For businesses looking to drive growth through paid search advertising, two platforms stand out – Bing Ads and Google Ads. With 93% market share, Google has dominated the search engine landscape for years. However, Bing Ads still attracts 150 million monthly active users, providing another potential avenue for connecting with audiences.
So, How do you determine the right Google revenue strategy focus for your Bing Ads and Google Ads campaigns? Should you prioritize Google Ads or split your focus between Bing Ads and Google Ads? In this comprehensive guide, we’ll compare the key differences between the two platforms and provide recommendations for capitalising on both.
Bing Ads vs Google Ads: Which Should You Prioritise?
Reaching Massive Audiences with Google Ads
The sheer scale of Google is hard to overstate – over 3.5 billion searches are conducted globally each day. For most advertisers, Google Ads is essential for reaching the broadest possible audiences most efficiently.
Some compelling reasons to prioritize Google Ads over Bing Ads include:
- 90%+ market share – Google handles nearly all searches in most regions and demographics.
- More search volume – On average, search volume is 4x higher on Google for any given term compared to Bing Ads.
- Broader reach – Google indexes significantly more web pages than Bing, enabling more avenues for your ads.
- Advanced automation – AI powered Google Ads offers robust capabilities for optimizing campaigns.
Debenhams focuses the majority (around 80%) of paid search budget on Google Shopping and Search campaigns. The expansive reach enables them to drive high volumes of traffic to support multi-million pound revenues.
Why Bing Ads Still Matter
However, focusing solely on Google Ads means missing opportunities to engage the 150 million global Bing Ads users each month. Here are some key reasons to incorporate Bing Ads alongside Google Ads:
- Untapped audiences – Bing Ads attracts specific demographics less active on Google like older users.
- Lower competition – Cost-per-click for keywords is up to 70% less than Google Ads.
- Unique intent data – Microsoft Audience Network allows targeting based on search queries from Outlook, Skype and more.
- Flexible budgets – Minimum daily budget is just £1, allowing small businesses to test Bing Ads cost-effectively.
ITG used Bing Ads to target the Albanian diaspora globally, resulting in a 21% increase in conversions from this niche audience. The minimal budget requirements made testing the Bing Ads platform accessible.
Evaluating Keyword Search Volume Differences
The search volume gap between the two paid search platforms is one of the most significant differentiators.
For example:
- “Hotel deals” – 73,000 monthly searches on Google Ads vs. 8,100 on Bing Ads (9x higher on Google Ads)
- “Online banking” – 246,000 vs. 24,600 (10x higher on Google Ads)
- “Fitness classes” – 110,000 vs. 22,200 (5x higher on Google Ads)
This pattern holds true for the vast majority of keywords. Going after high search volume terms usually relies on Google Ads to provide necessary scale. However, incorporating Bing Ads can still be very effective for:
- Long tail keywords with lower competition
- Geotargeting smaller regions
- Certain demographics not on Google Ads
- New products with minimal search history
Comparing Advertising Costs Between Bing Ads and Google Ads
Paid search campaigns hinge on getting the most conversions and ROI from your ppc advertising spend. When it comes to costs, Bing Ads offers significantly lower CPCs and CPAs across the board compared to Google Ads.
Some representative examples of cost differences:
- CPC for “web page design services” – $1.20 Google Ads vs $0.35 Bing Ads
- CPA for “fitness equipment” – $42 Google Ads vs $19 Bing Ads
- CPC for “financial advisor” – $2.30 Google Ads vs $1.10 Bing Ads
The increased competition on Google Ads drives up pricing for clicks and conversions. Lower demand on Bing Ads enables more budget-friendly marketing.
However, Google’s scale means that despite higher costs, the overall return on ad spend is often still higher than Bing Ads simply due to volume. But incorporating Bing Ads certainly helps maximize overall ROI.
Do you know? even though Ads have high potential, lack of SEO will over spend your ad budget without any conversion. Check our beginners guide to SEO
Bing Ads Provides More Nimble Management
Google Ads interface and feature set have evolved over 20+ years, resulting in very granular but complex management. Bing Ads provides a more streamlined experience:
- Simpler campaign hierarchy
- Less cluttered interface
- Single dashboard for managing search and display networks
- Built-in visual graph editor for site link extensions
This enables new advertisers to ramp up Bing Ads campaigns quickly. The more intuitive ad group controls also facilitate nimbler optimisation. Bing Ads also has a “sandbox” environment for testing without impacting live campaigns.
However, Google Ads offers in-depth analytics, audience insights, attribution, and automation capabilities unmatched by Bing Ads. There are trade-offs for both platforms management capabilities and limitations.
Should You Prioritize Bing or Google Ads?
So taking all the factors above into account, How should businesses prioritize between Bing Ads vs Google Ads?
For most advertisers, Google Ads will provide the largest volumes and returns due to its extensive reach and advanced optimizations. Google Ads should take priority in the paid search budget. Check here to know more about, What is Google Ads?
However, incorporating Bing Ads can expand your audience targeting and offer more affordable testing opportunities. The added scale and lower costs merit allocating at least 15-20% of paid search budgets to Bing Ads.
Evaluate keyword search volume patterns between Google Ads and Bing Ads to identify opportunities. Adjust budgets between the two platforms based on return on ad spend over time.
How UTDS Optimal Choice Can Help Maximize Your Paid Search ROI
As your paid search partner, UTDS Optimal Choice develops data-driven Bing Ads and Google Ads strategies tailored to your business goals. Our comprehensive management services include:
- Detailed keyword research identifying high-potential search terms on Google Ads and Bing Ads
- Ongoing split testing of ad variations and landing pages
- Monitoring of account performance to optimize between platforms
- Leveraging unique Bing Audiences to reach untapped segments
- Implementing AI-driven automation for Google Ads campaigns
- Competitive analysis to adjust budgets between platforms
- Seamless cross-channel attribution and analytics
Want to maximize your paid search results across Bing Ads and Google Ads? Contact Us Now.
Most businesses should prioritize Google Ads due to its larger audience and advanced automation, but incorporating Bing Ads can help expand your reach and lower costs. Allocate at least 15-20% of paid search budget to Bing.
Google has a significantly larger search volume and audience. Bing offers lower competition, better budget flexibility, and simpler campaign management. Google has more robust analytics and automation capabilities.
Utilizing both Google and Bing Paid Search provides wider exposure to different audiences. Start with Google Ads as the priority then expand to Bing to diversify targeting and lower costs.
Bing Ads offers lower average CPCs and CPAs, often 50-70% less than the same keywords and targeting on Google Ads. Less competition means better pricing.
Bing Ads can be very effective for long tail, low volume keywords that are too expensive to target on Google. Less competition makes these keywords more viable.
Google Ads offers robust automation capabilities unmatched by Bing. But Bing provides a simpler interface and configuration that can benefit newer advertisers.
Generally yes, though you may want to customize elements like call extensions for each platform. Monitor performance indicators to refine keywords and creatives for Google vs Bing.
