Many sectors find PPC challenging, but it can feel insurmountable for small businesses marketing professional services in limited geographical areas. Dominating search results is easy for big brands with deep pockets, making it hard to stand out as a local specialist.
Fortunately, Microsoft Advertising offers Professional Service Ads, helping advertisers showcase their expertise. Let’s explore this ad type in detail.
Table of contents
- What are Professional Service Ads?
- What industries can use Professional Service Ads?
- Microsoft Professional Service Ads vs. Google Local Services Ads
- How to get started with Microsoft Professional Service Ads
- Professional Service Ads best practices
What are Professional Service Ads?
Microsoft’s Professional Service Ads aim to connect service providers with users seeking their help. Displayed on Bing for searches involving a specific professional, brand, or problem needing a solution, these ads, unlike traditional search ads, highlight an image and professional details about the advertiser.
Appearing at the top of the Bing SERP, within Bing Maps, and the Bing Local Answer pack,
Professional Service Ads cater to all sizes - from solo local practices to regional branches and national brands. Highlight your business talent and attract new customers from any market.
A significant advantage is their ability to appear alongside existing search ads on the same SERP, competing in a separate auction. This offers increased visibility without raising your current search ad CPC.
Professional Service Ads don’t rely on keywords or text ads. Advertisers provide service and business details directly to Microsoft via a unique feed., customizing ad display, relevant job types, and contact information for potential clients.
Curious about what kind of results you can get from search advertising? Download our search ads benchmarks to find out!What industries can use Professional Service Ads?
Currently, Microsoft Advertising supports these industries:
- Insurance Services
- Tax Services
- Real Estate Services
- Home Services
- Doctor & Clinic Ads Microsoft plans to expand this to other sectors, with Lawyer & Legal Service Ads and Financial Advisor Ads on the horizon.
Google Local Service Ads (LSAs) vs. Microsoft Professional Service Ads: What’s the difference?
Microsoft’s latest format might resemble Google’s Local Service Ads - both top the SERP and local map pack for relevant local searches, featuring a photo, reviews, and nearby advertiser locations. However, key differences exist:
1. Easier setup with Professional Service Ads
Google’s Local Service Ads, while powerful, can be cumbersome to set up. This involves creating a separate Local Service Ads business profile outside Google Ads, potentially submitting license/insurance information, and even requiring team complete a series of background checks from a Google partner before the ad goes live.
Microsoft’s Professional Services Ads are designed for quick and easy setup directly within your existing Microsoft Advertising account alongside your other campaigns. Utilizing data feeds, they eliminate the need for lengthy onboarding or verification process like Google’s LSAs.
2. Greater management and optimization flexibility
While Google’s Local Service Ads offer reach and control over aspects like weekly budget or job type, they lack the optimization flexibility of other Google Ads campaigns. Advertisers can’t view search terms or use negative keywords. Optimizations like bid adjustments or daily budgets are also unavailable. Local Services Ads offer limited differentiation. Advertisers can only highlight limited information from pre-set options in their business bio. Google’s strict policies for your photos and headshots can also lead to nearly identical ads for different businesses. Microsoft’s Professional Services Ads offer control and optimization comparable to their other search campaigns, including daily budgets, bid adjustments, search term review, and negative keywords. Furthermore, the data feeds allow for customized details, optimizing ads for specific job types, highlighting different messages, and testing dynamic images.
3. Pricing variations
Unlike other search ads, Google’s Local Service Ads are charged per lead generated, not per click. Microsoft’s Professional Service Ads follow a per-click pricing model, similar to most of their campaigns.
How to get started with Microsoft Professional Service Ads
First, you’ll need to create a data feed for Microsoft’s Professional Service Ads. For individual practitioners, a simple spreadsheet uploaded to Microsoft Advertising might suffice. Larger organizations might require a dynamic approach to manage their team’s evolving information. This structured data feed helps Microsoft target your ad and simplifies client contact. While seemingly technical, the required information is generally straightforward.
Create a Professional Service Ads feed
- Start by downloading this template from Microsoft. This provides all required and optional attributes with sample values.
- Begin by populating the required attributes:
| Attribute | Description | Example |
| Description | A concise company or professional description. | Luxury real estate company |
| Final URL | Your website domain. Must start with http:// or https://. This to be displayed. | http://www.contoso.com/seattle/id |
| ID | Unique for the item (any combination of letters and numbers). This won't be shown in the ad. | AB1234 |
| Name | Company or professional name. For professionals, use first name + last name. | David Johnson |
| Profession | The profession type. Not displayed, but used to match ads with search terms. Note: Choose from these options for your ad to be shown. | Doctor & clinic Financial advisor Insurance service Real estate service Tax service |
| Target ad group | The targeted Professional services ad group name. Not displayed in the ad. | Real-Estate-Placement-AdGroup |
| Target campaign | The targeted Professional services ads campaign name. Not displayed in the ad. | Real_Estate |
Select “Dynamic Data Feeds” from the left menu.
Click the blue “Upload” drop-down and choose “Professional Services.”
Name your data feed, select the file, preview to troubleshoot, and upload.
(Optional) For frequent updates (large team, dynamic availability), schedule automatic imports from a URL. Click the uploaded feed, select “Schedules,” and set a regular import schedule.
Create a Professional Service Ad campaign
With your feed uploaded, creating a campaign is similar to other Microsoft Advertising campaigns, with a few key differences:
- Create a new search campaign matching the “Target Campaign” attribute in your feed exactly for Professional Service Ads to serve.
- Set your campaign budget, location targeting, and other settings as usual. You can add a disclaimer but do not enable dynamic search ads.
- Create your ad group, again matching the “Target Ad Group” attribute precisely for proper ad serving.
- Add a “placeholder” keyword (a long-tail, exact-match keyword with no expected search volume) to the ad group. While not used for targeting, an active keyword is necessary for the ad group to function.
- Create a “placeholder” Responsive Search Ad for the ad group. This ad won’t be displayed, but its Final URL will be used as the Display URL in your Professional Search Ads (headlines and descriptions are not used).
- Save and launch your new Professional Services Ads!
Professional Service Ads best practices
To ensure successful campaigns:
1. Combine with traditional search campaigns
Use Professional Service Ads to complement, not replace, your search ads. Running both simultaneously can increase visibility and engagement, drawing more attention to your practice. Since they compete separately, expect no impact on your search ad performance.
2. Determine an appropriate starting budget
Microsoft suggests a daily budget of $100-$500 for national brands. Local businesses can start with 20% of their current PPC budget for targeted markets.
Worried you’re wasting spend in Google Ads? Find out once-and-for-all with our Free Google Ads Performance Grader!3. Monitor bidding
Managed at the ad group level, Microsoft recommends starting with manual or enhanced CPC bidding between $3-$5. Adjust based on performance.
4. Analyze search terms
Unlike Google’s Local Search Ads, you can review triggering search terms and their costs/conversions. Add negative keywords as needed based on this data.
5. Leverage audiences
Refine targeting using demographics and audiences like other search campaigns. Employ remarketing, in-market, custom audiences, or LinkedIn profile targeting to refine reach and adjust bids.
Maximize Professional Service Ads performance
This new Microsoft Advertising format presents a unique opportunity. Early adopters of According to Microsoft Professional Service Ad campaigns witnessed:
- 60% higher conversion rate compared to traditional search ads.
- 67% lower CPA compared to traditional search ads. These impressive results, combined with Microsoft Advertising’s generally lower CPC and CPA compared to Google Ads, make these new Professional Service Ads even more compelling for attracting new clients.