match Modified
These are keywords that instruct Bing to display the ad for people who search for the primary keywords and their variations or related topics. Such keywords will result in more clicks from people who may not be interested in your brand.
However, you can make the campaign more flexible if the search volume is low and the audiences you are targeting are not predictable. Add “+” before the keyword to make it a broad match. For example, “+car repair services in Clementi.”
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Broad Match
Board match is the default keyword match type on the Bing Ads account. Unlike the broad match modified, it is up to Bing to determine if a particular search is relevant to your ad. For example, if your bid on “car services,” your ad will be shown when someone uses a keyword such as “car repair services” and probably question-based queries such as “why to hire a professional car repair service provider?”
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Exact Match
As the name suggests, the Bing Ads algorithm will only display your ad to people who use the exact keywords. That is, if you bid on a keyword (car repair services), the ad is shown to prospects who use (car repair services) to search for information.
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Phrase Match
Unlike all the other three keyword matches discussed above, Phrase Match gives advertisers more control over the search terms that trigger the algorithms to display the ads. All you need to do is place quotation marks before and after the keyword to direct Bing to only display the ads when the keywords used are also in quotation marks.
For instance, if the keyword is “car repair,” the ads are displayed to prospects who use the keyword “car repair near me” but not broad terms that are irrelevant to the campaign, such as “how to save money on car repair services.”
Create Single Keyword Ad Groups to better manage when your ads are displayed. That way, you will be sure that the people who click on the ad are genuinely interested in your brand.
Step 4: Craft the Ad
With the right keywords at hand, the next thing that you need to do is write your ad. Start by clicking on the “+Create ad” tab.
Here are expert tips on how to write the perfect ad for your Bing Ads campaign today.
- Make sure that you sprinkle the keywords identified in step 4 in the copy
- If you are a local business, mention the area you operate it to get laser-targeted clicks
- Indicate the unique selling points of your product or service (value proposition)
- Use a language and writing style that resonates with the target customers
- Use specific terms instead of broad terms (“Big discounts” is not as compelling as a 30% discount on all orders today)
- Include a compelling CTA (Call-to-action)
- Preview the ad to be sure it shows up well in all the three search engines
Note that the ad should only be 140 characters long, so avoid fluff/unnecessary words. Focus on the important information that customers need to know before converting. More importantly, plan to carry out several A/B tests to know its performance.
Step 5: Create a Budget
Setting the budget will ensure that you don’t spend more than you can afford. It is unwise to randomly set the amount. Do some research to know the ideal amount you should spend on the ads daily or monthly. Adjust your financial plans accordingly to allocate enough funds to the campaign. Also, leave room for adjustments if you decide to run the campaign for several days or weeks more.
Click on the “Get Performance Estimates” tab to get insights from Bing on the expected results based on the budget.
Start small to get a first-hand perspective of the audience and their response to the ads. Once you have the initial results, you can experiment with different budgets, keywords, locations, and bid amounts.
Conclusion
Bing Ads campaign will compliment your Google AdWords campaign immensely if you set it up properly. Make sure that you carry out tests regularly to determine the performance of the campaign. The key to getting the most out of your Bing Ad campaign is to not rely too heavily on results that come from Ad words. Digital marketing agencies and advertisers must realise that though these two platforms have similar interfaces, they are unique. This means that advertisers need to focus more on what tools they will use to fill in the gaps that Bing has.
You don’t have to struggle to set up and monitor the campaigns, though. We, MediaOne Marketing, have a team of professionals who can help you out and ensure that you get the best ROI. We have been doing this for more than five years now, so quality and results-oriented PPC services are guaranteed.
Call us today on +65 6789 9852 for a free consultation session.
