Paid Advertising
Microsoft (Bing) Ads
Smaller, cheaper, and ignored by most of your competitors. That last part is why it is worth the hour a week.
Microsoft Ads run on Bing, Yahoo and the search built into Windows and Edge. The Nexclick treats it as a genuine channel rather than a Google import left running, because the audience skews older and wealthier and the clicks routinely cost a fraction of the same terms on Google.
Is this you?
What usually prompts the call
- You have never run Microsoft Ads and cannot say why not.
- Your account is a Google import from two years ago that nobody has touched since.
- You sell to an older or corporate audience and advertise only on Google.
- Your Google costs per click have risen and you have no alternative channel.
What we do
The actual deliverables
Things that appear on an invoice, not adjectives.
- Import, then diverge
- Importing from Google is the sensible start and the wrong finish. Bid levels, match behaviour and audience response differ enough that a permanently mirrored account leaves money on the table within weeks.
- Re-bid to the actual auction
- Competition here is thinner, so bids inherited from Google sit far above what a position actually costs. Resetting them to this auction is usually the single largest saving available.
- Use the targeting Google does not have
- LinkedIn profile targeting by company, industry and job function is built into Microsoft Ads. For B2B advertisers that is a genuine advantage with no Google equivalent whatsoever.
- Account for who is actually searching
- Microsoft search skews older, more corporate and more desktop. Copy and landing pages written for a mobile-first consumer audience underperform here for reasons that have nothing to do with bidding.
- Monitor the shopping feed separately
- Microsoft Shopping runs from its own Merchant Center. Feeds can be imported but disapprovals here go unnoticed for months, because almost nobody thinks to look at this dashboard.
- Maintain negative lists separately
- Query patterns differ from Google, so a negative list copied across is a starting point rather than a finished job. The search terms report still needs reading on its own terms.
- Watch the syndicated search partners
- Traffic from partner sites varies in quality and is separable in reporting. Worth reviewing deliberately rather than accepting silently as part of the overall total.
- Report against Google honestly
- Volume will be a fraction of Google’s and always will be. The right comparison is cost per acquisition rather than volume, and on that measure Microsoft frequently wins outright.
Comparison
Microsoft against Google — what genuinely differs
Most of the interface looks identical, which is precisely why imported accounts get left running unchanged for years. These are the differences that actually change what you should do.
| Aspect | How it differs | What to do about it |
|---|---|---|
| Search volume | A modest fraction of Google in the UK | Judge on cost per acquisition, never on volume |
| Cost per click | Frequently well below Google for the same term | Re-bid to this auction instead of importing bids |
| Audience | Skews older, more desktop, more corporate | Check the copy and landing pages suit that reader |
| B2B targeting | LinkedIn company, industry and job function | Layer it on — Google has no equivalent at all |
| Search partners | Syndicated traffic of variable quality | Report separately, and exclude if it underperforms |
| Shopping feed | Separate Merchant Center, separate disapprovals | Monitor it — failures go unnoticed here for months |
| Smart bidding | Needs more data to settle at lower volume | Stay manual or enhanced for longer than on Google |
| Competitive density | Far fewer advertisers in most categories | The whole reason this is worth an hour a week |
How it works
Step by step, with timeframes
Timeframes are typical rather than guaranteed, and they assume we get account access and approvals when we ask.
- 01Week 1
Import and audit
Google campaigns imported as a base, then reviewed line by line for everything that should not have carried across.
- 02Week 1–2
Diverge and re-bid
Bids reset to the real auction, negatives adapted to local query patterns, and Microsoft-only targeting layered on where it applies.
- 03Week 2–4
Launch and monitor
Live, with search partner traffic reported separately from the first day so its quality is visible rather than blended away.
- 04Ongoing, monthly
Manage
Negatives maintained on a lighter cadence than Google given the volume, with monthly reporting against cost per acquisition.
What you get
Reporting and ownership
- An account that diverged from the Google import rather than mirroring it indefinitely.
- Bids reset to the actual Microsoft auction rather than inherited from a denser one.
- LinkedIn profile targeting applied where you sell to businesses.
- Search partner traffic reported separately, so its quality is visible.
- Reporting on cost per acquisition against Google rather than on volume.
Tools and platforms
- Microsoft Advertising and Microsoft Advertising Editor
- Microsoft Merchant Center
- LinkedIn profile targeting inside Microsoft Ads
- Universal Event Tracking
- GA4 for cross-channel comparison
Timeline
How long this actually takes
Two weeks to import, diverge and launch, then it runs on a lighter management cadence than Google because the volume is lower. Expect a fraction of Google’s traffic — Microsoft holds a modest share of UK search — and frequently a better cost per acquisition on the same terms, because the auction is thinner. Two honest notes. If your Google account is not yet running properly, fix that first: Microsoft is a supplement, not a substitute. And the volume genuinely is small. If you need a step change in enquiries this quarter, this will not deliver it. What it delivers is a useful slice of cheaper conversions from an audience most of your competitors are not bidding against at all.
Pricing model
Monthly retainer
Normally a smaller line inside a wider paid search retainer, since the account needs less time than Google. Available standalone where Microsoft genuinely is your main channel.
Questions
Microsoft (Bing) Ads questions
Is Microsoft Ads worth running at all?
For most advertisers already running Google properly, yes. The volume is small but the clicks are cheaper and the competition thinner, so cost per acquisition is often better. It is a supplement rather than a growth channel, and it costs little time once diverged from the import.
Can we just import our Google campaigns?
As a starting point, yes, and it is the sensible way to begin. As a permanent arrangement, no — imported bids are calibrated to a much denser auction, so you overpay from day one. The import saves you the build; it does not save you the management.
How much traffic should we expect compared to Google?
A modest fraction, varying by sector — higher in B2B, corporate and older demographics, lower in anything young and mobile. Set the expectation before launch, because a channel delivering a small share of Google’s volume looks like a failure to anyone who was not told.
What is LinkedIn profile targeting in Microsoft Ads?
The ability to layer company, industry and job function onto search campaigns, drawn from LinkedIn data. It is genuinely unique — you can bid more on somebody searching a generic term who happens to work at a target company. For B2B advertisers it is the main reason to be here.
Should we exclude search partner traffic?
Review it before deciding. Partner inventory is cheaper and sometimes converts perfectly well; sometimes it is noticeably worse. It is reportable separately, so this is a question with a real answer in your own data rather than a matter of general advice.
Does Microsoft Shopping need its own feed?
It has its own Merchant Center, though the feed can be imported from Google. The catch is disapprovals — they surface in a dashboard nobody has open, so products can sit unadvertised for months. Monitoring it is a small recurring job that repays itself.
Does smart bidding work on Microsoft?
It does, but it needs conversion volume to settle, and volume here is lower by definition. On smaller accounts manual or enhanced bidding often performs better for longer than it would on Google. Moving to full automation too early is a common and quietly expensive mistake.
Last reviewed 28 July 2026.
Tell us what you are trying to fix
A 20-minute call, no pitch deck. The Nexclick will tell you what we would do, roughly what it costs, and whether we are the right people for it.