In a world where Google dominates, many businesses forget about the other search engine vehicles and the tools available to utilize them. One of these tools is Bing Ads. Google Adwords can do a lot for paid search and clicks, but to see true results and reach all of your customer base, Bing is the answer.
If you think no one is using Bing for searches or advertising, you are wrong. According to Search Engine People, 15 million unique searches on the Yahoo! Bing Network are reached through Bing Ads. Additionally, it has been revealed that the cost-per-click (CPC) on Bing Ads is 42% less than on Google Adwords and that Google has double, and sometimes triple, the competition than Bing according to Search Engine Land. This means not only is Bing more friendly for your advertising budget, but your business has a higher chance of seeing success thanks to the lower competition on keywords. If your target audience is for people who are 35 and older, who make over $75K per year, who attended college and most of which are female, then Bing is definitely a place you want to be. These are the stats for the majority of Bing’s search demographic.
To run successful campaigns on Bing to reach the high volume of searches, there are a few tricks and secrets to know about.
Import Campaigns from Google Adwords
The first secret is the one that will save you the most time. Instead of setting up a campaign on Google Adwords and taking the time to set up a completely new one with the same search criteria on Bing Ads, why not import your Adwords campaign into Bing’s platform? In the main navigation bar in Bing Ads, you can choose the “Import Campaigns” drop down menu and choose to import either from a file or from Adwords itself. This can save you time while still delivering double the results you will see from using Adwords alone.
Use Campaign Planner to See Competition
Unlike Google where you have to use outside tools to see exactly what your competitors are doing, the Campaign Planner on Bing Ads takes the mystery out of what your competition is doing. The Campaign Planner will allow you to see how your search position and ad product is doing against competitors and it allows you to see the exact advertiser who is bidding on your same keyword. Insights are available by product, vertical, and keyword. For seasonal planning, Campaign Planner provides trends’ year-over-year performance, device targeting, and search volume.
Take Advantage of New Universal Event Tracking
To compete with Google Adwords, Bing Ads launched the Universal Event Tracking (UET) which allows you to set ad goals and track their progress and success. Previously, this was a conversion tracking feature in Campaign Analytics. The UET gives you four options for your campaign goals – Destination URL, Duration, Pages Viewed Per Visit, and Custom Event. UET can track multiple devices that belong to the same user and can provide information on the kind of engagement your keywords are receiving on your website. Expect the UET tool to expand in the future to see remarketing capabilities.
Still Use Google Adwords
While Bing provides many benefits to your search marketing success, it is important not to abandon Google. Bing makes up 20% of search traffic with much of the remainder on Google. Instead of leaving Google, follow these three steps to join your Google and Bing advertising efforts:
- See what campaigns are performing well on Google Adwords and move them over to Bing Ads. They will perform at a similar level and often can perform better.
- Look at your Google Analytics and see where most of your search traffic is coming from. If you are seeing an increase from Bing traffic or that certain keywords are doing better in directing website clicks from Bing instead of Google, then amp up the spend on those keywords and get rid of them from Google Adwords.
- Experiment with new keyword campaigns on Bing first. If they see great success, try them out on Google Adwords.