Why Adzooma Is The Smarter Microsoft Ads Tool For Your PPC Campaigns

When it comes to an efficient Microsoft Ads management tool, Adzooma is the smartest choice. Our guide illustrates why.

Written by Luke Davis

Why Adzooma Is The Smarter Microsoft Ads Tool For Your PPC Campaigns

PPC advertising is dominated by three major advertising networks: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Microsoft Ads. According to Search Engine Land, Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing Ads, which we’ll get to later) grabbed 33.8% of the US desktop search market share at the end of 2018. Combined with its mobile market share, that figure was over 20%.

That means you need Microsoft Ads tools for a smarter PPC campaign. But before we look at why, there’s something we need to address.

Improve your Google Ads performance in minutes

Bing Ads is now Microsoft Ads

In April 2019, Microsoft rebranded Bing Ads as Microsoft Advertising (or Microsoft Ads for short). The tech giant announced the news via a blog post and explained it was for consolidating Microsoft Ads with its other Microsoft-branded products, like the Microsoft Audience Network .

On this page, we’ll use the new name (Microsoft Ads) but may refer to Bing Ads in reference to historic content. Ultimately, it’s the same network.

Paid social is a growing platform.

Native Microsoft Ads migration made easy

Accessibility is an important element of web use and PPC tools need to pay attention to it. Microsoft made changes to its advertising platform to improve usability for disabled people.

While Microsoft has made improvements, the advertising platform is built to Microsoft’s design specifications. Google Ads and Facebook Ads users might find the Microsoft Ads platform too difficult to get their head around.

But what if there was a platform that could combine all three? Adzooma to the rescue!

With its clear and concise UI, Adzooma makes for a smarter, more efficient user experience regardless of what network you’re using. All the data you need to optimise your PPC accounts is accessible with a single click. Navigation between different accounts is just as easy too. That’s what makes Adzooma such a compelling Microsoft Ads manager.

Different types of Microsoft Ads tools

Everyone talks about PPC tools and how they can improve your campaigns. Can you name any? And more importantly, can you name any Microsoft Ads tools?

If the answer is yes, this will be a refresher. If the answer is no, this will be educational.

There are many tools in the Microsoft Advertising shed. It’s down to you or your Microsoft Ads manager to know which ones to use, as well as when and how often, so you can reap the benefits.

Improve your Google Ads performance in minutes

Microsoft Ads Preview Tool

The Ad Preview Tool is handy because it shows you how your ad will look on the Bing SERPs (search engine results pages). Specify your keyword or search query of choice, language, Bing domain, location, and device (desktop/laptop, mobile, or tablet).

That sounds a lot like a Bing search, doesn’t it? But the difference is, with the preview tool, your search doesn’t affect the impressions or click-through rate (CTR) of your campaign.

The advantage of a Microsoft Ads preview tool is getting a feel for the competition of your chosen keyword. You can also diagnose any problems with your current ads if you’re already on a SERP for a certain keyword.

Microsoft Ads intelligence tool

Microsoft Advertising Intelligence is a keyword planning tool that lets you create keyword lists with the Microsoft Excel interface.

You can also:

Keyword strategy is an integral part of any PPC campaign. The Intelligence tool works with lists of up to 200,000 keywords and generates data on bid estimates, analysis, CPC (cost-per-click) history, and plenty more.

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Microsoft Ads webmaster tools

Digital marketers will be familiar with Google Webmaster Tools, now Google Search Console. Microsoft Ads have their own version (although it’s still currently called Bing Webmaster Tools).

Like Search Console, Webmaster Tools gives you a dashboard of all the sites you manage with summaries of their performance and areas for improvement. You can also create reports to show what your traffic means and ways to improve it.

If you’re in need of custom reporting , Adzooma offers a fantastic tool that creates easy-to-read reports in no time at all. Filter out the data you don’t need and present high-quality reports to clients and managers.

Adzooma’s reporting tool also offers white-labelling so you can add your own company branding.

Microsoft Advertising remarketing tools

Whether you want those first-time customers to become second and third-time customers or whether one of your potential clients has abandoned their shopping cart, Microsoft Ads remarketing can make it happen.

Shopping cart abandonment can be a pain, especially if they’ve left valuable items at the checkout. Remarketing ads send messages to visitors when they search for your matched keyword.

It’s easy to get started.

Universal Event Tracking (UET)

Clicking ads is great. It’s one of the most important metrics in PPC. But what happens after someone clicks your ad?

And how do you track that behaviour? Microsoft has a way of doing it. It’s called Universal Event Tracking and it records what customers do on your website. Simply add a UET tag on the web pages you want to track and Microsoft Advertising collects the data.

But what can you do with Universal Event Tracking data? Quite a lot. UET data helps you track conversion goals and target specific audiences. Perfect for when you’re creating remarketing lists.

Adzooma can help with your Microsoft Ads remarketing by optimising your ads and keywords for returning visitors. Create specific ad groups for the cause and get those high-value customers back.

Microsoft Ads Editor tool

Editor saves you time by streamlining your Microsoft Ads management with simple desktop app you can use online or offline.

Microsoft Ads Editor also gives you multi-account management. Just copy and paste from one account to another and import data from Google if you need to.

You can sync campaigns and accounts and make changes with one click, whether they’re single changes or bulk edits.

Just like Microsoft, Adzooma’s intelligent software lets you apply changes in seconds. We’ll analyse your account 24/7, using the data to generate custom opportunities that will improve your performance

Improve your Google Ads performance in minutes

Microsoft Ads tool alternatives

That’s a lot of Microsoft Ads tools. If you’re not using an all-in-one management tool like Adzooma, there are alternatives depending on your preference.

SEMrush

SEMrush takes care of all your search engine marketing needs covering SEO, social media, and paid search.

Key features:

Spyfu

SpyFu lets you see what your competitors are doing, giving you the upper hand in your Microsoft Ads campaigns.

Key features:

SpyFu is best known for the depth of its database. Competitor’s paid and organic keyword history can be searched as far back as 13 years ago. That’s an incredible resource for PPC ads and landing pages.

The platform does it by web scraping data from each network, which is refreshed monthly.

Answer The Public

People search for answers to their questions, whether they’re explicit or not. Answer The Public uses auto-suggest results from Google & Bing to provide marketers with insights into the minds of their users.

Key features:

Semantic search to find the most asked questions for a given keyword
Generates infographics to download as images or CSV files
Unlimited searches (Pro plan only)
Language + Location based results (Pro plan only)
Filter data (Pro plan only)

Microsoft Ads vs. Google Ads and Facebook Ads

We’ve talked about Microsoft Ads tools and the platform as a whole but how does it compare with Google Ads and Facebook Ads?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Let’s take a look.

Microsoft Ads vs. Google Ads

Features comparison

Google Ads and Microsoft Ads share a lot of similarities. They’ve both changed their names (Google Ads used to be known as Google AdWords until 2018). They also share campaign elements such as ad groups, negative keywords, and Quality Score.

But Microsoft Advertising carries a few unique features of its own.

Social extensions in Google Ads used to show Google+ metrics when the social platform was alive and kicking. Due to its demise, social extensions died with it. But not for Microsoft Ads.

Even if your customers don’t actively use social media, they will trust that you’re a modern, forward-thinking business.

Reach

Bing is the third-largest search engine in the world in terms of query volume (as of October 2018), behind Google and Baidu. As it also powers Yahoo! Search, it effectively commands fourth place too.

Microsoft Ads and the Bing Network can reach 167 million unique users and they spend 26% more online than the average internet searcher. Of course, Google is the power player in terms of search but Bing’s audience has an ace up its sleeve.

Of the hundreds of millions of searchers every month, those people have larger incomes (Hubspot claims more than $100k). That means a smaller audience than Google but a larger average salary to use on your products. Information like this can help tailor ads and remarketing.

How ads are displayed and positioned

We all have a general idea of what a Google SERP looks like. The ads are at the top and, depending on the keyword, there are featured snippets and all kinds of blocks served by Google to answer the searcher’s query.

Savvy searchers know when to avoid ads because of the mini Ads logo next to the meta descriptions. Blue Corona conducted a comparison study for Bing Ads and Google Ads and one of its findings claimed Microsoft’s ads appeared 34% higher in SERPs than Google’s.

Ad Rank matters in PPC advertising. You want the highest position possible for your targeted keyword and Microsoft Ads is the perfect place to start.

How customers interact with ads

Blue Corona also found Microsoft Ads had a CTR 34% higher than Google Ads. With Google Ads CTR going down on average, this is the perfect time to test a new network and a potentially more successful customer base. For certain industries, Microsoft Ads’s conversion rate was 56% higher than Google Ads.

Bing searchers are active and willing to spend more money.

Cost per click comparison

Since Google Ads has the vast majority of PPC traffic, there are fewer competitors on Microsoft Ads, which brings the average CPC down. FitSmallBusiness showed that the average CPC for Microsoft Advertising was $1.54. The last time Google Ads had an average CPC that low was in 2015! A lower CPC translates to a better ROI if you have the right tools on your side, like Adzooma.

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Microsoft Ads vs. Facebook Ads

Features

Search network vs. social media network is an easier comparison to make. It’s also more difficult to find significant advantages for one over the other. But Microsoft Ads vs. Facebook Ads is different because Facebook isn’t a search engine.
Read our article for more information about the effectiveness of Microsoft Ads compared to Google Ads.

Reach

Facebook says two billion people use its platform every month and over one billion people are connected to a business in a foreign country.

That’s a lot less than Bing users but as we said above, Bing users spend more than average search users when shopping on desktop.

It’s also worth noting there’s a difference in demographics between Microsoft Ads and Facebook Ads. Facebook’s audience is evenly spread while Bing’s audience is older and wealthier. Users between the ages of 45 and 64 were more likely to search on Bing, while Yahoo! was most popular for users aged 65 and over (and Bing serves all of Yahoo’s ads).

How ads are displayed and positioned

This is arguably the biggest difference between both networks.

Microsoft Ads uses the following ads types:

Standard text ads
Expanded text ads
Dynamic search ads
Product ads
Microsoft Audience ads
Microsoft Advertising in Bing Smart Search
App Install ads

In contrast, Facebook uses the following (courtesy of Instapage):

Carousel
Video
Link Ads
Instant Experience
Collection
Slideshow
Offers
Lead Gen
Messenger
Event Response

Both networks place their ads in different places. Microsoft has ads at the top of their SERPs while Facebook Ads placements range from standard Facebook feeds to right columns, Facebook Marketplace, Messenger Inbox, Instagram Stories and feeds.

How customers interact with ads

Because ad types and placements are different, so are interactions and behaviours around them.

Microsoft targets users by location, day and time, age, gender, and device. Microsoft Ads’s remarketing extensions can retarget customers who have engaged with ads before, using UET data.

Facebook covers the basic targeting criteria but also uses unique data like:

Retargeting on Facebook requires a Facebook Pixel or a Facebook SDK.

When it comes to CTR, Microsoft Advertising reigns supreme – 2.83% vs. Facebook’s 0.9% across all industries, according to Instapage. But Facebook’s conversion rate on those clicks is around 9.21%.

It all boils down to intent. What does your audience use Bing or Facebook for? Align your business purposes with their intent and watch your conversion rates grow.

Cost per click comparison

CPC is low for both platforms. Facebook’s is about $1.72 compared to Microsoft’s $1.54. With the difference being so minimal, it might be worth considering using both rather than one or the other. But that all depends on your audience and their behaviours and intentions.

Why Adzooma is the smarter Microsoft Ads tool

But wait – Microsoft Ads can do everything that Adzooma does by itself. Why would you choose Adzooma as your Microsoft Ads manager?

Because Adzooma is more flexible. It works with you and gives you the freedom to get results faster. We know you haven’t got time for complicated reports and tricky interfaces.

So our tool removes the hassle. Microsoft Ads tools only work for Microsoft. You need a platform that combines the powers of the best PPC advertising networks on the market. And that’s where Adzooma excels.

Whether you’re working on the search network or display network, Adzooma is the ultimate time-saving management platform.

The software uses machine learning to give you smarter suggestions you couldn’t find elsewhere. Automation helps you to manage everything from account level right down to your keywords. The rules are yours to set, the manual tasks are ours to do.

It’s the only Microsoft Ads tool you’ll ever need.

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