Bing Ads Vs. Google Ads – Which Is A Better Option For Your Business?
When you have finally decided to go for PPC, it can be tricky to decide whether you should go for Google Ads or Bing Ads. Several businesses choose Google Ads as they believe their brand will reach out to millions because of the search engine’s vast reach. Many others go for Bing Ads (now known as Microsoft Advertising) because of its high profile and high-income audience. Bing is definitely not a bad investment at all. Apart from that, a large number of people generally go for both Bing and Google Ads combined because they believe it will be better for their business to make the most of both advertising giants.
When it comes to pay-per-click advertising or PPC, both Bing and Google are two of the top paid marketing platforms.
Bing is one of the most powerful search engines and has been standing tall against its rival Google for years. It is powered by Microsoft and has been working to outclass Google in every aspect. While it’s true that Google has the biggest reach, Bing has a reach of mostly qualified people who are older than 35 and earn a decent income. In other words, Bing has all the people who can pay you more.
Having a hard time deciding whether you should go for Google Ads (formerly known as Google AdWords), Microsoft Advertising, or a combination of both? Let the experts decide for you. WhiteGlove PPC’s team of digital marketing experts and PPC specialists can help you determine the best PPC marketing platform for your business. Contact us today.
The concept behind both of these advertising platforms is the same – both are two of the best paid advertising platforms. Nevertheless, there are also several differences when it comes to their specific features and there are a number of pros and cons to advertising on each platform. We will discuss specific features and differences between Microsoft Advertising and Google Ads in this post.
Bing Ads (Microsoft Advertising)
Owned and operated by Microsoft which has several search engines under its wing. These include Bing, Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo, etc. This is the best part about Microsoft Advertising – having several search engines mean when you advertise on Bing, the ads will show on all other search engines helping you gain more customers.
Google Ads (Google AdWords)
Advertising via Google Ads means your ad will reach a fairly large number of people roaming the Search Network. The Search Network includes all the ads appearing on the search engine results pages (SERPs). Besides, ads will also show on the Google Search Network (GDN). The Display Network consists of all the websites that have partnered with Google to provide AdSpace for advertisements and your display ads will appear on any one of those websites.
Google Ads vs. Bing Ads – What’s the difference?
Despite the idea behind Google Ads and Bing Ads being similar, there are certainly some differences between them. In fact, most of the time, Microsoft comes up with identical features (to Google Ads) but at a later time. Many advertisers and businesses have used both Microsoft Advertising and Google Ads and gotten varied results. We can’t simply just say that one is better or worse than the other without trying them out and conducting personal experiments.
1. Reach and Total Number of Users
When it comes to the overall reach of the platform and the total number of people using the platform, Google Ads clearly beats Microsoft Advertising. Businesses advertising on Google can get somewhat of an upper hand when it comes to reaching the masses, target audiences, and potential customers. While as we mentioned above, a majority of people using Bing are overly qualified, have a higher income level, and can pay you more.
2. Demographics
Demographics are quite an important element to consider when it comes to advertisement and marketing. When it comes to demographics, data shows that an average Google user is usually younger and people who use Bing are mostly older (35+ years old). Furthermore, we also know that Bing has a reach of people with a higher purchasing power. Many Bing users older than 45 generally have an income above a hundred thousand U.S. dollars. Demographics are also one of the significant factors playing an important role in Bing’s insane targeting capabilities.
3. Keywords
There is a keyword planner tool offered by both Bing Ads and Google Ads. The primary difference between a Google keyword planner and a Bing keyword planner tool is the traffic volume (it is very low on Bing compared to Google Ads).
4. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The click-through rate on Bing is higher than on Google Ads. This is because Yahoo and other search engines offer financial reporting.
5. Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
The number of competitors bidding on keywords on Bing Ads is comparatively fewer than on Google Ads. This means the overall traffic on Bing is lesser than Google Ads, which is ultimately why the cost-per-click on Bing Ads is comparatively lower than Google Ads.
6. Competition
Keyword bidding becomes exceptionally cost-effective on Bing than on Google Ads as there are comparatively fewer advertisers bidding on keywords and competition is less. This is one of the primary benefits of Bing Ads – having fewer competitors mean your business can successfully thrive, especially if your Google Ads competitors don’t run ads on Bing. There are higher chances of you gaining their potential customers as well.
7. Budget
The competition is quite ferocious on Google because of its huge audience. This is one of the reasons why you will need more budget for Google Ads.
8. Control at the campaign & ad group level
Bing Ads provides more granular control at the campaign and ad group levels. This can come in quite handy because it can make ad scheduling very easy to manage in Bing. For instance, you can allocate various time zones to different campaigns.
9. Targeting Capabilities
Getting your ads in front of the right audience at the right time is important. When it comes to targeting capabilities, Bing offers insane targeting capabilities compared to Google. Even though Google Ads provides more targeting options than Microsoft Advertising, Bing Ads has some exceptional benefits of its own.
10. Search Volumes
Bing Ads certainly can’t beat Google Ads when it comes to search volumes. The search volume is very low on Bing Ads, which means fewer users, and a lower chance of reaching potential customers and the target audience.
11. Ads
When it comes to ad copy, both Google Ads and Bing Ads allow a similar character limit for ads – 30 characters for the headlines and 90 for the description text. Responsive search ads are the standard text ads in Google Ads. Microsoft Advertising has followed suit and all your expanded text ads will be automatically converted to responsive search ads by December 5th, 2023. You can create several types of ads in Microsoft Advertising and Google Ads as well. These include:
Responsive search ads
Display ads
Dynamic ads
Shopping ads
12. Top of the page ranking
When it comes to making your ad appear at the top of the search engine results pages, Bing ads usually appear higher because the number of users on Bing is less compared to Google.
13. Social Extensions
Bing Ads offers far better social extensions than Google Ads. You can show the number of your followers on social media channels including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Whereas, you can show only the number of your Google+ followers by using a social extension on Google Ads.
14. Conversion Rates
Google Ads has a higher conversion rate than Bing Ads, so we can say that it takes the lead from Bing here. However, conversion rates can vary from business to business which is why the results can be different too, depending on the industry.
15. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Talking about artificial intelligence (AI), we can say that Bing is making improvements, making advancements to stay at the top of its game. Nonetheless, Google is still the boss when it comes to artificial intelligence and Bing is yet to reach its standards. This is one of the basic reasons why many advertisers and marketers prefer Google Ads over Bing Ads.
16. Strict Restrictions & Rules
Google Ads has stricter rules and regulations when it comes to your ad copy and policy violations compared to Bing.
17. Transparency
Compared to Google Ads. Bing is more transparent. Advertisers can see the sources of their traffic and details of search partners with Bing. In fact, you will get comprehensive reports on your search partners comprising all details including impressions, conversions, etc.
Google Ads vs. Bing Ads – Which is better for your business?
While it’s true that Bing is working hard to compete against Google and there are several aspects where Bing has the upper hand, it is yet to surpass Google in all aspects. A number of platforms tried competing against Google but all failed miserably because they couldn’t stand their guard against Google. However, Bing is the only worthy competitor striving to be better than Google. When it comes to determining what is better for your business, know that despite their pros and cons, neither is a substitute or replacement for the other. Whether you should use Bing Ads or Google Ads depends on your business, industry, nature of your products and services, target audience, and several other things. Google continues to dominate the PPC industry and a number of businesses are hesitant to use Bing Ads as they don’t know if Microsoft Advertising can or cannot work for all businesses.
While most advertisers go for either Microsoft Advertising or Google Ads, several others use a combination of both platforms to get the best results. We can’t discard any without experimenting and testing. There have been several times when Google Ads has worked for businesses while Microsoft Advertising and Bing Ads has done wonders for small to medium-sized businesses too. You need an expert opinion and a clear mindset to decide whether you should go for Bing Ads or Google Ads. Get in touch with our team of PPC experts to find out what’s more suitable for your business and will help you get the most results. Schedule a free consultation today.
Final Words
Both Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising are two of the fundamental search engine marketing platforms. While Google has a bigger reach and a large number of users than Bing Ads, Bing also has several features that Google lacks, or even if it has them, they are not as advanced as Google’s. If you have enough budget, you can try both to see what offers better results for you.