Microsoft Advertising reaches a desktop-focused, affluent audience that Google Ads can’t, often at a lower cost per dollar raised.
Diversify your paid search strategy with an 85/15 budget split favoring Google while testing Microsoft for efficiency gains.
Use Google Ads campaigns as a starting framework, but optimize for Microsoft’s unique audience and performance patterns.
Monitor the Microsoft Audience Network and broad match keywords closely to avoid wasted spend.
Why Microsoft Advertising deserves a place in your paid search strategy
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1. Reach potential donors who don’t use Google
The most obvious benefit of tapping into Microsoft Advertising inventory is that it’s the only way to reach people who don’t use Google. Yes, they do exist.
While Bing makes up somewhere around 4% of the worldwide search market—plus another 1% from Yahoo!, AOL, and DuckDuckGo—that small sliver of the market represents billions of searches every single month.
2. Tap into a desktop-focused, affluent audience
According to comScore data shared by Microsoft, the Microsoft Search Network audience comprises more than 100 million unique users in the United States alone, which makes up nearly 40% of the PC search market share. Moreover, 41% of that audience has a household income level that falls within the top 25%.
Nonprofits can always expect to receive donations from people using smartphones and tablets, but the most engaged and valuable donors are often those using desktop devices. There’s no question that Microsoft Advertising’s reach on mobile is limited, but there is still a sizable population of potential donors on desktop who can only be reached with this platform.
3. Maximize your digital advertising spend
Paid search has long been a cornerstone of effective digital fundraising strategies. And with all the challenges nonprofits have faced on Meta over the last couple of years, it is a more attractive opportunity than ever.
There’s no question that Google is still the king of the search game, specifically regarding pure scalability, but what we’ve seen over the past few years is that Microsoft Advertising frequently outperforms Google Ads on a cost per dollar raised (CPDR)/return on ad spend (ROAS) basis—sometimes by as much as 35%.
Scale remains an issue for this platform because the user base isn’t growing at an especially fast pace, but it’s not unusual to see Microsoft Advertising right near the top of the list in terms of fundraising efficiency. So, if your organization places a heavy emphasis on metrics such as CPDR or ROAS, this could be a key opportunity to explore further.
3 tips for maximizing Microsoft Advertising results
So, now that we’ve covered some reasons why you might want to consider adding or increasing your investment in Microsoft Advertising, here are some best practices to keep in mind.
1. Don’t sacrifice your Google Ads strategy for Microsoft Advertising
Despite our enthusiasm for taking full advantage of the entire search engine marketing landscape, Microsoft Advertising should not command more of your budget and attention than Google. Until there is some sort of dramatic shift in usage or performance, Google Ads should be and will be your primary paid search platform.
If your organization operates on a razor-thin advertising budget, you can focus your efforts on Google. But if your budget is big enough, there's good reason to consider diversifying your paid search approach. We often recommend using an 85/15 budget split in favor of Google Ads as a starting point, but allocations across platforms will look different for every organization’s media plan.
2. Use your Google Ads strategy as an initial framework, don’t mirror it
One of the biggest mistakes we see from organizations using Microsoft Advertising is when they simply copy their existing Google Ads strategy and metaphorically paste it into Microsoft Advertising.
The core tenets of search engine marketing certainly apply to Microsoft Advertising, so it should all feel very familiar to anyone who’s spent any time in Google Ads. Beyond the similarities in core functionality, however, these are two very different advertising platforms that have some unique nuances.
Using your existing Google Ads campaigns as a starting point is a good idea, but you’ll probably find that some campaigns, keywords, and ads work well on one platform and not the other, so track performance and optimize as needed.
3. Approach the Audience Network and broad match keywords with caution
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Ultimately, Microsoft Advertising can play an impactful role in your digital fundraising program. As with any digital advertising channel, we always recommend beginning with a test budget and scaling up from there if the results are strong and there is room for growth.
Insights
Insight
Now is the time to rethink your fundraising strategy and prioritize monthly giving
When putting together a paid search strategy for our clients, we often get asked whether we think it’s worth targeting users on Bing. Given Google’s nearly 90% share of the search market, it’s a fair question. There are a variety of reasons why we may or may not recommend including Microsoft Advertising (formerly known as Bing Ads) in the advertising channel mix, but when we do, here are three reasons why it’s a tactic we often encourage clients to consider for their digital fundraising strategy.
The Microsoft Audience Network (MSAN) is a collection of sites (e.g., MSN, Outlook, etc.) that feature native display ad units that function in a fundamentally different capacity than traditional search ads, but they are a core component of Microsoft Advertising. Advertisers recently lost the ability to opt out of the MSAN altogether, so it’s not unusual to see some of your paid search budget flowing toward “Audience Ads” in the platform. These placements should never eat up a large percentage of your budget, but they can drag down your overall efficiency, so it’s worth monitoring this closely and manually excluding sites from the MSAN as needed.
It's also a good idea to limit your exposure to broad match keywords whenever possible. While smart bidding strategies in Google Ads can (sometimes) help you maximize your campaign reach and scale using broad match keywords, Microsoft Advertising’s algorithm has always been especially generous in matching keywords with users’ search queries. And because smart bidding strategies have never worked quite as well on Microsoft Advertising for one reason or another, your broad match keywords could burn through hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars every month without much to show for it if you’re not diligently keeping an eye on reporting data.
