When you think of pay per click (PPC) advertising you most likely think of Google and its AdWords program. In business since 2000, AdWords is the king of PPC advertising and the first choice for many businesses.
There is, though, another option when it comes to paying for ad clicks. Bing, one of the original big three search engines along with Google and Yahoo, has its own pay per click program called Bing Ads. While Bing has undergone a number of transformations over the years, including changing its name, its search partners and its underlying search technology, it still has a 34% share of the desktop searches in the U.S. In fact, five billion searches occur on Bing and its partner properties every month.
What this means is that if you are not advertising on Bing through its Bing Ads PPC program, then you are missing out on a huge opportunity. It might be hard to believe, but not everyone “Googles” when they want to find something online. Vast numbers of people use other options, including Bing.
The Bing Ads interface offers many of the same features as the AdWords interface. Campaigns and ad groups are set up in similar ways. You can choose your keywords, negative keywords, match types, bid amounts and ad placements about the same as you would in AdWords. You can also include ad extensions, set your ads to run on a schedule, establish remarketing campaigns and more. Bing Ads offers live chat, too, if you need assistance with your ads or have an issue with your account.
Many advertisers also find that Bing Ads costs are lower than AdWords costs, primarily because the competition is not as fierce on Bing as it is on Google. Depending on the industry and other factors, a plum keyword phrase in Bing Ads might cost half as much as with Google AdWords.
So while Bing Ads might not have the reach of AdWords, it still offers a much of what AdWords does and often with a better ROI. In the crowded online advertising world, Bing Ads is a tool worth exploring and possibly adding to your bag of tricks.
If you need help developing a pay per click strategy for your business or have questions about online advertising, please contact us today.