Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads)
Microsoft's pay-per-click advertising platform spanning Bing, Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, and the Microsoft Audience Network, distinguished from Google Ads by native LinkedIn profile targeting and lower CPCs in most verticals.
Definition
Microsoft Advertising is the search and audience advertising platform operated by Microsoft, rebranded from Bing Ads in April 2019 to reflect its expansion beyond Bing search into a broader network including Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, the Microsoft Edge browser, MSN, Outlook.com, and Microsoft Start. The platform serves text ads, shopping ads, dynamic search ads, Performance Max equivalents, and native display through a Google Ads-style auction model with very similar campaign structures and bid strategies, which is why most advertisers can import existing Google campaigns with minimal rework. Reach figures vary by what's counted. Bing alone runs roughly 11-17% of US desktop search in recent Statcounter reports (gained materially through 2024 alongside Edge and Copilot adoption). The broader Microsoft search network — Bing plus syndication partners (Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia) — pushes the addressable share higher in Comscore reporting. Either way, the platform meaningfully under-indexes on mobile and over-indexes on desktop relative to Google. The audience skews older, more affluent, more educated, and more desktop-oriented than the general internet population — a profile that is disproportionately attractive for B2B, financial services, education, and considered-purchase categories. The 2016 LinkedIn acquisition gave Microsoft a unique competitive moat: LinkedIn profile attributes (company, industry, job function) can be layered into search and audience campaigns as bid modifiers, a B2B targeting capability that has no direct equivalent on Google Ads. The most-cited reason advertisers add Microsoft Advertising to their media mix is cost arbitrage. Per WordStream's 2024 search-ads benchmark and agency aggregations from Tinuiti and JumpFly, CPCs typically run 30-60% lower than equivalent Google Ads keywords because of thinner auction competition, and conversion rates on commercial intent terms are broadly comparable, which often produces a meaningfully better blended ROAS even when absolute volume is a fraction of Google's. The trade-off is reach: Microsoft will not replace Google for most accounts, but it is rarely justified to ignore it — especially for B2B, US/UK-centric brands, and accounts where Google CPCs have inflated past breakeven.
Key Points
- 1Rebranded from Bing Ads to Microsoft Advertising in April 2019 to reflect inventory beyond Bing search
- 2Bing alone runs ~11-17% US desktop search in recent Statcounter reports (notable gains through 2024 alongside Edge and Copilot adoption); the broader Microsoft search network including Yahoo/AOL/DuckDuckGo/Ecosia syndication is higher per Comscore
- 3Audience skews older, higher household income, and more desktop-heavy than Google's user base
- 4CPCs typically run 30-60% lower than Google Ads in the same verticals due to thinner auction competition (WordStream 2024; Tinuiti / JumpFly agency aggregations)
- 5LinkedIn profile targeting is the platform's defining moat and has no direct Google Ads equivalent
Examples
A US B2B SaaS company importing its Google Ads account, layering +300% bid modifiers for target industries and job functions via LinkedIn signals, and seeing a 40% lower CPA than its Google equivalent.
Context
Illustrates the canonical Microsoft Advertising value proposition: Google-quality campaign mechanics, LinkedIn-quality B2B targeting, at significantly lower CPC.
An e-commerce retailer in financial services running parallel Shopping campaigns on Google and Microsoft, finding Microsoft delivers 12% of total clicks but 18% of total revenue at a 35% lower CPC.
Context
Shows why high-AOV and considered-purchase verticals overindex on Microsoft — the audience is older and more affluent, so conversion rates and AOV often exceed Google's.
A UK retail advertiser allocating 15% of search budget to Microsoft Advertising specifically because UK Bing share is meaningfully higher than US Bing share.
Context
Demonstrates that geographic relevance matters — Microsoft is more material in UK, Canada, and Australia than in markets where Google's share is near-total.
Best Practices
- ✓Import from Google Ads as a baseline, then re-optimize creative and bids for Microsoft's older, desktop-skewed audience rather than treating it as a passive clone
- ✓Layer LinkedIn profile targeting as bid modifiers on B2B campaigns to capture professional intent without sacrificing reach
- ✓Separate search-network and Audience Network spend into distinct campaigns so performance can be measured and budgeted independently
- ✓Reassess Microsoft separately on its own ROAS rather than comparing absolute volume to Google — the value case is cost efficiency, not parity
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads), answered.
