Microsoft Ads is the most underused paid search platform among UK businesses. While Google dominates search market share, Microsoft's Bing search network reaches a distinct and commercially valuable audience segment, delivers lower average CPCs than Google for comparable keywords, and offers unique targeting capabilities through LinkedIn audience integration that Google Ads cannot match. For UK B2B businesses in particular, Microsoft Ads deserves serious consideration as a complement to or in some cases a partial replacement for Google Ads spend.
Who Uses Bing and Why Does It Matter for UK Advertisers?
Bing powers search results on Microsoft Edge, Windows desktop search, Cortana, and Yahoo. In the UK, Bing holds approximately 6 to 10% of desktop search market share. That figure sounds small until you consider the audience characteristics.
Bing's UK audience skews older, more affluent, and more likely to be in management or senior professional roles compared to the broader Google population. It is also predominantly desktop-based, which means it over-indexes for the professional work context: searches performed on work computers during business hours rather than on mobile during commutes.
For B2B businesses, professional services firms, financial services providers, and premium consumer brands, this audience profile is highly valuable. A financial adviser, executive recruiter, or enterprise software vendor may find that Bing delivers a higher proportion of genuinely qualified prospects than the Google equivalent, even with lower overall volume.
Additionally, Microsoft Ads campaigns can reach users on LinkedIn through the Microsoft Audience Network, enabling intent-based targeting (someone searching for accounting software) combined with professional demographic targeting (filtered by job title, industry, or company size). This combination is unavailable on Google Ads.
How Do You Set Up Microsoft Ads Campaigns?
Import from Google Ads
Microsoft Ads offers a direct import feature that copies your Google Ads campaign structure, keywords, ad copy, extensions, and bidding settings into your Microsoft Ads account. This is the fastest way to get started and is the right approach for most advertisers who already have a functioning Google Ads account.
The import is not perfect: some Google Ads features have no Microsoft equivalent, and some Microsoft Ads features require manual configuration. But it provides a functional starting point in minutes rather than hours.
After importing:
- Review keyword bids and adjust downward where CPCs are typically lower (start at 70 to 80% of your Google Ads bids and optimise from there)
- Check that ad extensions have imported correctly and add Microsoft-specific extensions
- Configure conversion tracking separately (Microsoft Ads uses its own UET tag, not the Google Ads tag)
- Review and update negative keyword lists, as the Bing search query mix differs from Google
Campaign Structure
The recommended campaign structure for Microsoft Ads mirrors the Google Ads best practices:
Search campaigns: One campaign per product or service line. Ad groups by keyword theme. Three to five ads per ad group with ad copy variation to support testing. Broad and phrase match keywords with a comprehensive negative keyword list.
Audience campaigns (Microsoft Audience Network): Separate campaigns targeting Microsoft's native display and LinkedIn-integrated audiences. These campaigns function more like display advertising than search advertising and should be budgeted separately.
Shopping campaigns: For e-commerce businesses, Microsoft Shopping campaigns work similarly to Google Shopping, pulling product data from a Merchant Centre feed. Microsoft Merchant Centre accepts the same feed format as Google Merchant Centre, making setup straightforward.
Conversion Tracking
Microsoft Ads uses the Universal Event Tracking (UET) tag for conversion measurement. Install the UET tag on every page of your site and configure conversion goals in your Microsoft Ads account. Like Google Ads, you can track form submissions, phone calls, ecommerce purchases, and other goal completions.
Do not rely on Google Ads conversion data for Microsoft Ads optimisation. The two platforms have separate tracking, and importing Google's conversion data into Microsoft Ads is not accurate for bid optimisation purposes.
What Are Microsoft Ads' Unique Targeting Capabilities?
LinkedIn Profile Targeting
Microsoft Ads offers the ability to layer LinkedIn profile data onto search campaigns through the Microsoft Audience Network. This means you can target users based on:
- Company name: Target employees of specific companies
- Job function: Reach people in marketing, finance, operations, technology, etc.
- Industry: Target professionals in healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, etc.
- Job title: Reach VPs, directors, C-suite executives, or specific role titles
- Company size: Filter by small businesses, mid-market, or enterprise organisations
This targeting is applied to display-style native ads through the Microsoft Audience Network rather than to standard search ads. It is most valuable for B2B advertisers who want to reach specific professional segments rather than simply anyone who searches a relevant keyword.
For example, an enterprise HR software vendor could run Microsoft Audience Network campaigns specifically targeting HR Directors and People Operations VPs at companies with 500+ employees. This level of professional targeting is not available on Google's display or search network.
Remarketing and Customer Match
Microsoft Ads supports remarketing through UET tag audiences (visitors who have performed specific actions on your site) and customer match (uploading lists of email addresses to target existing customers or lookalike audiences). These capabilities are equivalent to Google Ads remarketing.
In-Market Audiences
Microsoft Ads provides in-market audience segments (users who have been identified as actively researching specific product or service categories) that can be applied as bid adjustments to search campaigns. These are similar to Google's in-market audiences and are a useful signal layer for optimising bids by user intent.
How Do Microsoft Ads Costs Compare to Google Ads?
Average CPCs on Microsoft Ads are typically 20 to 40% lower than Google Ads for comparable keywords. The exact differential varies significantly by industry and keyword:
- In high-competition legal and financial services keywords, the saving can be substantial
- In lower-competition local service keywords, the differential is smaller
- In e-commerce categories, the difference varies by product type and competition level
Lower CPCs mean lower cost per click, but not necessarily lower cost per conversion. If your conversion rate is lower on Microsoft Ads than Google Ads (which is common if the Microsoft audience is smaller or less precisely matched to your product), the CPA may be comparable even with lower CPCs.
Run Microsoft Ads for 60 to 90 days before making definitive ROI comparisons. The smaller data volume means you need more time to accumulate statistically significant conversion data than you would on Google Ads.
What Are the Most Common Microsoft Ads Mistakes?
Treating it as a set-and-forget platform: Microsoft Ads requires the same active management as Google Ads. Regular search term reviews, bid adjustments, A/B ad testing, and quality score monitoring are all necessary for sustained performance.
Forgetting to add negative keywords from the Microsoft search terms report: Bing's query mix is different from Google's. Negative keywords that worked on Google may not cover all the irrelevant queries Bing generates. Review your Microsoft search terms report separately in the first month and build a Bing-specific negative keyword list.
Not installing the UET tag correctly: Without accurate conversion tracking, you cannot optimise your campaigns intelligently. Verify UET tag installation with Microsoft's Tag Inspector and confirm conversion goals are registering before launching campaigns.
Ignoring the Microsoft Audience Network: The LinkedIn targeting capabilities are underused even by sophisticated Microsoft Ads advertisers. If you are a B2B business, at least test Audience Network campaigns targeting your ideal professional audience before dismissing them.
Setting budgets too low for meaningful data: Microsoft Ads campaigns need sufficient budget to generate enough clicks and conversions for statistical significance. A £50 per month Microsoft Ads budget in a B2B context will rarely generate enough data to draw conclusions. Start at a level where you expect at least 50 to 100 clicks per week.
Dynamically manages Microsoft Ads campaigns for UK businesses alongside Google Ads as part of our paid search service. If you want to explore what Bing's audience could deliver for your business, get in touch for a paid search review.
