Google Ads vs Microsoft Ads; Which is the best paid search platform?.
When we think of pay-per-click (PPC), majority of people tend to think Google Ads straight away – but, there is actually two major PPC platforms; Google Ads and Microsoft Ads.
In this journal post, we compare the two to determine if one is better than the other.
In the world of marketing, there always has been and always will be a big debate on which PPC platform is the best one between Google Ads and Microsoft Ads.
They both do a similar job – and you could see them as competitors against each other; but rather than comparing them – they actually work best together.
Stop seeing it as Google Ads vs Microsoft Ads and see it as Microsoft Ads and Google Ads.
Let’s start comparing the two platforms…
Google Ads
Within the Google Ads platform, there are two different types of networks to choose from…
1. The Search Network: On the search network, advertisers can create text-based ads which appear across Google’s results pages.
2. The Display Network: On the Display Network, advertisers can create graphical ads, utilising imagery, to appear on a number of different websites across the internet.
There is a difference between these 2 platforms.
On the search network, the users will search for search term that includes, or is relevant to your selected keywords – your ad will appear under this search to entice the user to click onto your website.
The display network is a little bit different, the user is not usually searching for your products or services but may have shown interest in them previously or may be on a website related to them so an ad is pushed out to them.
Microsoft Ads
Microsoft Ads works very similarly to Google Ads’ Search Network – but instead of using one search engine; Microsoft Ads actually uses three.
- Bing
- AOL
- Yahoo
So, any advert you are running through Microsoft Ads is promoted across all three of these different search engines, including their relevant partner websites.
But, how are these platforms also very similar?
- Description Text
Google and Microsoft Ads allow a field of up to 80 characters, which is know as the ‘description text’. This is usually the section underneath the headlines, describing what your brand, products or service is all about.
2. Keywords
Google and Microsoft use keywords to help promote the ads infront of people searching for those keywords. Both platforms offer research tools, broad match targeting as well as implementing negative keywords – however, Microsoft’s traffic volume is a lot lower.
3. Click-Through Rate
Microsoft Ads usually get a higher click-through rate for the shopping and financial industry, due to MSN and Yahoo’s financial reporting.
There are a number of different industries which can do better one one platform, but not on another – or vice versa – so this is where using the 2 platforms together comes in to play to help trial if there is demand on another platform or not.
4. Language
You can choose over 40 languages to serve ads through on Google Ads, where as Microsoft only allows you to use 12.
5. Interface & Updates
Google Ads is a huge leader when it comes to changing and amending the PPC industry. Microsoft usually tend to follow the trend of Google.
For example, when Google Ads introduced Expanded Text Ads and Structured Snippets, they were later implemented into Microsoft Ads’ platform.
6. Reach
The reach difference between the two platforms is pretty… vast. Google accounts for over 85.5% of searches across all search engines, with Bing only getting 7.61% of all searches.
However, Bing does gather over 1.2 billion searches per month – which you may be missing out on if you aren’t using Microsoft Ads.
7. Cost
Google Ads has the most reach, but Microsoft Ads tends to be the cheaper platform out of the 2.
When using Microsoft Ads, you will see a 36% reducation in competition than Google Ads and the average cost per click (CPC) on Bing is £6.60 whereas it is £16.59 on Google.
So, which platform performs the best?
If you only have the budget for 1 platform, then Google Ads is a really good start. It has the most users, the most options, always ahead of the trends and it is much more easier to transfer Google Ads campaigns across in to Microsoft Ads once you are ready.
Microsoft Ads is brilliant for complementing the work of your Google Ads campaigns, filling in any of the gaps in your online presence. Using both platforms together will help you reach new people who may prefer Bing over Google, or Google over Bing.
If you want to find out more about PPC, then book a discovery call with us today.
