Google Vs Bing Ads: Which is Best?

You should compare Google vs Bing Ads to maximize the success of your campaigns when you turn to search engine advertising to help your business grow. Both platforms offer pros and cons that should make any business owner give their decision a second look.

Let the Google Vs Bing Ads Contest Begin!

Google: Pros

The biggest pro of Google is that it’s the most widely used search engine in the United States by a long shot. Currently, 62.5% of searches originate from Google. On mobile search, Google’s dominance is even bigger.

When you consider the other platforms available to you under the Google umbrella (Google Maps, Google Shopping, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Partner Sites), there are many opportunities for your ads to be seen.

This is advantageous for businesses because most people (and your customers) are going to be using Google platforms when searching for products and services that your business offers. You want to be where your customers are, so concentrating your SEM efforts on Google would be a good start.

Google Ads features have auto-tagging, which helps you automatically set up and track offline conversions, whereas it has to be set up manually in Bing Ads.

Speaking of conversions, conversion rate reports offered within Google Ads are customizable versus you have to download a full report when working within Bing Ads. There are several features and customizable tools available that will give Google the upper hand whenever comparing certain categories and the included features are one of them.

Click fraud is a huge overall problem in search engine advertising as competitors and automated bots can maliciously click advertisements. Google has more robust anti-fraud systems and accepts automated refund requests for fraudulent clicks that 3rd party software detects.

Google: Cons

We mentioned that the biggest pro was that Google dominates the search engine game, although that comes with competition. Since that’s where the majority of everyone’s customers are going to be, this means that you’re going to be competing with many numerous businesses for the same people you’re trying to reach.

When using Google Adwords, you have to plan accordingly for an extremely competitive environment. You could write impeccable copy and deploy numerous SEO and content marketing tactics to be seen; yet, still, end up on the fourth page due to competition. This is where the importance of your bid comes in, which may hinder some businesses if their budgets are tight, which brings us to the next con: price.

Plain and simple: Google Adwords is more expensive for all the reasons mentioned above and more. Since more people are searching and advertising within Google, you have to pay to play, which translates into a higher pay-per-click (PPC) rate.

Bing: Pros

In our comparison, we have established that Google Ads would likely provide more visibility since they take the crown for the most popular search engine. Although more people use Google, this doesn’t mean that the Bing PPC Ads are worthless. Because there are so many businesses running search engine ads exclusively on Google, this reduces Bing Ads competition. If thousands of businesses in your industry are wrestling over the audience that prefers Google search only, imagine how easy it would be to cut through the noise and find your customers on Bing. It’s the same as only playing the lottery when the jackpot is at $400M or higher because it’s more money and ignoring the lottery when the jackpot is lower than that. Just because it’s not as big doesn’t mean it won’t still change the game for you if you win.

Bing has more comprehensive mobile targeting options, as advertisers can target by OS and device type. You can also choose to only run specific advertising campaigns on mobile devices, and fully exclude desktop users.

Furthermore, e-commerce retailers that run product ads experience a higher average conversion value on Bing Ads because the average Bing user is wealthier than the average Google user. This puts some extra favorability for the Bing Ads platform for e-commerce retailers that run shopping ads.

Is the Bing Network cheaper? Yes, the reduced competition also translates into a lower cost. Depending on the competitiveness on the industry, it can be up to 70% lower. This is the biggest pro for Bing Ads since you could pay significantly less for keywords, while average conversion rates on Google Ads tend to be roughly equivalent as compared to Bing Ads. Ultimately, this translates into a discount of sorts on keywords and a much lower CPC rate when you’ve finished an ad campaign. Ultimately, that may also translate into higher traffic levels through Bing that a provided spend level can yield depending on budget and competitiveness of a specific niche.

Bing: Cons

One must consider Bing’s search volume, as there are significantly fewer people using Bing as compared to Google, so you are likely casting a smaller net when using Bing Ads.

The net is also small when considering the amount of available foreign languages. Bing Ads only has 12 available ad languages to choose from, while there are 44 ad languages available through Google Ads.

Bing’s target audience may also trend older since only 55% of users are under the age of 45. While this percentage does represent most of their users, it’s a slim majority. If your business needs to reach a younger audience, running Bing Ads may not be the best platform to reach younger people.

Managing the Optimal Balance In Your PPC Campaigns

The Google vs Bing Ads comparison isn’t so simple when you boil down a few of their pros and cons. However, it doesn’t have to be an either/or situation. Try experiencing the best of both worlds! Properly strategizing your search engine ad campaigns to take advantage of the best merits within both platforms could prove fruitful for your business. If your budget can only allow you to focus on one platform, you should consider the points above to best manage paid search ads for your business. However, you should review your specific marketing goals with a qualified digital marketing agency to maximize the benefit of the limited budget.

Our search engine advertising services profitably maximize your revenue by weighing Google Ads vs Bing Ads for your particular business to profitably grow your business. Reach out to a top PPC agency to help your company to maximize ROI of your campaigns. We continuously analyze your campaigns and results to ensure that the value per customer acquired exceeds the price per conversion. Reach out to us now by filling out this form or by calling us at 617-651-1457.