If your Google Ads account already brings in enquiries or sales at a cost you are happy with, the next sensible question is where else people search for the same things. For most UK businesses the answer is Bing, along with the search engines that show Bing’s ads. Microsoft Advertising, still widely called Bing Ads, is how you reach them.
This page explains what that second account adds, who it is worth the effort for, and how I would set it up and manage it alongside the Google Ads services you may already be using.
What Microsoft Advertising adds to a Google Ads account
Microsoft search ads appear on Bing, on Yahoo, on AOL and on DuckDuckGo, and in Microsoft’s own products such as Edge and the Copilot assistant. Bing is the default search engine in Edge and in the Windows search box, so many of its users are searching on a work computer during office hours. That matters if you sell to other businesses, or to customers who research big purchases at a desk rather than on a phone.
The audience is smaller than Google’s, so it will not replace your main account. What it can do is add conversions from people your Google campaigns never see, sometimes in an auction with fewer of your competitors bidding. Whether that means cheaper enquiries for you is something your own account has to show, and I would not assume it before there is real data.
Who it suits, and who should wait
It tends to suit businesses that:
- already have Google search campaigns with conversion tracking you trust;
- are limited by search volume on Google rather than by budget, so more spend there only buys weaker clicks;
- sell to businesses or professionals who research suppliers from a work computer rather than a phone;
- sell high-value products or services, where a handful of extra customers a month covers the cost of running a second account.
I would suggest waiting if your Google account does not yet produce enquiries at a cost that works, or if you cannot tell which campaigns are producing them. Copying an account that is not working into a second platform doubles the problem. In that case the better first step is fixing the Google side through ongoing Google Ads management, then adding Microsoft once the numbers are sound.
What the work covers
An import that is checked, not copied
Microsoft’s import tool can bring a Google Ads account across in minutes: campaigns, keywords, ads and most assets. It is a good starting point and a poor finishing point. Bids, budgets, location settings and network choices all come across as they were set for Google’s auction, and several of them need changing before the account goes live. I import, then review every campaign line by line.
Tracking with the UET tag, after consent
Google’s tag does nothing for Microsoft. The account needs Microsoft’s own Universal Event Tracking (UET) tag and its own conversion goals. Because UET sets advertising cookies, UK GDPR and PECR mean it should fire only after a visitor has accepted marketing cookies, and I set it up that way through your consent banner using Microsoft’s support for consent mode. For businesses that close sales by phone or in person, I can also feed qualified leads back as offline conversions, so bidding learns from real customers rather than form fills. Before any budget is spent, every conversion goal is tested with a real submission, in the same way I describe in how to check your conversion tracking works.
Targeting Google does not offer
The feature that sets Microsoft apart for B2B advertisers is LinkedIn profile targeting. You can raise or lower bids for searchers by their company, industry or job function, using a bid adjustment on an ordinary search campaign. A software firm can bid more for someone in finance at a large company and less for a student typing the same words. If you also run search ads to business buyers, my notes on Google Ads for B2B suppliers cover the parts that apply to both platforms.
Campaign types
- Search campaigns. The core of most accounts, built from your proven Google keywords and ad copy, then adjusted for Bing’s audience.
- Shopping campaigns. For online shops, shopping ads run from a product feed in Microsoft Merchant Center, which can usually be built from the feed you already send to Google.
- Performance Max. Used only once the account has enough conversion data for automated bidding to work from, and judged against the search and shopping campaigns it overlaps with.
- Audience ads. Display-style ads across Microsoft’s audience network, including MSN and Outlook.com. I mostly use these for remarketing to people who have already visited your site.
How I run it
- Check fit. I look at your Google Ads results, your tracking and your sector, and tell you plainly whether a Microsoft account is likely to be worth it.
- Set up tracking first. UET goes in behind your consent banner, conversion goals are created and every goal is tested.
- Import and rebuild. I import the campaigns that already work on Google, then correct bids, locations, networks and exclusions for Microsoft.
- Launch on modest budgets. The first weeks are about learning which searches convert on this platform, not about spending as much as possible.
- Manage each month. I work through the search terms report, adjust bids and budgets, test new ads and report what each campaign cost per enquiry or sale.
Problems that turn up in imported accounts
- Google-level bids. Imported bids reflect Google’s prices. Where Microsoft clicks are cheaper, that means overpaying from the first day.
- Broad location settings. The default location targeting option includes people who show interest in your area as well as those in it. A London plumber does not want clicks from someone in Leeds reading about London.
- Syndicated partners left switched on. Ads can run on partner sites beyond Bing, Yahoo and AOL. Some of that traffic is fine; some is not, and it needs checking by site.
- Scheduled imports overwriting changes. A recurring import from Google can quietly undo edits made in Microsoft. I either switch it off or limit what it is allowed to change.
- Missing exclusions. Account-wide negative keywords and audience exclusions do not always carry across, so irrelevant searches slip through.
- Auto-applied recommendations. Microsoft can apply its own suggestions automatically, such as broader keywords or higher budgets. I review that setting on day one.
A campaign is only as good as the page it sends people to. If your landing pages are slow on desktop or bury the enquiry form, I may suggest a landing page built for paid traffic before spend increases.
What you receive
- A short written view on whether Microsoft Advertising suits your business, before any setup work starts.
- A Microsoft Advertising account that you own, with me added as a manager, and billing that goes from your card or invoice account straight to Microsoft.
- UET tracking that respects consent, with every conversion goal tested and documented.
- A regular report, at an interval agreed before work starts, showing spend, conversions and cost per conversion by campaign, set next to your Google Ads figures so you can compare the two.
- A note of what I changed in each period and why.
Fees and next step
Ad spend is paid directly to Microsoft and is separate from my fee. My fee for setting up and managing the account is quoted in GBP after a first call, once I have seen your Google Ads account, and agreed in writing before work starts. When I already manage your Google Ads account, much of the ongoing work overlaps, because the two accounts share keywords, ads and landing pages.
If you would like to know whether a Microsoft account is worth adding to what you already run, get in touch to book a consultation. Send me a recent Google Ads performance summary and I will tell you honestly whether I think it would pay.