SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING

A Detailed Comparison between Google Ads and Bing Ads

In 2019, companies paid around $250 billion for running paid advertising campaigns through Google Ads and Bing Ads. There are many such digital advertising networks, but Google and Bing have the most popular cost-per-click (CPC) advertising networks. Many businesses run their online advertising campaigns through these advertising platforms and successfully draw a high number of visitors to their websites.

So, which is the best platform for running display advertising campaigns? If you are a PPC advertiser, knowing the differences between these two online advertising networks will help you run ad campaigns more efficiently.

An Introduction to the Google Ads

Google Ads, formerly known as Google Adwords, is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform that helps businesses expand online exposure, revenue, and website traffic. Google Ads consist of two advertising networks, and they are:

• Search Network: Through the Google Ads search network, businesses can improve the performance of search engine marketing campaigns. Search network ads appear in search engine results. When people enter a keyword or product related to your business, search network ads will become visible on top of the organic search results.
• Display Network: Such Google ads will appear on the websites that host Google advertisements on the web pages. Your business will be displayed on websites that are related to your business niche.

How Does Bing Ads Work?

Search engine optimization is a proven way of fetching more traffic to a website. But, it is a time-consuming process. Businesses seeking brand exposure in a shorter period should invest in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns. Owned by Microsoft, Bing is a combination of three search engines. They are AOL, Yahoo, and Bing. Through Bing Ads, a business can expand its online reach through the three search engines mentioned above.

Differences between Bing Ads and Google Ads

1. Reach

For running a PPC advertising campaign, a professional SEO agency gives importance to reach. Reaching more people is beneficial for a business. When you reach more people with your advertising campaign, you will get more potential buyers. Reaching more potential buyers will help you a better return on investment (ROI) from the digital marketing campaign.

Since Google is the biggest search engine, it can help your business to reach more buyers than Bing. Through Google’s search network, you can get around 76% of internet users. On the other hand, most websites host Google ads. Thus, the display network of Google Ads also has a higher capability of reaching more target buyers than Bing.

But, Bing has one unique advantage over Google. Through Bing Ads, a business can reach around 53 million desktop searchers. But, the overall reach of Google Ads is higher than Bing Ads.

2. Demographics

In web marketing, demographics play an important role. Targeting the right people is essential to increase conversion rate and revenue. Both Google and Bing provide various options for reaching the target audiences. According to the reports, Bing has the following types of users.

• 40% of Bing search engine users are between 35 and 54 years of age.
• 33% of Bing users have income above $100,000. People with higher income can spend more on their purchases.
• Around 43% of Bing users are married.

Younger people prefer using Google over Bing. Google has a massive number of users, and it is popular in multiple countries. Analyzing such demographic data will help you to choose the right platform for running a successful PPC campaign. If a business sells products that are popular among married people, Bing Ads can fetch a better conversion rate. On the other hand, products for young people will find better sales leads through Google Ads.

3. Keyword Targeting

Keywords are essential for successful digital media marketing campaigns. Google Ads gives access to the following types of keyword match.

• Phrase match
• Broad match
• Exact match
• Negative keywords
• Broad match modifier

Through Bing Ads, businesses can access the following options for targeting keywords.

• Phrase match
• Broad match
• Negative keywords
• Exact match

You can see that both Google and Bing offer similar keyword targeting options. However, Google provides a few more opportunities than Bing. Since 5% of search engine users prefer using Bing, you will find the keywords on this search engine with smaller volumes. Google is the most popular search engine, and thus it features keywords with high search volumes. A business that intends brand exposure through a PPC campaign must choose Google, as it helps to reach more people than Bing.

4. Ad Copy

Online advertising campaigns use texts more than images and videos to reach the target audiences. For advertising through a search network, businesses have to use text content. Both Google and Bing have specific guidelines for accepting text content. For Google Ads, you need to follow the text advertising rules as mentioned below.

• 1-2 descriptions with a maximum of 90 characters
• 1-3 headlines with a maximum of 30 characters
• 1 URL with 15 characters

Similarly, advertisers have to follow the guidelines provided below for Bing Ads.

• One description (80 characters)
• 1-2 headlines (30 characters)
• 1 URL (15 characters)

So, Google and Bing have similar guidelines for ad copywriters. Writing perfect ad copies is crucial for a better conversion rate. Professional internet marketing services have specialized departments for writing ad copies.

5. Cost

For managing advertising campaigns, digital marketing expert gives importance to the cost. Small businesses want good returns through small investments. Both Bing Ads and Google Ads are powerful advertising networks. Since Google has more users, running a PPC campaign through Google Ads will cost you higher.

According to surveys, it has been found that Bing’s advertising campaigns can be 20-35% cheaper than Google Ads. Thus, Bing is better for small-scale businesses that want to invest a small amount of money in running their advertising campaigns.

6. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

CTR or Click-Through Rate is also a crucial component of a website advertising campaign. The performance of the ads depends on the click-through rate. CTR reveals the number of internet visitors who click on your ads concerning the number of internet users who see your ads. So, a high CTR suggests more traffic on your website.

When compared to the CTR performance marketing data, Bing stays a little ahead of Google. With Bing Ads, the average CTR is 2.83%. The average CTR for Google Ads is around 1.91% for the search network, while the average CTR for the display network is only 0.35%. For obtaining the best CTR, the advertiser has to curate compelling ads.

7. Conversion Rate

Yet another critical metric for online advertising is the conversion rate. For a successful digital network marketing campaign, businesses have to track the conversion rate to understand the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

Through Bing Ads, businesses can obtain a maximum 2.94% conversion rate. On the other hand, the conversion rate offered by Google Ads is 3.75%. So, Google has a better conversion rate than Bing. However, the conversion rate may vary depending on many factors. Writing eye-catching ad copies is crucial. Your product or service has to be suitable for a better conversion rate. For all these reasons, many businesses obtain a better conversion rate through Bing Ads than Google Ads.

PPC in digital marketing is popular for fetching good business exposure in a short period. For running a PPC campaign, businesses prefer using both Google and Bing advertising networks. These two ad networks have their pros and cons. Depending on requirements and budget, a business should choose the right PPC advertising network.