Microsoft Ads

How it works

The ecosystem has three parts. The first is the search network: Bing plus partner search engines such as Yahoo and DuckDuckGo, which show ads from Microsoft Ads. The second is Copilot: ads from search, shopping and Performance Max campaigns also appear in the assistant’s answers, in the markets where Microsoft has switched this on. The third is the Microsoft Audience Network, meaning native and display ads on MSN, in Outlook, in the Edge browser and on partner sites. In some markets, including the US, the UK, Germany and France, you can also target by LinkedIn profile data: company, industry and job function. No other search advertising platform offers this, although it isn’t yet available for audiences in Poland. Shops connect their product feed through Microsoft Merchant Center, and Performance Max brings all these placements together in one campaign. You can build campaigns from scratch or import them from Google Ads as a starting point.

Example: a Microsoft Ads campaign budgetExample

CPC

€1.50

×Clicks

1,000

=Budget

€1,500

×Conversion rate 4%

40 enquiries

=Cost per enquiry

approx. €38

Figures are illustrative.

What it means for you

Microsoft Ads reaches people at their computers, often at work: Bing is the default search engine in Windows and Edge, and Outlook and MSN are part of the everyday office routine. There’s less competition than in Google Ads, and US market benchmarks put the average click at roughly a third cheaper. If you sell B2B abroad, LinkedIn profile targeting gets you in front of decision-makers through a different and usually cheaper route than LinkedIn Ads.

From our accounts

Campaigns imported from Google Ads as they are usually overpay, because Google bids are set for tougher competition. After importing, we switch off automatic bid syncing and build negative keyword lists for the queries that bring different traffic on Bing.