What Is Microsoft Ads?
Microsoft Ads, previously known as Bing Ads, is Microsoft's self-serve pay-per-click advertising platform. When someone searches on Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, or any of the Microsoft Search Network's partner properties, Microsoft Ads determines which paid listings appear and in what order.
The auction mechanism works similarly to Google Ads: advertisers bid on keywords, write ad copy, and pay only when a user clicks their ad.
Beyond search, Microsoft Ads extends to the Microsoft Audience Network, which includes placements on MSN, Microsoft Edge's new tab page, Outlook, and third-party partner sites. This display layer allows advertisers to run native ads, responsive ads, and video ads to audiences across Microsoft's broader ecosystem.
One distinctive feature is the ability to layer LinkedIn profile data, including job title, industry, and company name, onto search and audience targeting, making Microsoft Ads particularly powerful for B2B campaigns.
The platform supports a full range of campaign types: search, shopping, dynamic search ads, performance max, and display.
Campaign imports from Google Ads are straightforward through the built-in import tool, which means businesses already running Google campaigns can launch on Microsoft Ads with minimal additional setup.
This is a key reason many PPC agencies recommend Microsoft Ads as a complementary channel rather than a replacement.
Microsoft Ads In Practice
The two scenarios below are illustrative examples, not Juicy Designs client results. The figures indicate the scale of effect that Microsoft Ads work typically produces, so treat them as indicative rather than measured.
Consider a Johannesburg-based financial services firm targeting business owners searching for "business accounting software" or "tax consultant Sandton". On Google Ads, such keywords attract heavy competition and high cost per click.
Microsoft Ads, reaching a predominantly professional and older demographic through Bing, would typically deliver the same intent-driven traffic at something in the region of 20 to 40% lower cost.
For a firm spending around R10,000 per month on Google Ads, adding a Microsoft Ads budget of around R3,000 could plausibly extend reach to an incremental audience that never appears in Google's data.
South African B2B companies in sectors like logistics, insurance, and professional services are well placed to benefit.
Because Microsoft Ads allows targeting by LinkedIn job title or seniority level, imagine a Pretoria-based HR solutions company: it could serve ads exclusively to HR managers and directors, avoiding wasted spend on irrelevant clicks.
The combination of lower CPCs and precise professional targeting makes Microsoft Ads an underutilised but effective tool in the South African paid media mix.
What Microsoft Ads is
Microsoft Advertising (Microsoft Ads, formerly Bing Ads) is Microsoft's online advertising platform, which lets businesses run pay-per-click search ads (and other ad types) that appear on the Bing search engine and across Microsoft's search network, which includes Bing, Yahoo, and the search built into Windows and Microsoft products, as well as partner sites. It works much like Google Ads: advertisers bid on keywords, create ads, and pay when people click, targeting searchers on Microsoft's network. Microsoft Ads reaches the audience that uses Bing and Microsoft's search rather than Google, which, while smaller than Google's, is a meaningful audience, often including desktop, business and older demographics, and users of Windows and Microsoft products. A notable advantage frequently cited is that Microsoft Ads typically has less competition than Google Ads, which can mean lower costs per click and good value for advertisers, and it allows importing campaigns from Google Ads, making it straightforward to extend existing search campaigns to the Microsoft network. Microsoft Ads has also gained prominence because Bing powers some AI search experiences (such as Microsoft Copilot and, relevantly, the index ChatGPT draws on), giving Bing renewed strategic importance. Understanding Microsoft Ads matters because it offers access to the search audience Google Ads does not reach, often at lower cost and with easy campaign import, so for many businesses it is a worthwhile complement to Google Ads, capturing additional search traffic and, increasingly, connecting to the Bing-powered AI-search ecosystem, rather than an alternative to be overlooked.
Is Microsoft Ads worth using
Whether Microsoft Ads is worth using, typically alongside Google Ads rather than instead of it, depends on the audience and economics, but for many businesses it is a worthwhile addition. The case for it rests on a few points: it reaches searchers on Bing and Microsoft's network who are not captured by Google Ads, extending total search reach; competition is often lower than on Google, which can mean lower costs per click and strong value, sometimes with good conversion rates from the desktop and business-leaning audience Bing skews towards; and campaigns can be imported from Google Ads, so extending to Microsoft Ads is low-effort, letting a business test the Microsoft network with existing campaigns and modest additional work. The main consideration is audience size and fit: Bing's share is smaller than Google's, so the volume available is lower, and whether it is worthwhile depends on whether your audience uses Bing and Microsoft products enough to make the additional reach and its economics worthwhile for your business. For many, the sensible approach is to run Google Ads as the primary search channel and add Microsoft Ads to capture the extra, often cheaper, Bing audience, importing campaigns and then optimising for the Microsoft network, treating it as incremental reach and value rather than a replacement. The growing role of Bing in AI search (powering Copilot and informing what some AI assistants surface) adds a further reason to maintain a presence in the Microsoft ecosystem. For a South African business, Microsoft Ads is available and can be worthwhile as a complement to Google Ads, particularly given the low-competition value and easy campaign import, provided its audience includes enough Bing and Microsoft users to justify the additional channel, which is usually best determined by testing it with imported campaigns and measuring the results.
FAQ
Is Microsoft Ads worth using alongside Google Ads?
Yes, for most businesses. Microsoft Ads reaches a different audience segment, often older and more affluent users, at a lower cost per click. Importing your Google Ads campaigns takes minutes and can unlock incremental conversions without significant extra management effort.
Can South African businesses advertise on Microsoft Ads?
Yes. Microsoft Ads supports South African advertisers and allows geo-targeting to South African cities and regions. While Bing search volume in South Africa is lower than Google, the platform also grants access to LinkedIn audience data for B2B targeting, which is valuable for professional services firms.