What Is Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads) and Is It Worth Using?

Microsoft Advertising — widely known by its former name, Bing Ads — is a pay-per-click advertising platform that places your ads on the Bing search engine as well as Yahoo and AOL search results. It works in a very similar way to Google Ads: you bid on keywords, write text ads, and pay when someone clicks.

Many businesses focus exclusively on Google Ads because Google dominates UK search with around 92% market share. But dismissing Microsoft Advertising entirely is a mistake — there’s a meaningful audience on Bing, and the platform offers some distinct advantages that make it worth considering alongside Google.

Who Uses Bing — and Why That Matters

Bing has a higher proportion of older, higher-income users than Google. It’s also the default search engine on Windows devices and Microsoft Edge, meaning it captures a significant share of corporate and professional searches. In the UK, Bing’s market share sits at roughly 6 to 8%, which sounds modest until you consider that this still represents millions of searches per day.

If your target customers are professionals, business owners, or older demographics, Bing’s audience skew can actually work in your favour. Research consistently shows that Bing users tend to have higher average order values and are more likely to complete a purchase than the average Google searcher.

The Advantages of Microsoft Advertising

Lower cost-per-click is the headline advantage. Because fewer advertisers compete on Bing compared to Google, average CPCs are meaningfully lower — often 30 to 50% less for the same keywords. For businesses with tight ad budgets, this can make Bing a more efficient channel for generating leads and clicks.

Microsoft Advertising also offers ‘import from Google Ads’, which lets you copy your existing Google campaigns into Microsoft Advertising with a few clicks. This dramatically reduces the effort required to get started — you don’t need to rebuild your campaigns from scratch.

Microsoft’s integration with LinkedIn data is another differentiator. Advertisers can layer LinkedIn profile targeting — job title, industry, company size — on top of their Bing search campaigns. This is particularly powerful for B2B businesses that want to reach decision-makers at specific types of companies.

Is It Worth It for Your Business?

For most businesses, Microsoft Advertising works best as a complement to Google Ads rather than a replacement. If you’re already running Google Ads successfully, importing those campaigns into Microsoft Advertising is a low-effort way to extend your reach for a modest additional investment.

If you’re in B2B, professional services, finance, legal, or any sector where your customers skew older or more corporate, Microsoft Advertising deserves serious consideration. The lower CPCs and more affluent audience profile can deliver a strong return, particularly for businesses where each customer has high lifetime value.