Savvy marketers recognize the power of Bing Ads. It fuels nearly every search engine besides Google, encompassing Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo, and MSN. It also powers many popular voice assistants, including Cortana and Alexa, and connects over 300 million devices running Windows 10. Holding over a third of the US search market share and reaching half of the US online population monthly, Bing offers some distinct advantages over Google. Notably, Bing Ads boasts a cost-per-click (CPC) that’s typically 42% lower than Google’s average search CPC.

However, despite the potential of Bing Ads, managing advertising across multiple platforms can be demanding. Marketing professionals understand that handling Google Ads alone can be a full-time endeavor. The thought of replicating all that work on Bing can be daunting. At the end of a hectic day, advertisers understandably prioritize optimizing their Google Ads accounts. Consequently, many advertisers neglect their Bing Ads campaigns, leading to stagnant performance. Fortunately, Bing Ads offers a new and improved feature that allows updates without even logging in! Changes made in Google Ads can be scheduled for import into Bing. This enhanced import feature allows control over which changes to import and how often (daily, weekly, or monthly).

Advantages

While many advertisers utilize the Google Import feature in Bing during initial account setup, establishing a recurring import offers several benefits.

Cost Savings

Some advertisers might hesitate to invest as much in Bing as they do in Google, fearing that replicating Google changes in Bing could inflate their spending. However, diligently managing Google Ads by regularly updating ads, testing new features, and adding negative keywords suggests a similar approach is beneficial for Bing. The typical small business advertising on Google employs hundreds of negative keywords, but significantly fewer on Bing. Bing Ads requires equal, if not more, attention than Google. Regularly importing changes from Google Ads, including negative keywords, can significantly reduce wasted spend on Bing Ads. In fact, nexus-security clients who synchronize their Google changes to Bing Ads experience an average savings of 15% the following month, without sacrificing conversions!

Time Savings

Prioritizing Google Ads is understandable. With limited time for PPC optimization, duplicating efforts on Bing might not be feasible. Setting up recurring imports from Google Ads to Bing Ads takes mere minutes and can run daily, ensuring continuous Bing account improvement in sync with Google Ads.

Enhanced Performance

Procrastinated improvements yield no results. Importing changes from Google Ads ensures consistently running optimized ads, utilizing ad extensions, and mirroring successful tests from Google. This consistent optimization not only yields higher click-through rates and better Quality Scores but also expands reach on Bing, which can be challenging given its smaller audience.

Setting Up Recurring Imports from Google Ads to Bing Ads

Importing changes from Google Ads to Bing Ads requires a one-time login to Bing Ads. Within your Bing account, click “Import Campaigns” from the top toolbar and select “Import from Google AdWords.”

Next, sign into your Google Ads account, ensuring you’re importing from the correct one if you manage multiple accounts. Once logged in, choose whether to import specific campaigns or all new changes.

Recommendation: Importing changes from new campaigns ensures both networks stay updated, leading to consistent improvement. Next, specify what to import. Expand “show advanced options” for granular control over automated imports.

Recommendation: While some options are essential for Bing account updates, others might require consideration. We’ll delve into this in more detail shortly. Finally, set the import frequency: monthly, weekly, or even daily!

What to Import Regularly

While managing Bing Ads as an extension of Google campaigns is possible, using identical keywords, bids, budgets, targeting, and ads might not be ideal if performance discrepancies exist between the two platforms. However, certain Google optimizations are universally beneficial and should be imported to Bing daily:

• New negative keywords for existing campaigns and ad groups
• New negative keyword lists
• New ads for existing ad groups
• Ad Extensions
• New Ad Groups Importing new keywords, campaigns, bids, or budgets might require careful consideration, as Bing’s performance can differ from Google’s.

What Can’t Be Imported from Google Ads to Bing Ads

Despite their compatibility, Google and Bing have differences. Certain Google Ads elements don’t seamlessly transfer to Bing Ads:

• Specific Location Targeting: While targeting countries, states, or cities is straightforward, granular targeting like neighborhoods (e.g., “Hell’s Kitchen, NY”), zip codes, or unconventional locations from Google might not map perfectly to Bing’s targeting options.
• Display or Video Campaigns: Bing Ads doesn’t currently support importing display or YouTube campaigns from Google Ads.
• Age Targeting: Although both platforms offer age-based targeting, Bing uses slightly different age ranges. For instance, Google allows targeting users aged 35-44 and 55-64, while Bing divides these ranges into 35-49 and 50-64.

• Remarketing Lists: While Bing Ads supports remarketing through its search campaigns, it relies on its own Universal Event tracking tag. Importing remarketing lists from Google Ads isn’t currently possible.
• Conversion Goals: Both platforms support conversion tracking, but Bing utilizes a different tag than Google. You’ll need to implement Bing’s Universal Event Tracking or, if you’re a nexus-security client, leverage nexus-security’s Easy tracking for Bing conversion tracking.

Importing Changes from Google Merchant Center to Bing Merchant Center

Ecommerce businesses recognize the value of Shopping campaigns for increased product visibility and sales on search engine results pages. However, maintaining product feeds within Google Merchant Center can be tedious. Fortunately, Bing also supports Shopping campaigns and has its own Merchant Center, and you can synchronize the two using Bing’s new import tool. To begin, within the Bing Ads interface, navigate to “Tools” in the top toolbar and select “Bing Merchant Center.”

Next, sign into your Google Merchant Center and select the catalogs to synchronize. Finally, choose the import frequency. Keeping your catalog consistently updated is recommended, so daily imports are generally best.

Conclusion: Google to Bing Imports - A No-Brainer

Time-constrained small businesses might struggle to dedicate sufficient time to managing both Google and Bing Ads. Leveraging the new scheduled import tool in Bing Ads ensures your Bing account receives attention even when you’re occupied elsewhere.