The short answer
- Start with Google Ads, then add Bing (Microsoft) Ads once Google Search is profitable. Google has far more search volume; Microsoft adds incremental reach on the same intent.
- Microsoft's own figure is a 38.1% share of US desktop searches (Comscore, March 2023) across Bing and its partners. Its search ads also show on Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, and inside Copilot.
- Neither platform publishes average CPCs. A smaller auction often means fewer bidders on the same keyword, but measure your own CPC and cost per conversion before moving budget.
- Microsoft's edge is B2B: bid adjustments by LinkedIn company, industry and job function. Google has no equivalent.
- Moving over is cheap: Microsoft imports Google Ads campaigns directly and can repeat the import on a schedule.
Bing Ads (now Microsoft Advertising) and Google Ads run the same model: keyword auctions, pay per click, Performance Max, Shopping from a product feed. The differences are reach, auction size, targeting and a few rules about budgets. This comparison sticks to what each platform documents itself.
Bing Ads vs Google Ads side by side
| Microsoft Ads (Bing) | Google Ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Search reach | Bing, plus partners Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia and others | Google Search, plus Google search partners |
| Other inventory | MSN, Microsoft Start, Edge, Outlook.com, publisher partners | YouTube, Gmail, Discover, Maps, Display Network |
| AI chat placement | Copilot, automatic for eligible campaigns, no opt-out | Not compared here |
| Minimum spend | No account minimum; USD minimum bid $0.05, minimum monthly budget $5 | No minimum; you set the budget |
| Daily budget rule | Daily budget is a target; Microsoft enforces the limit monthly | Can spend up to 2x the average daily budget on a day; monthly cap is 30.4x |
| B2B targeting | LinkedIn company, industry and job function bid adjustments | No LinkedIn data |
| Shopping feed | Microsoft Merchant Center; can import Google Merchant Center | Google Merchant Center |
| Import | Imports from Google Ads, Meta Ads and Pinterest Ads | Usually the source account others import from |
| Billing | Pay per click on Search and Shopping; CPM and cost per sale options | Pay per click on Search and Shopping |
The full Microsoft picture, including campaign types and the import steps, is in the Microsoft Ads guide.
Reach and audience
Google's search share is far larger, and that alone decides which platform you open first. Microsoft does not compete on total volume. It competes on what its slice looks like.
Three things are specific to Microsoft:
- Desktop weight. Microsoft's headline audience figures (6.4 billion monthly PC searches, 109 million unique PC users, 38.1% PC share) are all US desktop numbers, from March 2023. If your buyers research and purchase at a desk, that slice matters more than the overall share suggests.
- Partner sites. One Microsoft campaign reaches Bing, Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo and Ecosia searchers. You can restrict ads to Microsoft sites and select traffic in the ad distribution settings.
- Copilot. Search ads with a logo extension, Multimedia ads, and Shopping and Performance Max Product ads are eligible to serve inside Copilot answers. Microsoft does not report Copilot metrics separately.
Avoid audience claims you cannot check. Microsoft's current ads homepage describes "high-spend audiences" without numbers, so do not plan a budget on demographic assumptions. Plan it on your own conversion data.
CPC differences: what you can and cannot know
Bing Ads CPCs are often described as lower than Google's. Neither Microsoft nor Google publishes average CPCs by keyword, so treat any blanket percentage you read as a claim, not a fact.
What is structural and verifiable:
- On both, what you pay per click depends on who else is bidding on the term. Fewer advertisers in an auction tends to mean a lower price for that term.
- Minimums are low on both. Microsoft's USD minimum keyword bid is $0.05.
- Google can spend up to twice your average daily budget on a given day but caps the month at 30.4 times the daily figure. Microsoft treats daily budgets as a target and enforces a monthly limit.
The only CPC comparison that matters is yours. Run the same keyword set on both for four weeks and compare CPC, conversion rate and cost per conversion per keyword. A lower CPC with a worse conversion rate can still lose. The CPC calculator handles the math, and the Google Ads budget calculator helps size the Google side.
A worked example
Say a keyword costs $4.00 a click on Google and converts at 5%: $80 per conversion. On Microsoft the same keyword costs $3.00 but converts at 3.5%: about $86 per conversion. Cheaper clicks, more expensive customers. Flip the conversion rate to 5% on Microsoft and the cost falls to $60. Only your own data tells you which case you are in.
Features that differ
Where Microsoft has something Google does not
- LinkedIn profile targeting. Bid adjustments by company (up to 1,000 per ad group or campaign), industry and job function, on Search, Shopping, Audience and Performance Max campaigns targeting the US, UK, Canada, Australia, France or Germany. It is bid-only and does not narrow your audience.
- Cost per sale bidding for Shopping campaigns, where you pay only for a sale within 24 hours of a click.
- Cross-platform import from Google, Meta and Pinterest.
Where Google has more
- Inventory: YouTube, Gmail, Discover and Maps through Performance Max and Demand Gen.
- Search volume, which gives automated bidding more conversion data to learn from. Microsoft recommends at least 30 conversions before you evaluate an automated strategy; low-volume Microsoft campaigns take longer to get there.
Moving campaigns from Google to Bing
Microsoft's import connects to your Google Ads account and copies campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ads, bids and budgets. Options include raising or lowering every imported budget by a percentage and skipping budget updates on campaigns that already exist in Microsoft. Scheduling options are now, once, daily, weekly, monthly or auto.
The catch: a recurring import resets Microsoft campaigns to their Google settings, budgets included, and can reactivate campaigns you paused. Decide up front whether Google is the master copy (keep the schedule) or Microsoft runs independently (import once, then turn the schedule off).
After importing, add logo extensions for Copilot eligibility, install the UET tag, and rebuild negatives from Bing's own search terms. Microsoft's search terms differ from Google's, and negatives copied from Google will miss them. See fixing Microsoft Ads search terms.
Which to start with, and when to run both
Start with Google if you are new to search ads. More volume means faster learning, faster conversion data and quicker answers on which keywords work.
Add Microsoft when any of these is true:
- Google Search is profitable and your best campaigns are already capped by budget efficiency or impression share.
- You sell B2B and want company or job function bid adjustments on search intent.
- You run Shopping and already have a clean feed to import.
Running both: start Microsoft at 15 to 20% of the Google budget for the same campaigns, judge it on cost per conversion after four weeks, and move budget toward whichever platform delivers the cheaper conversion at the margin. Report both in one view so a blended number does not hide a losing campaign.
Running Bing and Google Ads together with Sprites
Sprites' proprietary marketing agent runs both platforms from one workspace. The Google Ads agent audits search terms, wasted spend, Quality Score and impression share, and creates and edits campaigns, keywords and negatives. The Microsoft agent analyzes and reports, creates and edits campaigns, ad groups, ads, keywords and negative keyword lists, and changes budgets and status.
Every change is an editable approval card that you approve before anything is applied. Google Ads alone is on the Build plan ($99 a month); Microsoft is part of Grow ($985 a month), which includes all six ads agents. See pricing; each plan starts with a 7-day trial for $1.
Next step: pick your three most profitable Google Search campaigns, import them into Microsoft at a reduced budget, and compare cost per conversion after four weeks.