Google → Microsoft Ads expansion as an efficiency layer

A consumer SaaS product in the productivity space had a mature, profitable Google Ads search programme — and rising CPCs in its core English-language markets as competitors bid the category up. Growth targets demanded more volume, but marginal Google spend was pushing past acceptable payback.

The team had tried Microsoft Ads once before: a one-click import, left synced, quietly turned off after two months of mediocre results. The question was whether the channel was genuinely weak or just badly run.

We imported the proven Google structures once — then treated the import as raw material, not a finished account. Conversion goals were re-mapped against a UET deployment routed through the client's existing server-side GTM container, so both platforms optimised toward identical, deduplicated trial and subscription events. Bid strategy targets were rebuilt from scratch for Microsoft's thinner auction rather than inheriting Google's tCPA values, and Google-specific audience layers that don't translate were stripped.

Negative keyword lists were separated from day one — Microsoft's query matching differs enough that shared negatives leak — and desktop-heavy delivery was leaned into with scheduling and device adjustments matched to the product's weekday usage pattern.

From month two the accounts diverged deliberately: budget flowed to the keyword clusters where Microsoft's CPCs undercut Google's most, reviewed monthly against marginal CAC on each platform.

RESULT METRICS PENDING CLIENT SIGN-OFF FOR PUBLICATION.