Why Microsoft Ads deserve a spot in your budget
Plenty of people never change the default search engine on a work laptop or a new Windows PC. Edge opens to Bing, the Windows search bar uses Bing, and Microsoft's Copilot assistant draws on Bing results too. Those searchers include office managers booking commercial cleaning, property managers hunting for contractors, and homeowners researching a remodel at their desk during lunch.
Microsoft Advertising lets you reach that audience with the same kind of search ads you run on Google. Because fewer local competitors bother to advertise there, clicks can come at a lower cost in some trades and towns. If your company already pays for Google Ads anywhere in New Jersey and New York, adding Microsoft is often one of the simpler ways to find extra leads without rebuilding a strategy from scratch. Setup is fast when a working Google account already exists.
How Microsoft Advertising campaigns work
Microsoft Advertising works much like Google Ads: you bid on keywords, write responsive search ads, add assets such as sitelinks and call extensions, and set location and schedule targeting. Ads can appear on Bing, Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo and in Microsoft Copilot experiences, with optional placement on the Microsoft Audience Network across MSN, Outlook and Edge. Tracking runs through the UET tag, which records calls, forms and purchases as conversions.
One feature Google lacks is LinkedIn profile targeting. In the United States, you can adjust bids for searchers based on their company, industry or job function, which is useful for commercial services and B2B firms. Microsoft also offers Performance Max and Shopping campaigns for retailers. We set up each campaign to fit how Microsoft's auction and audience behave, instead of assuming a Google strategy will translate perfectly.
Microsoft Ads mistakes that cost small businesses
The most common mistake is importing a Google Ads account once and never touching it again. Imports bring over keywords and ads but also settings that may not fit, like broad location targeting or audience network placements left on by default. Months later, budget is flowing to irrelevant sites or searches in other states while nobody checks the search terms report.
We also see accounts with no UET tag or broken conversion goals, so Microsoft has nothing to optimize toward and automated bidding guesses blindly. Another issue is copying Google bids straight across, when Microsoft's costs and volume are different. Finally, many owners forget that Microsoft runs its own free business listing service, Bing Places for Business, which affects how your business appears in local results. We review all of this in an audit and fix the settings, tracking and negative keyword lists before scaling spend.
How we measure Microsoft Ads performance
We judge Microsoft campaigns by the same standard as every paid channel: real inquiries that turn into paying work, at a lead cost your margins can support. Call tracking numbers and UET conversion goals show exactly which keywords and ads produced inquiries. Because Microsoft volume is usually smaller than Google's, we review results over longer windows to avoid overreacting to a slow week.
Monthly reports show Microsoft side by side with Google Ads, so you can see the cost per lead and lead quality from each. When the numbers support it, we shift budget toward whichever engine is producing better work. We also watch the search terms report closely, since Microsoft's broad matching can surface unexpected queries. Your Microsoft Advertising account is registered in your business name, and you keep full access to it and its data.