If you’re a B2B marketer and you’ve got a steady flow of good quality leads from Google PPC and you’re not yet using Bing: you’re missing out!
TLDR: Bing offers the following advantages over Google:
- The cost per click (CPC) on Bing Ads is usually lower than Google Ads. There are more advertisers on Google Ads, which means that the competition is greater, thus the auction prices are higher. This means Bing often drives a much better return on AdSpend (ROAS) than Google.
- Great targeting towards B2B buyers as it’s preinstalled on many office desktops.
- Over 27% market share in the US with a strong presence in China: a market Google doesn’t cover.
- LinkedIn Job profile retargeting can be used in Bing but not Google
- First to discover the amazing capabilities of ChatGPT as it gets rolled into Bing search.
At a global level Google has 85% of all global searches in Jan 2023 and Bing 9% so it’s definitely the smaller cousin to Google in the search space but with some strong targeting features and good coverage of the world’s largest 2 economies.
Over 27% market share in the US with a strong presence in China: a market Google doesn’t cover
Looking at Bing’s web visits by country China is the strongest market with 30.52% of all Bing visits from China with Google pulling out of China, Bing is a great way to enter the world’s second-largest economy.
Why is this? Microsoft has pre-installed the Bing search engine across Windows 10 and 11 and it runs on 1.4 billion devices globally. It is often installed in workplace desktop devices which makes it the default search engine for B2B buyers searching for new products and services in the office. It is also the default search engine for keyword search within Microsoft email or documents, Skype and Teams as well as the Xbox. Voice search is also powered by Bing in Cortana and Alexa and search players such as Yahoo, Duck Duck Go and Ecosia all use the Bing back-end search engine.
Great targeting towards B2B buyers as it’s preinstalled on many office desktops
This office-based worker bias also means Bing reaches a great buying audience for B2B marketers to target and targeting them when they are in office and in B2B product and services researching mode. Bing users have the following bias vs Google’s users:
- More educated
- More affluent
- Slightly more mature: 45+ audience on average vs Googles average at 38 years
Better ROAS than Google and especially for B2B marketers
Many B2B advertisers just focus on Google search as it represents the highest volume opportunity in many markets and this means that Bing offers lower CPC’s than Google and therefore a higher ROAS.
This is because both Google and Bing use an auction model with advertiser revenues, As advertiser demand for Bing is less than audience supply for many B2B categories then CPC’s are lower than Google. Result!
LinkedIn Job profile retargeting can be used in Bing but not Google
Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016 and started to roll out LinkedIn targeting to Bing search in 2020. According to Microsoft it can only be used on Bing campaigns targeting the following markets: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France and Germany.
LinkedIn profile targeting is available for search campaigns, dynamic search ad campaigns, Microsoft Shopping Campaigns, and audience campaigns.
B2B marketers can target prospects based on their:
- Company, such as Microsoft, British Airways or TikTok
- Industry, such as finance, broadcast media, or law enforcement
- Job function, such as marketing, sales, accounting, or purchasing
This is an amazing development: here’s our post on how we love Paid Search and LinkedIn retargeting as a smart B2B marketing tactic.
First to discover the amazing capabilities of ChatGPT as it gets rolled into Bing search
And finally, you will get to try the new ChatGPT integration into Bing first-hand and see what the future of search looks like and what it can do for your marketing performance.
Microsoft will focus on launching the new AI GPT large language model tools first within Bing. As an advertiser, we think this will reduce CPCs on Bing even further and drive some healthy competition into the market.
What do Bing Ads and Google Ads have in common?
- PPC advertising: Both Bing Ads and Google Ads use PPC advertising, which means that the advertiser only pays when a user clicks on the ad.
- Keyword Advertising: Both Bing Ads and Google Ads allow advertisers to target specific keywords that users search for on search engines.
- Audience targeting: Both Bing Ads and Google Ads allow advertisers to target specific audiences based on factors such as geographic location, gender, age, and interests.
- Ad texts and formats: Both Bing Ads and Google Ads allow different ad formats, e.g. text ads, image ads and video ads.
Should you advertise on both Google and Bing?
Yes, it can be a good strategy to advertise on both Google and Bing as it can increase the visibility of your ads and you can reach a larger audience.
Advertising on both platforms can also help you compare performance between the two platforms and optimise your ad strategy.
By testing and comparing the results, you can find out which platform gives you the best results and adjust your strategy accordingly.
By advertising on both search engines, you ensure that your competitors do not take potential customers away from you.
In Summary
Bing has less market share of overall searches than Google but it has some great B2B targeting capabilities as its strength is in office desktop search and LinkedIn; is strong in the US and China with CPC’s often less than Google’s.
This often ensures it drives greater Return on AdSpend than Google Search on any B2B marketing plan providing good results for your business.
