Why Bing is a Valuable Paid Media Platform

For a long time, Bing, the UK’s second-largest search engine, has been underappreciated and, in some instances, even ignored.  Often regarded as the inferior search engine to market leader Google, Bing has historically struggled to appeal to many in the digital world. Most PPC analysts would give justified reasons for neglecting Bing for so long; these include the volume of traffic and the user experience just not matching up to Google. However, the validity of these assessments is now diminishing. Bing has grown and improved rapidly in the last couple of years; if you are not integrating it into your comprehensive digital marketing plan, you run the risk of missing out on a large portion of your chosen market and significant revenue.

There are several reasons why you cannot simply ignore Bing anymore. Here, I outline four core reasons why Bing has become such a valuable platform in the Paid Media industry.

Market Share

The most common argument used against Bing has always been and will likely always be that the search engine simply does not generate enough traffic for the investment of time and resource to be worthwhile. This is an argument I would have accepted in 2011, when Bing commanded a staggeringly low 3.97% of the search engine market according to Hitwise. In contrast, in a recent visit to Bing, the Microsoft owned company claimed they now own approximately 25% of the desktop market share.  Although this may be true, here at Koozai we have found that our clients usually see around 15% of their total traffic come from the Bing network. Although this is not quite 25%, it is significantly more than in 2011. Bing is growing, and growing fast.

Demographics

As well as having improved its overall presence, it also caters to a demographic that is valuable to all businesses. Whilst Google’s audience is dominated by people under 45, Bing caters to the other end of the spectrum: a large portion of Bing users are over 45. This presents a valuable opportunity for many clients in industries ranging from travel to health. Additionally, people over 45 generally have more disposable income. As a result, here at Koozai we have found conversion rates are higher on Bing when compared to Google – and this means sales.

Cheaper CPCs

Not only are people more likely to convert on Bing, but the cost of advertising there is also lower. This is because there is less competition on Bing, meaning CPCs are lower. Here at Koozai, the clients that served ads on both Google and Bing found that CPCs could be up to 60% lower on Bing than on Google. As a result, we usually find that the cost per acquisition on Bing is also significantly lower. So you’re advertising to a 25% share of the market with more disposable income for a fraction of the price of Google. Good, right?

Voice Search

As mentioned above, Bing has come on massively since it was first launched in 2009. It can even be argued that we are now entering a time where Bing can truly compete with Google for market leadership. This is due to the introduction of voice search, and in particular Bing’s association with Amazon’s voice software Echo, Microsoft’s Cortana and Apple’s Siri. These are three significant players in the innovative voice market. In fact, Edison Research found that in 2017 the Amazon Echo controlled a staggering 69% of the smart speaker market. With 50% of searches expected to be done by voice by 2020, it is time to get on Bing now – before your competitors do.

What are your thoughts on Bing? Leave us a comment below or if you have any questions, connect with us at Koozai and take your paid media strategy to the next level.

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