Microsoft Ads (Bing Ads) agency in Australia

Why most Microsoft Ads accounts underperform

Microsoft Ads gets you in front of people searching on Bing, Microsoft's own sites and its search partners. There are usually fewer advertisers competing, so clicks are often cheaper than the same search on Google.

Most accounts we audit make the same mistakes we see in Google Ads:

1. Broad match keywords

   Broad match lets Microsoft show your ads for loosely related searches. Without close watching, a lot of the budget goes on clicks that were never going to buy.

2. The wrong networks

   Search partners and the audience network are switched on by default. Some of that traffic converts. Plenty of it doesn't, and it can quietly take a big share of the spend.

3. No negative keywords

   Without a negative list of its own, the account keeps paying for the same irrelevant searches month after month.

4. Poor ads

   Ads copied straight from Google, or written once and never tested. Weak ads mean fewer clicks from the right people and a higher cost per lead.

5. No tracking, or tracking nobody checks

   The UET tag never gets installed, or conversions are counted differently from Google. Then nobody can compare the two channels.

How we run it

1. Built separately from Google

   Search volume and competition on Microsoft are different from Google. Keywords that are too expensive to make work on Google can be profitable on Microsoft. So we build your campaigns for Microsoft from the start, with their own keywords, bids and negatives.

2. Track it the same way as Google

   UET and conversion goals set up so a lead means the same thing on both platforms, then checked against your CRM.

3. Watch where the traffic comes from

   We review search partner and audience network results and cut what doesn't convert.

4. One report for both

   Google and Microsoft reported together, against the leads and sales in your CRM. This means you can see what each channel is worth to you.

What we've seen

One of our B2B clients got leads up to 3x cheaper on Microsoft Ads than on Google Ads. The searches were the same. There were just far fewer advertisers bidding on them. We see the biggest gap in high-competition niches, where Google clicks get expensive and Microsoft's auction stays quieter.

Who it suits best

Two kinds of business tend to do best on Microsoft Ads. The first is anyone in a high-competition niche. Google clicks get expensive there, and Microsoft gives you a way to reach the same searches for less.

The second is businesses with older customers. Bing is the default search engine on Windows computers and in the Edge browser, and plenty of people never change it. If your customers skew older, a good share of them are probably already searching on Bing.

Budget, pricing & how long a test takes

We recommend at least $1,500 a month in Microsoft ad spend. Below that, it's hard to get enough leads to cover agency fees and your margins and still turn a profit.

We run Microsoft Ads as its own channel, the same as Google or Meta. Management starts at $1,725 AUD a month for ad spend under $5,000.

Give it 1 to 3 months. At $1,500 a month or more, that's enough data to know whether to scale it up or stop.

Is it worth it in Australia?

Bing's share of searches in Australia is much smaller than Google's, so Microsoft Ads won't replace your Google account. For many businesses it's a useful second source of leads at a lower cost per click. The best way to find out is a well-tracked test.