Microsoft Advertising done right
The case for this channel has to rest on something you can check. Two things qualify: what a click costs, and who is on the other end of it. Microsoft sits alongside Google in our PPC work rather than in competition with it, and for most Australian businesses it earns its budget as a second search channel after Google Ads is already working properly. If your Google account is not in order yet, that is where the money belongs.
What Bing Ads management covers
Most businesses that ask us about Bing have already tried it. The Google campaigns were imported one afternoon, the account ran on whatever came across, and after two thin months somebody paused it. That is not a verdict on the channel. It is a verdict on running a second platform as an afterthought.
Microsoft Advertising has its own auction, its own audience data and its own tracking. Treating it as a copy of your Google account is the single most common reason a Bing account underperforms. The work that changes that:
- Account audit and campaign structure – what is in the account now, what came across from Google unchanged, and what needs rebuilding for a different auction.
- Keyword research and match types – built from Microsoft search behaviour rather than copied across wholesale.
- Ad copy and testing – written for the platform, then tested against a control.
- Bid strategy and budget control – manual or automated, chosen on how much conversion data the account produces.
- Audience and demographic targeting – industry and job function targeting, remarketing lists, in-market audiences, and device, location and time-of-day adjustments.
- Microsoft Shopping and feed management – feed hygiene first, then the campaign. You cannot bid your way out of a broken feed.
- Search terms and negative keywords – the hygiene that stops a small budget leaking into queries you never wanted.
The Google Ads import is real and it saves time. It is a starting point, not a migration. Microsoft’s own import documentation states that not all information will be imported, and tells you to review the campaigns afterwards. Match types import once and are never refreshed after that. Audiences do come across, mapped to the nearest supported Microsoft equivalent rather than copied exactly, which is not always the mapping you would have chosen.
How Bing advertising reaches Australian buyers
Microsoft Advertising lets you target people by their LinkedIn company, industry and job function, inside ordinary search campaigns. Microsoft’s LinkedIn profile targeting documentation states that it is the only advertising platform other than LinkedIn allowing this, and lists the campaign types it runs in: Search, Dynamic Search, Shopping, Audience and Performance Max.
Two limits are worth knowing. It is a bid-only signal, so targeting a company adjusts your bid for the people who match rather than excluding everyone who does not. And you cannot target more than 1,000 companies in a single ad group or campaign. For a business selling into a nameable list of employers, this is still the most interesting targeting in Australian paid search.
Where the ads appear is the next question. Microsoft’s network documentation lists search results on Microsoft Bing, AOL, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia and other partners, and audience placements on MSN, Microsoft Start, Microsoft Edge, Outlook.com and publisher partners.
What it costs to advertise on Bing
There are two numbers in a Microsoft Ads engagement and they behave differently. The first is your media spend, which you set and change whenever you like. The second is the fee for the work, and it is customised to how much work the account actually needs.
Media spend is an auction outcome, not a price list. What you pay per click depends on what other advertisers bid on the same terms, how relevant your ad and landing page are, and how much of your budget the platform can spend at the volume available. In a thin category you will often underspend. That is not a failure. It means the demand was not there that week, and the budget stays in your pocket.
Media spend on Bing Ads usually ranges from $1,000 to $10,000 per month.
There is a version of this conversation where we tell you not to bother. Some of the criteria:
- Your Google campaigns are still limited by budget rather than by demand. Every extra dollar belongs in Google Ads first.
- Conversion tracking is not working on your site. Fix the measurement before adding a channel to measure.
- Your category produces so few Microsoft clicks that no month will ever be readable. We would rather say so than bill for it.
- You need an answer inside four weeks. Microsoft takes longer to read than Google.
Bing Ads or Google Ads?
Both, in a lot of cases, and Google first. Bing Ads complements a working Google Ads account rather than replacing one, and any agency telling you to shift budget wholesale from one to the other is selling a story instead of reading an account.
The differences that matter are structural:
- Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads) serves search ads across Microsoft Bing, AOL, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia and other partners. Google Ads serves them on Google Search and Google’s own search partners.
- Microsoft Advertising offers professional targeting by company, industry and job function, drawn from LinkedIn profiles. Microsoft states it is the only platform other than LinkedIn offering this. Google Ads has no equivalent.
- Conversion tracking in Microsoft Advertising runs through the UET tag, which Microsoft calls a prerequisite for conversion tracking and remarketing. Google Ads uses its own conversion tag, configured separately.
- Microsoft Advertising campaigns can be imported directly from Google Ads, then need adapting to suit the platform.
- In the accounts we run, Microsoft Advertising shows thinner auctions, lower click prices in most categories and far less data arriving each month. Google Ads remains the benchmark and usually delivers the larger share of paid search revenue.
Is Bing better than Google? No. It is smaller, it carries less data, and it will not replace the volume. What it buys you is a second auction where the competition is different, and for some businesses that difference is a real margin. For others it is a rounding error. We will tell you which one you are.
Meet our
Bing Ads team
Harris Panayi
Client Services Director
About
Harris has been part of the SIXGUN fabric nearly since its inception, running the Client Services department and specialising in client, staff, and escalation management, along with recruitment, retention, and business growth. A strong leader at SIXGUN whose all-rounder approach ensures maximum client and staff satisfaction, Harris also takes the lead on company events and culture.
Experience
After almost a decade in the digital marketing landscape, Harris has worked in almost every facet of the industry, including SEO, SEM, social media, site design and development, lead generation and affiliate marketing, account and partnership management, and general staff management positions.
Harris’ primary goal is to foster harmonious relationships between agency and client, ensuring business success from a technical performance perspective is at the forefront, while ensuring relationships with clients operate so effectively that clients are able to see us as a part of their business. Harris strives to create a family-style partnership environment within his department, where partnerships organically grow over time and clients stick with us for the long term.
Fun Fact
Harris is a true foodie, soccer and music enthusiast at heart. You’re most likely to find him in the kitchen, watching his beloved Arsenal, or strumming his Fender Stratocaster.
Matthew Cullen
Strategy Director
About
Matthew leads the strategy and sales direction of SIXGUN, helping to develop a true client-centric mentality that puts our clients’ needs at the heart of our digital marketing solutions.
Experience
With more than ten years of experience in the digital marketing industry, Matthew uses his wealth of experience to guide campaigns from the outset, helping set realistic expectations that don’t promise the world. When talking strategy, Matthew understands no question is too small—choosing a digital marketing partner can be a difficult task and half the battle is finding a team you genuinely want to work with over the long term.
Fun Fact
A foodie at heart, Matt enjoys cooking (hopefully) delicious food, wining and dining with friends and family, and the occasional round of golf.
Alan Trinh
Performance Media Director
About
Leading the Performance Media department at SIXGUN, Alan manages a dynamic team of high-performing paid media specialists. The Performance Media team specialises in Google Ads, social media marketing, email marketing, and more.
Experience
With nine years of experience in marketing, Alan's journey encompasses diverse roles, from crafting impactful paid media strategies to orchestrating successful marketing events. Alan takes pride in fusing creativity with data-driven tactics, propelling brands to the forefront of the digital landscape, and mentoring his team to excel.
Fun Fact
Once upon a time, Alan was a qualified hairdresser who specialised in haircutting. He even entered a few hair competitions (but didn't win an award). That could explain the career change.
Nando Iorio
Lead Account Manager
About
Nando is an integral part of the Account Management team at SIXGUN, helping to develop a true and transparent business-client relationship while aiding and managing the day-to-day needs of our clients’ digital marketing solutions.
Experience
With over a decade of industry experience in both traditional and digital marketing as well as experience in the creative field, Nando takes a warm and holistic approach to client services.
Fun Fact
When Nando isn’t focused on all things SIXGUN he enjoys playing guitar and trying to set a new high score in classic video games. Nando also enjoys photography and making short videos in his spare time.
Dylan Charisis
Lead Performance Media Specialist
About
Dylan is a part of the Performance Media team at SIXGUN, developing strategic paid media campaigns to help clients be seen by their ideal audiences despite the crowded digital landscape.
Experience
With more than five years’ experience in digital marketing, Dylan’s expertise has many facets beyond paid media, including analytics, PR, communications, and everything in between.
Fun Fact
Like many others at SIXGUN, on the weekends Dylan can be seen hitting a ball with a stick (golf), enjoying a run or visiting one of Melbourne’s many sandwich shops.
Evan Pavlidis
Senior Digital Marketing Strategist
About
As SIXGUN’s Senior Digital Marketing Strategist, Evan focuses on creating bespoke solutions, tailored to each individual business’s unique needs and challenges.
Experience
Working in client-facing roles for more than five years, Evan has a wealth of experience across the various marketing solutions that SIXGUN offers their clients. Outside of this, his knowledge of website development, UX and AI integration help shape a holistic understanding of the digital landscape, bringing unparalleled insight into every strategy session.
Fun Fact
Outside of work, you’ll find Evan spending quality time with his Labrador Zorro (please ask to see a photo! it will make him really happy) or 30 metres in the air, climbing a boulder in the wilderness. Evan also enjoys a range of sports (supporting Greece of course!).
Nelson Pak
Senior Account Manager
About
With more than five years of industry experience, Nelson brings a professional yet approachable attitude to the client services team. From strategic planning through to implementation and all day-to-day tasks, Nelson takes a holistic approach to digital marketing, aware that transparency and understanding between clientele and agency is key.
Experience
With ten years of combined experience in industries like banking, finance, sales, and marketing, Nelson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team, having worked with many small, medium and enterprise-level businesses, leading campaigns and creating meaningful, long-lasting partnerships.
Fun Fact
Outside of work, Nelson can be found on walks to the dog park/beach with his best bud, partaking in rounds of MMA to keep fit, or sitting around a campfire in the outback.
Janelle Wong
Junior Performance Media Specialist
About
Janelle is a digital marketing all-rounder who's dedicated to mixing creativity into her strategies. With experience in social media content creation and SEO, she's now blending her career know-how and diving deep into paid media strategies.
Experience
Janelle's digital marketing journey has spanned diverse sectors like education, engineering, finance, beauty, and ecommerce. Her expertise extends to creating and editing video content across YouTube and TikTok.
Fun Fact
Outside of work, you can find Janelle cafe-hopping with friends and taking aesthetic pics for the ‘Gram. You might also find her hanging from a piece of fabric in the aerial yoga studio.
Bing Ads management for businesses right across Australia
Not based in a capital city? It makes no difference to this work.
We run Microsoft campaigns for businesses anywhere in Australia, and nothing about the platform is tied to where you or we happen to sit.
Contact us today to speak to one of our Bing Ads specialists and claim your free Bing audit.
Industry insights
and tips
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How we run a Microsoft campaign
The sequence is the one we use on any paid search account, adapted for a platform carrying less data.
Research and build. Market and keyword research first. The campaign structure gets built rather than inherited, and where a Google account exists we import from it, then rework match types, negatives and audience settings for the Microsoft auction.
Deployment and optimisation. Continual and data-led, and slower to act on than Google because the data arrives slower. Search terms reviewed, negatives added, ad copy tested against a control. Bids move only where there is evidence to justify moving them, which on a channel this size can mean holding still for a fortnight or longer.
Advanced targeting. Remarketing, LinkedIn profile targeting, in-market audiences, and device, location and time-of-day bidding, once the base account is behaving.
We work to a ninety-day performance window. On Microsoft that window needs to be longer than it is on Google, not shorter. Lower click volume means automated bidding takes longer to stabilise, and the gap between two ad variants takes longer to become statistically real.
At forty clicks a month, a month-on-month conversion rate is noise dressed up as a trend. We report the monthly numbers because you should see them, but the call gets made on rolling quarters, on cost per acquisition across both platforms together, and on whether the enquiries are the kind your sales team wants. Reporting is monthly, with the account open to you at all times.
How we work with you on Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Ads is a small channel for most Australian businesses, and small channels are where agencies go quiet. A campaign gets built, a report gets sent, and nobody says anything uncomfortable because the spend is not big enough to argue about. We would rather have the argument.
That means telling you when the budget belongs elsewhere, when a month of data is too thin to conclude anything from, and when something we tried did not work. It also means you keep the account, the tag and the data, so nothing about the relationship depends on you being unable to leave.
You might be wondering...
01. What are Bing Ads called now?
Bing Ads is now called Microsoft Advertising. Microsoft renamed the platform in 2019, but it is the same product, the ads still serve on Bing, and most Australian advertisers still say Bing Ads when they mean Microsoft Advertising.
Nothing about how an account works changed with the rename.
02. Are Bing Ads any good?
For some businesses yes, and for others they are not worth the setup. Bing Ads works best as a second search channel once Google is running properly, in categories where desktop and workplace searching matters, and where the auction is thin enough that clicks clear cheaper.
They are a poor idea if you need volume, if your conversion tracking is broken, or if nobody has time to manage a second platform. Microsoft is a margin play rather than a growth engine, and how large that margin gets depends on your category.
03. Who owns Bing Ads?
Microsoft. Bing is Microsoft's search engine and Microsoft Advertising is its advertising platform. The account, the auction, the ad policies and the support all sit with Microsoft.
Ads bought through the platform can also serve on partner search sites including AOL, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, which Microsoft names in its own network documentation.
04. How do I manage Bing Ads?
Day to day it comes down to a short list of recurring jobs:
- Check the search terms report and add negatives. Weekly at first, monthly once the account settles.
- Watch spend against budget. Thin categories underspend rather than overspend, and that tells you something.
- Keep the tracking and conversion goals healthy. A tag broken by a site update takes your reporting with it.
- Review audience and device bid adjustments rather than setting them once.
- Leave bid strategies alone long enough to learn. Automated bidding on low volume needs time.
All unremarkable, which is precisely why it gets skipped on a small account.
05. What should I look for in a Bing Ads agency?
Ask about the things you can check rather than the things that sound good:
- Sources. If an agency quotes a market share or a click-price discount, ask where the number came from. Most cannot answer.
- Account ownership. You should own the Microsoft Advertising account and keep access if the relationship ends.
- Tracking. Ask how the tags gets implemented and who fixes it when it breaks.
- Cross-platform reporting. Microsoft numbers reported next to Google numbers, not in isolation.
- A willingness to say no. An agency that has never advised a client against Microsoft is not assessing it.
The last one tells you the most.
06. Can I just import my Google Ads campaigns into Bing?
You can, and it is a sensible first step. Microsoft's import brings campaigns, ads, targeting and most settings across, and it can run on a schedule so later changes in Google flow through.
What it does not do is finish the job. Microsoft's own list of what gets imported is specific: match types come across on the first import and are not updated by later ones, audiences arrive mapped to the nearest supported Microsoft equivalent rather than copied exactly, and the Bing tracking tag still has to go on your site before any of it is measurable.
Its advice is to review the campaigns afterwards and add the missing information back, which is the step nobody budgets for.
