When It Comes To Search Engine Advertising, Google’s Rival Is Gaining Ground
With Christmas bells ringing, there are compelling reasons why digital marketers should turn their heads to search engines outside of Google, writes Paul Korber (pictured below), regional vice president of customer success for the Asia Pacific at Marin Software.
We know that once a brand becomes a verb, it’s well and truly in the lead of its competitors. So, it’s no surprise that Google’s dominance in the search marketplace has been firmly held and that advertisers often neglect other search engines in their digital advertising efforts. While Google’s influence still remains comfortably unchallenged, there are compelling reasons that digital marketers should be advertising on other search engines as well.
As an advertising channel, search can be one of the best ways to reach consumers when they’re in the process of actively researching a product. Whether it’s quickly searching for the location of a restaurant, or beginning the research process for a high-consideration purchase like a new car, search is the channel that most businesses need to invest in if they want to be top of mind during the online customer journey.
Paired with retargeting, search advertising technologies have become more advanced and complex over the last decade, and many organisations are still learning how to make full use of the capabilities of paid search advertising. This, combined with a limited search advertising budget, can be a major constraint for advertisers despite clear evidence that the investment is worth it.
It’s unsurprising that Google is still king in paid search investment, with the search engine giant accounting for 81 per cent of desktop searches and 96 per cent of mobile searches. However, Bing is emerging as a player worth considering.
Organisations investing in Google are allocating an average of 83 per cent of their spend to the search company, while those investing in Bing are allocating 20 per cent of their total paid search spend. On average, 72 per cent of organisations are planning to increase their investment in Google over the next 12 months, while 36 per cent plan to do the same on Bing.
Bing is the second largest search engine after Google. According to comScore, Bing receives 6.2 billion searches a month. What’s more, people searching on Bing and Yahoo sites see advertisements that are powered by Bing Ads. According to those stats, that means you can reach one in three people who are searching for information, products and services. By no means am I suggesting you should stop search advertising on Google, just that Bing is hardly deserving of being overlooked by advertisers.
In the words of Old El Paso, “Why don’t we have both?” Advertisers are more likely to get the best return on investment by implementing search advertising across multiple search engines, with statistics showing Google and Bing reach the most consumers. A study by Marin Software found that replicating ad campaigns across search providers is advertisers’ biggest challenge around delivering ROI from paid search. This confirms a major opportunity for advertisers wanting to dominate as much advertising space as possible.
Most good things don’t come without their challenges. In the same report, a ‘lack of funding’ and ‘lack of support for investing in paid search’ was cited as organisations’ greatest challenge when wanting to duplicate search ad campaigns across search providers. This is a challenge that could imminently lead to their fall from the top in the paid search market, literally.
To address this hurdle, one of the most important features Bing Ads has implemented in recent years is the ability to import existing campaigns directly from Google AdWords. This makes the platform’s adoption by new and returning advertisers a painless process. To make cross-publisher management even easier, Bing Ads now offers automated imports to enable advertisers to synchronise their Google campaigns with their Bing counterparts on a recurring basis.
If you’re not already advertising on Bing, chances are your competitors aren’t, either. The relatively low competition on Bing offers the opportunity for advertisers to accrue incremental traffic with the same level of search intent as your Google campaigns. And, the ability to cross-publish ad campaigns via emerging software means that you don’t have to sacrifice your search-ads on Google – or your budget– to do so.
Another benefit of replicating paid search campaigns across both Bing and Google is that Bing doesn’t force close variants on you. Whilst Google effectively killed off exact and phrase match keywords as we used to know them by forcing a “close variant” matching target onto all AdWords accounts, Bing’s option to include close variant queries as matches, remains just that– an option.
Replicating search ad campaigns across both Google and Bing offers advertisers the best of both worlds. You would be crazy to believe that investing in paid search advertising on Google isn’t worthwhile – just take one look at its monopoly. You could also be making a big mistake by overlooking the benefits of replicating these search campaigns across Bing. Bing increasingly accounts for a huge amount of search traffic, as well as offering a far less cluttered market and open variant queries. Most importantly, replicating search ad campaigns across both Google and Bing will give you an unfair share of search advertising real estate, and who doesn’t want a slice of that?
Please login with linkedin to comment
Bing Bing Ads Google Google AdWords Marin Software Paul Korber search engine advertisingLatest News
History Has Arrived: It’s The Cairns Crocodiles Inaugural Shortlist
Pen the acceptance speech and ready your best thongs and muumuu, because the Cairns Crocodiles shortlist has arrived.
IAS Launches First-To-Market Integration With Roblox To Provide 3D Immersive Measurement
Integral Ad Science, a global media measurement and optimization platform, today announced a market integration with Roblox, a global immersive platform for connection and communication. Available for advertising campaigns on Roblox later this year, IAS’s Viewability and Invalid Traffic (IVT) Measurement products will provide advertisers increased transparency into the quality of their Immersive Ads within […]
Fast And Furious: Top Gear Australia Launch Thrilled Motorheads, Car Entusiasts And Guests
B&T is still no closer to knowing who the new Stig is, except that she is a woman and a ridiculously fast.
TV Ratings (02/05/2024): Seven’s The 1% Club Wins The Night
The 1% club did not live up to its name when it comes to TV ratings last night.
TRA Welcomes Raft Of New Hires; Bolstering Expertise Across Markets
Insights and research agency TRA announces slew of new hires. Still no news on the return of marble wash denim, however.
CX Lavender Hires Boston Consulting Group’s Kim Verbrugghe as Chief Strategy Officer
CX Lavender announces new strategy hire and channels 'acoustic folk act at local RSL' for the publicity pic.
Opinion: Community standards, will they be the death of us?
This columnist is talking community standards. Sadly not those people who put dogs in trolleys in supermarkets.
Tegel gets heads bobbing with new free-range chicken platform
Sure, there's a lot of moral considerations when buying a chook. Yet, not as baffling as buying eggs or canned tuna.
Study: 66% of Aussie men believe masculinity is under attack
Two-thirds of Aussie blokes say masculinity's under attack. That said, sales of Solo lemon drink appear robust.
‘Equal Writes’: Canyon reveals new campaign and refreshed brand for women and non-binary writers
As this brand redesign again proves, nothing beats black on white. Well, white on black in this instance.
Icon Agency bolsters consumer and integrated offer with major hires
Icon Agency unveils new recruits. As press photo confirms office moustache competition now a lay-down misère.
Clemenger launches agricultural graduate program
Has Farmer Wants A Wife triggered an interest in dagging & hay balers? This grads program may resonate.
Levi’s Appoint UM As Global Media Agency For $217m Account
Levi's are the jeans for rockstars, models & the cool kids. Although that's not stopped dads from ruining their image.
QMS Nabs Sean Rigby From oOh!media
Things set to get spicy at the next Outdoor Media Association dinner and dance as a rival gets poached.
Bumble Reveals New Brand Identity To Usher In New Era Of Dating
It's ironic that all the dating apps market themselves as having no weirdos, freaks or mummy's boys like their rivals.
Stay In The House From Up! Airbnb Introduces Icons
Airbnb is now letting people stay in "iconic" places that sadly doesn't include the house from Silence Of The Lambs.
Changing The Conversation: The Role Of Media In Ending Violence Against Women
Governments are finally waking up to the DV crisis. Here, B&T chats with Jasmin Bedir on the role media can play.
“If You Want To Listen To Something Else, Go For It”: Fifi Box On Blocking Out The Noise & Focussing On What Works
No one is at the coal face of Melbourne radio like Fifi Box. Here, she chats with B&T without coughing up a lung.
Spotlight On Sponsors: Ferrari Signs Landmark New Title Sponsor
B&T continuing our series on sports sponsorships. And, yet again, there's little good news for the ten pin bowlers.
Choose A Path Less Trodden This Cannes In Cairns
Not since Wonka opened the factory has there been such a hot ticket in town. Here's how to make the most of Cairns.
Cannes In Cairns MC Keeva Stratton Shares Her Top Session Picks
Quip boss calls out her highlights of the Cannes agenda. We're assuming B&T staff b-boy demonstration was an oversight.
Here Are The Agencies That Made AFR’s Best Places To Work List And What The Industry Can Learn From Them
Did your office not make the list? Make sure your boss shouts at least two schooners at office drinks come Friday.
Get Ready, B&T’s Best Of The Best Is Back With The Top Holding Company Executive Leaders – Creative!
Want to know who the Grandest of the Grand Poobahs in the industry are? Look no further than this exhaustive list.
How A Glittering Campaign Helped The Australian Museum Sell 400,000 Tickets
B&T thoroughly enjoyed the Ramses exhibition at The Australian Museum, despite thinking we were going to the Archibald.
TV Ratings (30/04/2024): A “Shoey” Straight From A Fish’s Mouth Launches The Cheap Seats Into 2024
Last night's TV saw horny farmers beat Lego nerds, who beat fame-obsessed home cooks, who beat a chap with a large fish.
Spotlight Extends Partnership With Starlight Children’s Foundation
B&T always happy to promote the excellent work of the Starlight Foundation. Less so the Starfish Fanciers Foundation.
Amazon’s Advertising Quarterly Revenue Soars To $11.8bn
There are so many Amazon couriers visiting B&T headquarters at the moment our office dog doesn't know who to maul first.
VML Wellington Welcomes Jacob McGregor As Pou Ārahi Māori
McGregor set to lead cultural competency and safety at VML Wellington in important new gig.
“They Grow Up So Fast”: Simon Fowler On Five Years Of ABEL
Abel's CEO talks lessons learned from the agency's first five years. Including staff nicking all the Nespresso capsules.
Kyle & Jackie O Urge Melbourne To Pick A Side
Who can stop Kyle & Jackie O's indelible march into Melbourne radio? Is Peter 'Moony' Moon waiting by the phone?
Future & Taika Waititi Feature In Striking New Global Belvedere Campaign
Not only does drinking vodka make you cool like these dudes, it also has great weight loss properties for the bone idle.
The Fall Of Bonza: A Case Study In How To, And Not To, React In A Crisis
Does the collapse of yet another budget airline hark back to a gentler time of 17 hours spent on a Greyhound bus?
Opinion: Agencies, Be Unique – Stop Using The Word “Unique!”
Trinity P3's Ellie Angell says agencies are overusing the word unique. You could add omnichannel & holisitic to that.
Ex Marketing & Advertising Exec Releases Melanoma Memoir
Ex-adlander Anne Gately has penned a tome to skin cancer. Which is a handy reminder to check your moles, people.
Mamamia Appoint Danni Wright As New Head Of Strategy
Danni Wright takes up Mamamia's strategy reins with a feng shui expert called over positioning of office chaise lounge.
From The Bureau: Championing Competency & Cross-Industry Collaboration
The IAB's Jonas Jaanimagi calls for more specialisation in adtech. Meaning you'll understand it less than you already do.