Author: Amy Darnton, Paid Search Executive at Visualsoft
When we think of search engines, the first name that pops into many people's heads is Google. With a whopping 84% market share globally, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Google is the be-all and end-all of paid search marketing. But what about the remaining 16%? The biggest player here is Microsoft Ads.
In many aspects, Microsoft Ads is incredibly similar to Google Ads. They both display pay-per-click ads on search engines, and they both allow you to manage multiple campaigns using targeted strategies to reach the best customers for you and your business. But with all these similarities, why would you choose to expand into Microsoft Ads?
Here are just a few reasons why...
Untapped audiences
The biggest argument for expansion is regarding the untapped audiences within Microsoft Ads. When you advertise on Google alone, you are missing out on 677 million unique users who are searching for products every day. That’s a significant amount of potential conversions and leads going unnoticed.
When looking deeper into the demographics of these users, they differ slightly from that of competitors. The users tend to skew slightly older in age, generally reaching those over the age of 35. They are also more likely to have a higher household income, with 37% of UK searchers having a household income in the top 25%. The large majority of these users are using Bing as their sole search engine. With Microsoft Ads, you can target these users at high-intent points in their customer journey, driving valuable traffic towards your site and taking further steps to diversify your income streams.
Cross-platform + full funnel
Microsoft Ads not only serves on the search engine Bing but across a huge number of other properties. Microsoft’s ecosystem is vast and cross-platform, able to reach numerous audiences across the globe. The properties include the likes of Xbox, MSN, and Outlook. This allows retailers to advertise their products across a multi-channel network with seamless native ad placements.
Microsoft also works with a range of trusted partners such as Yahoo to target users at all points in the customer journey. The network is under continuous expansion, with the likes of Netflix signing deals with Microsoft, there is potential for an expansion in both ad types and audiences to spread the word about your products and services.
International scale
Another reason to expand in Microsoft Ads is the international scale of the platform. If you are looking for a way to cross borders with your advertising, Microsoft can help you do that with its country-specific targeting.
Within the US in particular, Bing as a search engine has a much larger market share than in other countries such as the UK, with Microsoft sites handling roughly 26% of search queries in January alone. New markets are also being introduced regularly, with recent announcements having doubled their initial offering, making now a great time to supercharge your international growth.
Top 5 tips to get started on Microsoft Ads
1. Create your Microsoft Advertising account and profile
2. Add UET and conversion tracking tags to your website
3. Import campaigns from Google Ads (Or create your own)
4. Set up your MSA Merchant Centre
5. Add billing data
To sum up, Microsoft Ads is an incredibly valuable platform that can help you scale your business and reach new heights. It’s an intuitive platform that can work in tandem with your existing Google Ads campaigns, complete with an easy import tool.
