June 23 2022
Don’t Forget About Bing!
When thinking of a search engine, most people immediately think of Google. However, there are other strong players in the search engine game worth consideration in your digital marketing strategy, including Microsoft’s Bing. In this blog, we’ll guide you through the different elements of a Bing search engine results page (SERP) and the areas where your business can gain exposure through advertising on them.
Benefits of Using Bing for B2B Marketing
Raking in slightly over 3% of the total search engine market share worldwide is Bing. Although 3% seems significantly lower than Google’s 92%, Bing is on more than 1.5 billion (that’s billion with a B) devices running Windows and boasts a click-through rate on shopping campaigns that is 45% higher than Google’s and at a much lower price point.
Fun Fact: TopSpot’s clients average a 225% lower CPC on Bing than with Google!
Advertising on Bing
Advertisements on Bing SERPs are run through Microsoft Ads and can be placed in line with the organically-ranked result listings. These paid placements are displayed with a subtle “Ad” tag. They can be created to give the look of a standard post with a simple title and description or be enhanced with a number of extensions now offered by Microsoft.
In addition to the standard and extended ads as described here, businesses and sellers can set up a Microsoft Shopping campaign to have their products shown in a carousel with other similar items. These ads give interested buyers the main information and a photo of the product searched, creating what could be a near-instant purchase. As stated earlier, Bing boasts a click-through rate on shopping campaigns 45% higher than Google’s.
And it’s the exact same data feed as Google, so there’s no extra work on your end.
Recent News: Microsoft recently launched its answer to Google’s retail marketplace with Start Shopping. According to Search Engine Land, “Bing reaches a different marketplace and demographic than Google, which may or may not work to their advantage. However, Bing only takes about 25% of the total search volume, whereas Google takes 60%.”
Organic Bing Search Elements
Over time, SERPs have been enhanced with features and algorithms to better provide users with the information requested and Bing’s are no exception. With a similar look and feel to Google’s, Bing lists ranked web pages, have ads sprinkled in, and can include knowledge panels on the side with key info on the topic searched.
Another clear similarity between Google and Bing are result categories. To better supply the information a user is seeking, Bing allows the user to cut down on the amount of listings and select what type of results they want to see. Displayed just below the search bar, users can choose between images, videos, maps, news, shopping, flights, and travel tabs, giving a more tailored view of potentially broad search queries.
Bing offers users quick links to refine searches through a small box that can appear to the left of result listings. Dependent on the category of a user’s search query, a Wikipedia box, “Explore more” box with image search options, or a box listing different pages on a specific website are options you may see.
Other useful features include a Recommended For You sidebar, a lightbulb icon that gives you a preview of what’s on the website page, icons that indicate what format the results you are finding are in (Adobe PDF, Word documents, etc.), and if you hover over an organic listing, additional extensions might drop down, providing more options for interior pages.
What Does This Mean for You?
Having a proper plan for how your business appears on search engine results pages help guide potential customers in your direction. Whether you’re competing to improve your ranking organically or purchasing ad space, Bing can provide the visibility needed to grow your business. It’s an added layer of advertising options outside of Google. See how we used Bing advertising to help Crane & Machinery increase their PPC leads by 261.84%.