Are Bing Ads Worth it?

Google, like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s before it, is the undisputed king of its marketplace. To no one’s surprise, Google is the most widely-used search engine on the planet, and in the US, Google searches account for over 60% of all search-engine queries. Yet, businesses may find profitable opportunities advertising on alternative search engines such as Bing. Are Bing Ads worth it? In short, yes, Bing Ads do offer certain advantages to Google Ads, and companies that rely on Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising can use the platform to expand their reach. However, it’s generally unwise to use Bing Ads without also using Google. We’ll explain why below:

Benefits of Bing Ads

Bing has a lot going for it. Even though it’s a distant second to Google, it still accounts for roughly a third of the search-engine market share in the US. A significant portion of the population uses Bing regularly. What’s more, Bing Ads offer marketers a few customizable options that Google Ads lack, such as the ability to alter specific settings for individual ad groups on a granular level. What’s more, Bing Ads are less competitive and therefore can offer some businesses the opportunity to improve their return on ad spend (ROAS) by prioritizing Bing. After all, less competition means lower costs, but not necessarily worse results. Perhaps the best feature of Bing Ads, though, is the fact that it’s simple to transfer existing Google Ads to Bing. In reality, the two platforms are very similar, and most of the principles and best practices that apply to forming effective advertisements on Google also apply to Bing.

When Does Advertising on Bing Make Sense?

Though Bing Ads are an enticing alternative to Google, they don’t always produce the results businesses crave. Still, many companies can find success through Bing Ads. Advertising on a platform like Bing makes the most sense for companies that already rely on PPC advertising –– or for those that have achieved substantial returns through Google Ads in the past. Furthermore, Bing users reflect a different demographic to people who prefer Google. (Individuals who use Bing skew slightly older, for example.) As such, if you know that large numbers of your consumer base use Bing instead of Google, it’s then a smart decision to try and engage them there.

Bing vs Google or Bing & Google

While thousands of companies advertise on Google but not Bing, it’s hard to justify creating an advertising strategy that focuses solely on Bing in place of Google. Despite the many positive elements of Bing Ads, ignoring Google Ads means turning your back on a huge percentage of consumers, and that just isn’t a good decision. Rather than thinking about picking one platform over the other, marketers should instead view Bing as a helpful, supplemental option for existing advertising campaigns.

Final Thoughts