The second channel
Microsoft Ads for Manchester businesses
Cheaper clicks on the search engine nobody chose
Microsoft Ads is worth running for a Manchester business when three things are true: your buyers search from desks in office hours, the Google Ads account is already clean enough to copy, and the cheaper clicks cover the small weekly cost of keeping a second account tidy. When they are, the Google campaigns are imported into Microsoft Ads, the differences are corrected, and Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo searches arrive at a lower cost per click on their own line of the monthly report. It sits inside the flat fee, which starts at £249 a month across both engines, and it is never the first thing we build.
Who is on it
The default on the work laptop, and the person who never changed it
Bing is the search box in Windows, in Edge and on a great many corporate machines locked down by an IT department. The people using it are not enthusiasts; they are at work, and they are often older and buying for a business.
| Manchester business | Worth the import? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier in Trafford Park selling to other firms | Yes, early | Buyers at desks on locked-down laptops, office hours, quote requests |
| Accountant or solicitor in the city centre | Yes | Desk searches, an older client base, dearer Google clicks to escape from |
| Online shop with a product feed | Yes, after Shopping is clean | Microsoft Shopping imports the feed; a cheaper second shelf for the same products |
| Emergency plumber in Bolton | Rarely | Phone searches at odd hours, mostly on Google; Bing has too few of them to learn from |
| Restaurant in the Northern Quarter | No | Evening phone searches; the volume on Bing is not there |
| Private clinic in Didsbury | Sometimes | Lunchtime desk searches for treatments exist on Bing; test it for a quarter and keep it if it books |
How it is set up
Import, then correct what is different
- 1
Google first
Nothing is imported until the Google account has a clean search terms report, proven conversions and a full negative list. Copying a mess makes two messes.
- 2
Import
Campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ads and negatives come across through the built-in import, with a schedule so later changes on Google follow automatically.
- 3
Correct
Bids come down, because the auction is thinner. The UET tag is installed and tested. Location targeting is re-checked; the import does not always keep it. Performance Max has no equivalent, so Shopping carries the feed.
- 4
Read
The search terms on Microsoft are read weekly like Google's. They are often stranger, and the negative list grows from them.
How it is judged
Its own line, its own cost per outcome
The report never adds the two engines together. Microsoft gets its own spend, its own calls, forms or orders, and its own cost per outcome beside Google's, so you can see whether the cheaper click was also the cheaper customer. Usually it is; sometimes the click is cheap because the person was less ready to buy, and the line shows that too.
Budget moves to whichever engine produced the outcomes last month, and if Microsoft stops earning its place after a quarter it is paused, not defended. The fee does not change either way, because it is set by what you spend across both engines, not by how many accounts we keep.
Keep reading
Next door to this page
Ads for B2B leads
The goal where Microsoft Ads earns its place most often.
Google Ads management
The first channel, which has to be clean before this one is copied from it.
Pricing
Microsoft Ads sits inside the fee, by total spend.
Get a quote
Say who your buyers are; the reply says whether Bing is worth the import.
Questions about Microsoft Ads
Is Microsoft Ads worth it for a Manchester business?
For some. It is worth it when your buyer is at a desk in office hours, when the Google account is already clean enough to copy, and when the extra fifteen minutes a week of maintenance is covered by the cheaper clicks. It is not worth it for a one-van trade whose customers search on a phone in the evening; we say which you are before setting it up.
Where do Microsoft Ads appear?
On Bing, on Yahoo and DuckDuckGo search results through Microsoft's network, and in Windows and Edge search boxes. Nearly all of it is people who never changed the default on a work laptop, which is why the audience skews to offices and to older buyers.
Do you rebuild the campaigns or copy them?
Import them from Google Ads, then change what is different: the negative lists are checked because match types behave slightly differently, the bids are lower because the auction is thinner, and Performance Max has no direct equivalent so the Shopping campaign carries that work.
What does Microsoft Ads management cost?
It is inside the monthly fee, not a separate charge. The fee is set by total ad spend across both engines: £249 up to £1,000, £399 up to £3,000, £599 up to £8,000, excluding VAT. Microsoft comes in at Growth when the numbers justify it and is included at Scale.
Can I track calls and forms from Bing the same way?
Yes. The UET tag does what Google's tag does, call tracking works with a forwarding number, and the conversions land in the same monthly report on their own line so the two engines are compared on cost per outcome, not lumped together.
Will it cannibalise my Google campaigns?
No, because it is a different search engine with different people on it. A search on Bing was never going to be a search on Google. The only overlap is your budget, which is why the report shows each engine's cost per outcome separately and moves money to whichever is producing.
Why not run Microsoft Ads first, since it is cheaper?
Because there is less of it. A cheap click on a thin auction still needs enough searches a month to learn from, and for most Manchester sectors Bing does not have them. Google is where the volume is; Microsoft is the second channel once the first is in order.
Say what the ads are for. The fee and the first three changes come back in writing.
Calls, sales, bookings or leads, roughly what you spend, and the part of Greater Manchester you sell to. Daniel Stoychev reads it himself and answers within one working day with the tier, the fee and what he would change first. Already spending? The free check reads your account in 72 hours.