In the world of Online Marketing, the choice of your advertising platform is of great importance. Although Google is often seen as the standard, Microsoft Bing Advertising is becoming increasingly important to enhance your company's online visibility. In recent months, Microsoft Bing Advertising has also been on a significant rise. For example, the market share within the Netherlands for Bing increased to 9.17% on desktop in March 2023. This is partly because Microsoft has invested heavily in ChatGPT. With these investments in ChatGPT, Microsoft is the first to make it possible to integrate AI into the search engine, making Microsoft increasingly interesting as a search engine. Although the market share may not seem large compared to Google, Bing still accounts for millions of searches per day. Additionally, Microsoft Advertising offers several advantages over other platforms, including lower cost per click and a less competitive market. The importance of Microsoft Bing as part of your online marketing strategy is therefore also growing. For this reason, we would like to take you through some developments regarding Microsoft Bing Advertising.
1. Local search ads
Bing Advertising has recently introduced local search ads, allowing businesses to promote their products and services to potential customers searching near a store or showroom via Microsoft. This new feature provides important business information, such as the location, phone number, and opening hours of your physical location. This is particularly suitable for businesses with physical locations.
Local search ads appear alongside other search results when someone searches on Bing for a local business. By using these ads, businesses can advertise locally and targeted to nearby customers, increasing their visibility to boost the number of store visits. To start with local search ads, location extensions must be set up.
Using local search ads is an effective way for businesses to increase their online presence and boost the number of store visits. By advertising targeted to nearby customers, businesses can stand out from competitors and attract more local customers. The ads are visible on the local results on the search engine results page and Bing Maps on desktop.
2. Category-based targeting
Microsoft has announced a new approach to search ads developed to help advertisers better reach potential customers. As is known, keyword targeting has been the method for search ads for years, but it also has its limitations. By focusing solely on keyword targeting, relevant traffic can be missed.
For this, Microsoft has developed “category-based targeting.” This category-based targeting is designed to address the limitations of keyword targeting while also leveraging the power of keywords. Category-based targeting combines categories and keywords to improve your campaign's performance. Instead of searching for specific products with search terms, people nowadays shop through multiple channels and browse through various category pages of websites. The result is that campaigns and strategies limited to targeting based solely on keywords can miss relevant traffic and potential customers.
Microsoft's new solution targets buyers by using their browsing categories and keywords to increase bids for campaigns. Through this approach, advertisers can benefit from both audience behaviors, resulting in better performance. By boosting bids with keywords, advertisers can increase their chances of converting purchase intent into sales.
Various tests by Microsoft have shown that a combination of keyword targeting and category targeting results in a 320% increase in CTR.
3. Launch of video ads
After more than a year of testing, Microsoft has made video ads available in the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. In these countries, video ads can be used to complement current search and display ads. During various tests conducted by Microsoft over the past year, it was found that adding a video to a search campaign increases the number of conversions by 50% compared to using a search campaign.
The video ads can range from 6 seconds to 2 minutes, but Microsoft advises using videos shorter than 30 seconds. Videos shorter than 30 seconds simply generate more engagement compared to longer videos. Microsoft offers the following bidding strategies for video ads:
- Optimize for impressions: bid per 1000 visible impressions. An impression is counted when a viewer has watched the video for 2 uninterrupted seconds.
- Optimize for clicks: bid per click on the video ad. A click is counted as a click when the viewer lands on your website.
- Optimize for views: bid on 1 video view. A view is counted when 1 person watches the video for at least 15 seconds or clicks on the ad.
It is expected that video ads will also be made available in the Netherlands in due course.
In addition to the above developments and innovations, Microsoft has announced more new features for the coming period. Within Microsoft Advertising, the following 2 developments are planned:
1. Update to Enhanced CPC (eCPC) within the Audience Network
Microsoft Bing Advertising has announced that from April 23, 2023, manual bidding for new campaigns within the Microsoft Audience Network will no longer be available. Instead, on April 28, the campaigns will be upgraded to Enhanced CPC (eCPC).
The goal of this change is to help advertisers compete in a dynamic advertising environment that is becoming increasingly automated. With eCPC, Microsoft Advertising can automatically adjust bids based on the likelihood of conversion, helping advertisers optimize their ad spend for users most likely to convert.
Advertisers can set a base bid that defines the highest average CPC and need do nothing further. According to performance data, Microsoft advertisers have seen lower costs per acquisition and CPC with eCPC compared to manual bidding.
This change in bidding strategy is an example of the ongoing shift towards automated and AI-driven ad optimization.
2. Professional service ads available worldwide
Over the past year, Microsoft Bing Advertising has introduced professional service ads, and this service has been made available worldwide from April 4. Microsoft Advertising offers businesses the opportunity to advertise their own services using these ads. This is relevant for, for example, law firms, accountants, and financial advisors. By using targeting options such as keywords, location, and demographic data, businesses can advertise targeted to people looking for a specific service in an area.
Additionally, Microsoft Advertising also offers ad extensions for professional services, including a “Call Now” button and a “Make an Appointment” button to make it easier for customers to contact the company directly. Image extensions can also be used to provide a visual representation of the company and the services offered.
By using these targeting options and ad extensions, advertisers can effectively advertise for professional services on Microsoft Advertising and attract more customers.
However, if you want to think bigger than just promoting your individual local agents, you can also use Professional Service Ads to promote your regional office or branch or even your national company.
If you want to learn more about all developments, updates, and possibilities within Microsoft Bing Advertising, search engine advertising or if you have another online marketing question, feel free to contact us!
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