Which Search Engine Has the Better Ad Platform? Google Ads vs Bing Ads

While Google is still the top search engine in the world, its competitors like Bing and DuckDuckGo are starting to be more competitive when it comes to their ad rates.

This starts to bring forth the question, what is better, running Google Ads or Bing Ads when it comes to your business. But you might be thinking of this problem wrong, as you don’t need to choose.

Here’s what you need to know about Google Ads vs Bing Ads and which to choose.

What Are Google Ads?

Google Ads (which used to be known as Google Adwords and Google Adwords Express), is an advertising platform hosted on Google’s search engine. When you pay for a Google Ad spot, you’re paying to appear in search queries under the advertising section. This section typically marks your spot as an ad, rather than a search result.

When you want to appear for anyone searching for a plumber in Orlando, Florida, you can pay to have your website has an advertising search result. It will take into account the user’s location and their search intent and if you fit into that criteria, Google with display your advertisement.

Goole has two different platforms for ads, which are the Search Network and Display Network. The Search Network is the ads that are mentioned above. They are displayed on a search result page, rather than a website.

The Display Network refers to Display Ads that appear on someone’s website. Websites can opt in to display ads while people are browsing their websites. This can be in the form of an image, text, or video.

How Much Does a PPC Campaign Cost on Google?

Running a Pay-Pre-Click campaign on Google can vary widely. It all comes down to the keyword you’re targeting, the area you’re targeting, and how many others are competing in that same category. Google then takes into account the quality of your advertisement.

Using the Orlando Plumber example above, let’s say that your company is competing against 50 other plumbing companies in that area. You’ll now need to outbid them for the advertising space. The bid price comes down to how much you really want that advertising space and how much you’re willing to pay for it.

The good part about having high-quality ads is that Google will often give lower costs to those that get clicks on their ads. This cost can range anywhere from $0.19, to upwards of $6. It all comes down to the individual field and the competitiveness of that field.

For those looking for Google Ads management, be sure to check out the link.

What Are Bing Ads?

Bing is Microsoft’s answer to the search engine question. Started in 2009, Bing has slowly started to chip away at the market share that Google holds. People are becoming more concerned with their data, making people move away from Google.

The way Bing has been able to capture market share is through deals that make them the default search engine for companies like Yahoo and AOL. By doing this, your ads that are done through Bing now show up when someone searches something on any of the three, rather than just the one platform like Google.

Bing Ads look similar to Google Ads on the search engine result page. Bings advertisements tend to look more like organic searches, as you’re able to include a meta description of up to 71 characters.

How Much Does a PPC Campaign Cost on Bing?

PPC campaigns tend to be much lower compared to Google, because of the lower amount of people that use Bing compared to Google. But this does come with the benefit of having lower competition and thus lower bidding prices for keywords.

On average, you’re going to spend around $0.07 to $4, depending on the keyword and competition. The lack of competition ensures that when someone searches a keyword that you bid on, you’ll be the first result seen. And thanks to Bings’ more natural-looking advertisements, people are going to be more enticed to click on it compared to Googles.

It can go either way with Bing, however. You might end up with a lower quality audience than you’d like. Leading to a high click-through rate and low conversion rate.

But the opposite can also happen, where you have a really good high-quality audience that gets the same traffic as Google, but with a lower cost. It all comes down to the individual query.

Google Ads vs Bing Ads: Which Is Better?

When it comes to Bing vs Google Ads, there really isn’t a winner, as they can be seen as partners rather than competitors in your eyes. While yes, they are technically two different platforms, there is no clause that says you have to pick one or the other.

A good way to test which is better for you is to take your budget and take 1/5 of it and put it towards using Bing Ads. Then take the other 4/5 of the budget and put it towards using Google Ads. After a campaign is run on both, you can compare the ROI and see which is working better for your company.

You will hit your target audience on both platforms, rather than trying to appeal to just the main one. While the Orlando plumber from the example above may get a poor ROI on Google, their ROI on Bing might be out of this world. The goal is to find the right keywords for both to maximize your ROI.

Don’t Think One or the Other – Choose Both Platforms

At the end of the day, there is no better option between Google Ads vs Bing Ads. They’re both handy tools that can help drive sales that you would otherwise miss out on. The key is to research the keywords you want to pay for and then watch the sales roll in.

If you want to learn more about maximizing your digital ads and their ROI, be sure to check out the rest of our blog. If you know someone stuck in this situation, be sure to share this article with them.