In recent years, Microsoft Ads, an advertising service from the globally renowned corporation, has come second in popularity after Google Ads. The rapid development of Microsoft Ads is not surprising: the "Microsoft" search engine Bing is gaining a larger audience, thus increasing the significance of promotion through it. The question arises: "How effective is traffic redirection in affiliate marketing through Microsoft Ads?". Let's figure out Microsoft Ads' pros and cons.
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General Statistics of Microsoft Ads and the Bing Search Engine
The Microsoft Search Network includes several major services — Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft News, not to mention a group of local partner sites worldwide. By the beginning of 2022, the total audience of Microsoft Ads had surpassed 1 billion users, mainly residing in Tier-1 countries and China.
At the same time, 64% of the views of "Microsoft" advertising come from residents of the United States. Detailed statistics show that this is a respectable audience — 57% have a university degree, 21% are businessmen, and 20% of users hold high positions in companies and government corporations. This is a financially capable audience: 54% of users earn over $75 000 a year.
About 71% of Microsoft Ads users are over 35 years old, with slightly more men than women. Interestingly, 50 million people from this cohort do not use Google products at all, so advertising targeted through Google Ads simply does not reach them.
It is important to note that the integration of Chat GPT into the Bing search engine has led to explosive growth in its popularity among Chinese citizens: today, the largest number of users — 37.4% — are residents of China. The second place in search traffic is occupied by Americans, and the third place, with a modest 5%, is shared by France, Germany, and Japan.
Microsoft Ads for affiliate marketing: features of offer scrolling, allowable verticals, and types of advertising
Since the majority of the audience is in the United States, the following queries work well among Microsoft's media offers:
- Solar panels — the trend for private ecology in the West in recent years is enormous;
- Insect repellents;
- Dietary supplements and any rejuvenating nutraceuticals;
- Beauty products — for both the female and male audience;
- Online streaming;
- Food delivery;
- Payday Loans — counterparts of Russian microloans.
- Thus, you can work with the following verticals with Microsoft Ads:
- Nutraceuticals — any of them work well, including CBD offers in the North American regions where marijuana is legal;
- Finance;
- Subscriptions;
- Sweepstakes;
- E-commerce — only small household appliances work well;
- Dating — not only online dating but also webcam;
- iGaming — when redirecting to states where gambling is prohibited, cloaking can be used.
Microsoft Ads operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) principle, which is similar to Google's contextual media system. It works as follows: the user bids on specific keywords, Bing matches them with search queries, and in case of a match, it displays the advertisement.
There are 8 types of advertising integrations available on the platform:
- Expanded Text Ads — familiar ads for search results with a headline, brief description, and a link to the product.
- Dynamic Search Ads — advertising that automatically adjusts to the user. There is manual control of functionality in the settings or launch using AI. In the first case, the advertising in the search engine will adjust to related products, in the second case, algorithms find potential users interested in the product. This option is suitable for webmasters with a wide variety of offers or online stores.
- Smart Search Ads — adaptive advertising for mobile devices, embedded in the smart Bing search bar. It consists of several elements: a landing snap, a headline, an offer description, and a link to the offer or contact page. It operates on the usual PPC model.
- Multimedia Ads — a visual advertising format offering a banner with text, headline, link, and CTA. It is noted in the settings that such a banner can be created using AI — for this, you need to provide at least 4 descriptions, 16 creatives, and 15 headlines. The internal algorithm composes ads from these elements and launches an advertising campaign.
- Product Ads — a special type of ads displayed in a block with products, shown to users looking for similar products. The ad card contains a headline, product price with possible discounts, as well as information about the seller and a mini-creative.
- Responsive Search Ads — the simplest type of ad placement suitable for beginners. The webmaster only needs to prepare the offer description and headlines, after which the AI will collect and launch the ad.
- Microsoft Audience Ads — placing ads on Microsoft partner sites. In the webmaster settings, they can independently choose a place for promotion, considering the target audience of a specific platform. The appearance of the ad in this case is standard — headline, creative, offer description, and link to the landing page.
- App Install Ads — advertising used to promote applications. The ad consists of a headline, offer text, and a button to install the application. This option is compatible with applications from Google Play and the App Store with a US geo, with device targeting available in the settings.
Registration and setting up an advertising campaign in Microsoft Ads
To register an account, you need to go to the Microsoft Ads homepage and click on the green registration button. Then, follow the instructions and enter all the necessary information.
When creating an advertising campaign in the personal account, you need to determine the goal:
- Calls to the call center;
- Visiting the landing page;
- Clicks on the ad;
- App installation;
- Purchase of a product from the ad catalog;
- Various options for goals for adaptive ads.
Then you need to specify the company name and field of activity, after which you can proceed to targeting. Here, you choose a suitable geo and keywords. Keywords can be selected using the specialized tool — Microsoft Keyword Planner.
At the next step, you can proceed to ad configuration. You need to provide a short title of up to 30 characters, compose a description of up to 90 characters, place images of creatives, and specify the landing page link. If necessary, you can generate several banners at once and move on to budget options.
In the budget settings, you need to select the currency and specify the daily expenditure amount. After adding payment information, you need to decide on a convenient payment method — prepayment for the month ahead or monthly postpayment.
In the final part, by clicking the "Save" button, the advertising campaign is sent for moderation.
The Microsoft Ads functionality allows for the direct import of advertising campaigns from Google Ads and Facebook Ads. To do this in the Microsoft account, you need to find the "import" tab and select the appropriate option. To successfully import, you need to be authorized in your Google account.
The Bing Ads Editor service simplifies work with advertising campaigns in Microsoft Ads. With its help, you can manage offline promotion, create multiple ads simultaneously, and track the effectiveness of the launched advertising campaign.
Bing Ads Editor also has a built-in free tracker. To use it, select the Conversion tracking in the toolbar, click Get Started, and then click Create UET tag, saving the code provided by the system. This code needs to be inserted on the website and filters selected based on the target audience.
Features of Microsoft Ads
When setting up an advertising campaign, several important features should be taken into account:
- Language match. At the moment of setting all options, the display language must be the same as in the geo and the creative texts; otherwise, the system will block the ad. The interface of the account is available in 12 languages, including Russian.
- Absence of automatic strategy. The click rate in Microsoft Ads is configured manually only. At the same time, one of the goals is set — optimizing payment for conversion or getting the maximum clicks.
- Mandatory account verification. Since August 2023, the Microsoft advertising system asks to complete verification within 30 days after registration. The verification process can be complicated — with head rotation for the camera.
- Enhanced targeting accuracy. Microsoft Ads collects data not only from searches but also from Skype, LinkedIn, and Outlook for greater accuracy in meeting requests.
- Prohibited themes in creatives. The Microsoft Ads system does not allow explicit nudity in creatives, although it is allowed on landing pages. Also prohibited are any images of a sexual nature, including images of genitals, buttocks, female breasts, and décolleté. Partially exposed body may be omitted if it is related to the promoted product.
- Linking to payments from American banks. Experienced webmasters recommend using only American banking with preheating through Skype or Xbox. It is not worth trying public virtual payments, but the private system is well accepted.
- Advantage of agency accounts. Under Microsoft Ads, you can find American, British, and Chinese agency accounts, the use of which almost negates the problem with consumables.
- Building trust during registration. Experienced webmasters recommend using corporate Outlook and Yahoo mail.
- Risks of getting banned. In Microsoft Ads, an account can be blocked in several cases. A common reason is the detection of suspicious activity, which the system can detect even in the case of an unsuccessful card linking. A general ban without account recovery can also be imposed for advertising cryptos.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Microsoft Ads
Among the advantages of the Microsoft advertising account, the following can be noted:
- Ability to create blacklists — a list of resources that do not bring the expected conversion;
- Convenient targeting filtering system with the ability to automatically adjust displays by time zones;
- Relatively low advertising cost — the cost per click in any available vertical will be lower due to less competition for many keywords and phrases.
Among the disadvantages:
- Lack of video advertising and scrolling of videos in applications;
- Absence of bid automation;
- Possible issues when importing campaigns from Google Ads and Facebook Ads. If Google rejects a campaign, then Microsoft Ads will also block the account it was imported to;
- Complicated bid settings and strategy management in imported campaigns.
Conclusions
Microsoft Ads is a quite specific advertising platform with a solvent Tier-1 audience and lower competition compared to Google Ads. Among the obvious advantages of the Microsoft system are the cost per click and a low entry threshold, although good trusted consumables will be required for registration.
Among the verticals, the nutra sector works especially well. According to one of the mentors from the MyLead affiliate network, when working with nutra, the ROI on Microsoft Ads compared to Facebook or Instagram showed figures 10 times higher.
Overall, the platform can be used for traffic generation, although many webmasters, including those from the CIS countries, are already looking at it aggressively.
