So, this is a tough question to answer – which is exactly why we are here to help you navigate the answer!
Microsoft Advertising, previously known as Bing Advertising, seems to always be second string to Google Ads. No offense to Bing, but most people assume that more people use Google when it comes to everyday searches. This inference is statistically backed up - according to Statista, in February 2021, Bing accounted for 6.7% of the global search market, while Google took 86.6%.
So, does this mean you should not be advertising on Microsoft? No…but you should be aware of a new layout change on the platform that has been implemented within the last year.
We are going to take you through two examples:
Example One:
Let’s say you are a new restaurant in New York City and are wanting to attract customers in your area. You have added the keyword “restaurants near me” into your strategy because after looking at Google trends you know users are going to search for this.
Now look what happens when someone puts that search into Microsoft Advertising:
There are no paid ads at the top! They have automatically created this “listicle” with images for you. So, then you may have expected for there to be paid ads at the top of the search page…think again! The first 10 ads are organic, and the first paid ad does not appear until spot 11!
Of course, this could have been a coincidence, but we did do this same search on different days, as well as different times and this same thing happened each time.
So, you may ask yourself, would you want to pay for an ad that shows up in spot number 11? Well, that is up to you!
At HEEDGROUP, we are proponents of putting yourself out there on all platforms in order to have a holistic digital marketing campaign, but at the same time, if you are limited by budget, this may not be ideal for you and your business.
Example Two:
Now, let’s say you are an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) company. If you have the search term “top erp systems for small business”, this is what happens when a user searches for that:
Once again, you see the listicle of images at the very top, however, there is a paid ad that is showing up directly under it, which is what we love to see.
So, the answer to the question first posed is this – it depends on what your business is!
Do your research before coming up with a Microsoft Advertising strategy in order to see where and how your ads will appear. Will they appear in spot number 11, or do they have a chance of showing up at the top of the page?