Microsoft Advertising: the efficiency layer most accounts ignore.
If your Google Ads account works, a well-run Microsoft Advertising account usually works too — at lower CPCs in most English-language markets, in front of an audience skewed towards desktop, professional, and higher-income users. We build it as a deliberate second layer on proven Google structures, not an afterthought import.
What we manage
Search campaigns
Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and syndication partners. Query intent mirrors Google closely enough to reuse learnings — and differs enough (older, desktop-heavy, more B2B hours) to deserve its own targets.
Google import, done properly
Import is a starting point, not a strategy. We re-map conversion goals, rebuild bid strategy targets for Microsoft's auction density, strip Google-specific audience layers that don't translate, and set separate negative lists — the hygiene most one-click imports skip.
Audience Network
Native placements across MSN, Outlook, and Edge surfaces — useful for retargeting and selective prospecting, managed with strict placement and frequency controls.
LinkedIn profile targeting
Microsoft's unique lever: bid adjustments by company, industry, and job function on search campaigns. For B2B and prosumer products this is targeting Google simply cannot offer.
Shopping
Merchant Center feed setup and smart shopping structures for e-commerce catalogues, aligned with your Google feed pipeline so one source of truth feeds both.
Ongoing divergence management
The accounts drift apart deliberately over time: keeping Microsoft as a synced clone forfeits the efficiency that justified it. We review divergence monthly.
Same rigour, different tag.
Microsoft Advertising runs on the UET (Universal Event Tracking) tag, and it inherits every weakness of client-side tracking that Google does. We deploy UET through the same server-side GTM container as the rest of your stack, with conversion goals mapped one-to-one against the Google conversion actions you already trust — so cross-platform comparisons are like-for-like, not apples to oranges.
Enhanced conversions for Microsoft (hashed first-party data) and offline conversion imports via the API close the gap for lead-based and subscription businesses. Because Microsoft volumes are typically a fraction of Google's, conversion scarcity is the real measurement risk: we set bid strategy targets and learning expectations accordingly rather than pretending the platforms behave identically.
Reporting folds Microsoft into the same blended CAC and payback views as every other channel. The question we answer monthly is simple: is the marginal pound spent here cheaper than the marginal pound on Google?
Who it's for
Any business with a working Google Ads search programme in North America, the UK, or other English-language markets — that is the qualifying condition. The gains are largest for B2B and prosumer products (LinkedIn targeting), higher-ticket consumer purchases (older, higher-income audience), and categories where Google CPCs have been bid up aggressively.
If Google search isn't working for you yet, Microsoft won't fix it — we would fix Google first.
Frequently asked questions
Is the volume worth the effort?
Microsoft typically delivers a meaningful single-digit to low-double-digit percentage of Google's search volume, varying by market and category. Because setup leverages your existing Google structures, the marginal effort is low — which is exactly why the economics tend to work.
Can't we just auto-import from Google and leave it synced?
You can, and it is the most common way Microsoft accounts underperform. Auto-sync copies Google's targets into a different auction, keeps Google-specific audience assumptions, and re-imports mistakes weekly. We import once, clean thoroughly, then manage the account on its own merits.
Does Microsoft Ads work outside English-language markets?
Coverage and volume are strongest in North America, the UK, Australia, and parts of Western Europe. Elsewhere it is market-by-market; our research team checks auction depth for your geographies before we recommend it.
Do you manage Microsoft as a standalone engagement?
Rarely. It performs best managed alongside the Google account it mirrors, by the same team, against the same conversion definitions. If another agency runs your Google account, we would rather audit the whole picture first.