PPC ads are undoubtedly effective way in driving traffic to your website. We’ve discussed the countless ways services like AdWords can engage the interests of your target audiences, and draw in more promising prospects to your site. But like any strategy, all parts must work in order for results to be present. It’s similar with PPC. While your PPC ads may engage the interests of your predominant consumer-base, a lower CTR (click-through-rate) may result if the search-engine does not optimally advertise the ad.
While Google remains the predominant search engine, Bing’s search market share is actually growing faster than Google‘s, with AdWords experiencing a slight decline in PPC in recent years. Why? A lot has to do with what Bing offers to advertisers who choose to showcase their PPC ads on their search engine.
For one thing, Bing has cheaper CPC because there is less competition. The auction is strikingly similar to that of Google AdWords, so the cost-per-click is significantly lower for PPC ads because there are less competitors to bid against. According to Wordstream, clients who used Bing instead of Google experienced 33.5% cheaper ads and oftentimes their ad-positions were significantly better than their Google counterparts. There is also this element of control that Bing offers. As we’ve mentioned in a previous post, Google AdWords provides many significant features (ie. Display Search Ads), and there’s certainly a level of control many advertisers have in using them. However, Google AdWords requires that you setup features like network, location, language, & ad rotation at the campaign level, constraining you on this level. Bing is unique in that it enables you to make these adjustments at the ad-group level so you don’t have to create an entirely new campaign to make these changes.
Though Bing is clearly effective. we cannot say that it entirely outweighs Google. It depends on the ad that’s being advertised as reported in case studies by several agencies. Google in itself is just a powerhouse. It began 6 years earlier than Bing and has more refined systems and algorithms as a result. Algorithms rely mainly on past data to drive the current version of algorithms, so having substantially more data than Bing to use for it’s Algorithms just naturally yields to more search results. This would make it easier for relevant PPC ads to surface in browsers’ search results in many cases. Not all. But in many cases.
So while there are pro’s and con’s to each option, it really boils down to analyzing your ad, and discerning which search-engine would be best suited for it. Trial and error is a great tactic. Both Bing and AdWords provide transparent results which allow you to identify relevant performance trends. Because without a search engine that complements your campaign, you may not generate the results you desire. And in this fast paced world of digital marketing, it’s worth taking the time to figure out which search-engine will make your ad shine.
If you are interested in using AdWords to improve your PPC, identify those areas of you current account which could be optimized by trying out our free AdWords grader here!