Microsoft Ads (Bing) for B2B: the underused channel with lower CPC

Microsoft Advertising, the ad network behind Bing, is a blind spot for many Belgian B2B companies. That is a shame: through Windows desktops and corporate browsers, the channel reaches older, wealthier decision-makers, faces less advertiser competition and typically delivers a higher click-through rate than Google. TL;DR: if you already run Google Ads, you can import your campaign into Microsoft Advertising in a few steps and pull in extra qualified traffic at a lower cost per click, provided your sales cycle and deal value make it profitable.

Planning your budget: calculate clicks, leads and cost per lead with the free Google Ads budget calculator.

What is Microsoft Ads and why do B2B companies ignore it?

Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) shows search ads on Bing, but also on Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and in the search bar built into Windows. It works almost identically to Google Ads: you bid on keywords, pay per click and send people to a landing page.

The reason most companies leave it alone is simple: Google is the default. Everyone starts there, budgets go there and marketers know the system. Bing gets dismissed as “too small to be worth the effort”. That is a thinking error. Bing is the second largest search engine in the world, and although its market share is a lot smaller than Google’s, it still represents a substantial volume of searches with buying intent. In B2B, what matters is not how big a channel is in absolute terms, but whether the right decision-makers are on it and whether you can reach them profitably.

Why is Microsoft Ads interesting for B2B?

The Bing user profile is exactly what makes this channel interesting for business-to-business. Three reasons stand out.

• Older, wealthier decision-makers. Bing runs by default on millions of corporate Windows machines. Microsoft sends traffic to Bing through the built-in search bar on more than a billion Windows devices (Microsoft). In practice that means many searches come from people on a work laptop, often an older and more senior audience that makes the decision or controls the budget in B2B purchases.
• Lower cost per click. Because fewer advertisers are active on Bing, competition on most keywords is lower. Lower competition pushes bids down, and with them the cost per click. The same keyword usually costs you less on Microsoft Ads than on Google.
• Higher click-through rate. According to Google Ads benchmarks by industry, the average click-through rate on Bing Ads is generally higher than on Google Ads. Less noise on the results page and a different user profile mean people click through more often.

The combination of a lower click price and a higher click-through rate means you often get more qualified traffic out of the same budget. That is exactly the kind of underused opportunity a small, fast-moving team exploits before the competition finds it.

How do you import your Google Ads campaign into Microsoft Ads?

Your biggest advantage is that you do not have to start from scratch. Microsoft Advertising has a built-in import function that takes over your existing Google Ads structure: campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ad copy and bids. You can bring everything across in one go or pick exactly the campaigns you want to import.

The practical steps:

1. Connect your Google Ads account in the Microsoft Advertising import module and select the campaigns you want to bring across.
2. Check the settings before you import. Not everything translates one to one: location targeting, bidding strategies and negative keywords all deserve a review. A Bing audience behaves differently, so copying blindly is a bad idea.
3. Set up separate tracking so you can judge Microsoft Ads performance independently from Google. Otherwise you will never know which channel produces your leads.
4. Schedule a recurring import or update manually whenever your Google campaigns change, so both channels stay in sync.

Count on the import being a starting point, not an end point. The real gain sits in optimising separately for the Bing audience.

How do you measure conversions with the UET tag?

Without solid conversion measurement, any advertising channel is a gamble, and that goes double for B2B, where the sales cycle is long and multiple decision-makers are looking on. Microsoft Advertising works with the UET tag (Universal Event Tracking), the equivalent of the Google conversion tag.

You place the UET tag once across your entire website, much like you install Google tags. Then you define conversion goals: a completed contact form, a downloaded whitepaper, a requested demo. Only once that is in place can you steer on what counts: cost per qualified lead and ultimately cost per customer. Do not steer on clicks or impressions, because they look good in a report but pay no invoices.

One warning we will give you honestly: in B2B it often takes weeks or months before a click becomes a customer. A platform claiming a multiple in returns per euro invested rarely tells you how long that payback period is. So judge Microsoft Ads over a realistic period, not on first-week numbers.

How do you keep your quality score high?

Just as Google explains about quality score, Microsoft Advertising also rewards relevant ads with a lower click price and a better position through the quality score. That score rests on three pillars:

• Expected click-through rate: how likely is it that someone clicks your ad?
• Ad relevance: does your ad copy match the search query?
• Landing page experience: is your paid advertising relevant, fast and clear?

A high quality score lowers your costs and raises your return. That is not theory: with one client we achieved 25% media savings by steering on exactly that quality score. The logic is the same on Bing as on Google. Write ads that match the search intent precisely, and send people to a page that delivers what the ad promises. Do not simply reuse your Google ad copy without checking whether it works for the Bing audience too.

When does Microsoft Ads not pay off?

Honest advice also means saying when you are better off staying out. Microsoft Ads probably does not pay off if:

• Your deal value is too low. With a low average customer value you will never earn back the advertising costs, whatever the channel.
• Your website does not convert yet. Sending cheaper traffic to a leaking landing page is throwing money away. Fix your conversion first.
• Your audience is not on Bing. If you mainly target young professionals or niche sectors that rarely search from Windows desktops, the volume may be too small to be worth the effort.
• You have no Google foundation yet. Usually start on Google, learn what works, and then expand to Microsoft Ads as a complementary channel. See also our overview of online advertising for channel selection.

In most cases Microsoft Ads is an addition, not a replacement. The nice part is that the barrier is low: you largely reuse work you already did for Google.

Frequently asked questions about Microsoft Ads for B2B

Is Bing Ads the same as Microsoft Ads?

Yes. Microsoft renamed Bing Ads to Microsoft Advertising a few years ago. The platform and the logic have stayed the same: search ads on Bing and partner networks such as Yahoo and DuckDuckGo.

Is Microsoft Ads cheaper than Google Ads?

Usually yes. Because fewer advertisers are bidding, the average cost per click on most keywords is lower than on Google. More important than the click price is your cost per qualified lead, which you assess per channel separately.

Can I move my Google Ads campaign to Microsoft Ads?

Yes, through the built-in import function. You bring across campaigns, ad groups, keywords and copy, either all at once or per selected campaign. Do check the targeting and bidding strategies, because the Bing audience behaves differently.

How much budget do I need to test Microsoft Ads?

Thanks to the lower click prices, a modest test budget is often enough to gather usable data. More important than the amount is that your conversion measurement via the UET tag is in place, so you test on leads and customers instead of on clicks.

Ready to tap an underused channel?

Microsoft Ads is exactly the kind of channel where a small, fast team makes the difference: lower competition, an interesting B2B audience and a low barrier to entry if you already run Google Ads. The art lies in optimising separately and measuring honestly on qualified leads. Want to know whether paid advertising on Microsoft pays off in your situation, and which channels deserve your budget most? Schedule your free intake.