While we should not expect miracles from it, we should certainly not underestimate Bing either. We are all familiar with the search engine, but it is far from being everyone's first choice. That is why Bing is not seen as a priority by all companies when it comes to online advertising. For most companies, Bing advertising is like shooting in the dark. And in this case, we are really talking about a missed opportunity. Bing, by and large, is not that much different from Google and also offers a lot of advantages.
Exactly which ones they are, we'll discuss them with you today. Because just like the average online marketer, Bing has not been idle either. The search engine is slowly gaining more and more ground from its main competitor Google. So as far as we are concerned, reason enough to tell you more about why you should advertise on Bing. Read on quickly.
Little competition (and thus higher reach)
At least one thing is certain: a lot of your competitors haven't even bothered to try Bing advertising yet. And where your competitors are absent, opportunities arise for you. At the same time, via Google, it is often no longer even interesting to advertise on more general keywords, because the competition on those is far too high. In Bing, on the other hand, you will only see a few advertisers on the most generic keywords. Often, that competition is not even that threatening, making it easy to stand out from your closest competitors. So enjoy all the leeway.
High click-through rate
On average, Bing Ads' click-through rate is a lot higher than its Google counterpart. To be clear, click-through rate is the number of clicks on an ad divided by the number of ad impressions. Several case studies show that this difference can be as high as 34%. It should be noted, however, that Bing and Google's ad formatting are just slightly different. But then again, 34% more clicks means a lot more conversion opportunities.
Much cheaper
Where there is less competition, prices are also automatically a lot lower. In the case of Bing Ads, the cost per click (CPC) is about 35% lower than Google's variant. Even CPCs of less than one dollar are not unusual for commonly used keywords within Bing Ads. With Google Adwords, those kinds of prices are virtually unthinkable.
Image extensions
Both on the smartphone and on the computer, our attention is mainly drawn to images. All people are the same in this respect and it is images that increase attention. And that is one of the strengths of Bing advertising. The search engine cleverly plays on this by adding image extensions to its paid search results. It has to be said that Google Adwords offers the most number of extensions. Nevertheless, these so-called image extensions by Bing will appeal to many an advertiser. By using the extension when Bing advertising, you can upload up to 6 images. These are displayed again with text below the normal ad. You can probably imagine how click-through increases this works.
Internationally active?
Admittedly, Bing does not yet have to count on a huge number of users in the Netherlands, but internationally the search engine is gaining considerable ground. Especially in the United States, Bing and Yahoo have a combined market share of 16.5%. In a country like the US, this means 51 million users. Closer to home, too, Bing is increasingly used. In the UK, for instance, 6.45% of all desktop searches are performed via Bing. In Germany, we are already at more than 11 million unique Bing users per month. Together, they perform as many as 81 million unique searches. For companies operating in these countries, Bing advertising is therefore an unmissable channel.
Bing advertising grows steadily
And especially in the form of software integrations. For instance, not only do we find Bing by default on Windows, but it is also integrated into Siri and Yahoo. Those integrations immediately create a lot of extra users. Should you work with any of these applications, you will see how the latest version of the Bing search bar is integrated. The continued collaboration between Microsoft and Yahoo has contributed significantly to the growth. For instance, it has been established that Yahoo should perform 51 per cent of all searches through Bing. All these software integrations are collectively driving more growth. The number of integrations is only expected to increase. And therefore, so will the number of searches.
Do you see opportunities?
Are Google Adwords results bothering you and are you looking for an alternative? Then we hope to have convinced you of the potential of Bing advertising. The fact that your Google ads can be conveniently integrated into Bing ensures that you can get started right away. We would be happy to tell you more about it. So take contact with us.
