Microsoft Search Network
Bing plus the sites that show Microsoft search ads, such as Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo and Ecosia.
Microsoft Ads management for Bing, Yahoo and Copilot search
Microsoft Ads management means running your search ads on Bing and the sites that carry Microsoft's ads (Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia and Copilot) as a second account with its own bids, exclusions and tracking, not as a copy of Google. It matters most on computers: in September 2026 Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo together handled 24.85% of U.S. desktop searches but only 5.28% of mobile searches (StatCounter). Start from a Google import, then cut the traffic you did not choose, rebuild bids for your own search terms, and judge it on cost per lead next to Google.
- About one in four U.S. desktop searches.
- Import from Google, then rebuild what does not carry over.
- Judged on cost per lead, side by side with Google.
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01 — The short answer
What is Microsoft Ads?
Microsoft Ads (Microsoft Advertising, called Bing Ads until April 2019) is the platform that sells the search ads on Bing and on the partner sites that use Microsoft's results. You bid on keywords, pay per click and set budgets the way you do in Google Ads, but the searchers, the click prices and several defaults are different, so the account needs its own management.
Syndicated search partners
Third-party sites that show your search ad next to their own search results, reported and excludable site by site.
Microsoft Audience Network
Ad placements on MSN, Microsoft Start, Edge, Outlook and publisher sites, which Search campaigns join by default.
UET tag
Universal Event Tracking, Microsoft's website tag that records conversions and builds remarketing lists; the Google tag does not report to Microsoft.
Microsoft Merchant Center
The product feed account behind Microsoft Shopping ads and Copilot shopping placements.
LinkedIn profile targeting
Bid adjustments by the searcher's company, industry or job function, using LinkedIn data that only Microsoft can offer.
02 — Who you reach
How many people search on Bing and its partners in the U.S.?
On computers, a lot more than most owners assume. In September 2026 Bing alone had 18.8% of U.S. desktop searches, and Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo together had 24.85%, against 5.28% on phones (StatCounter, U.S., September 2026). Microsoft's own figure for its U.S. desktop network is 186 million unique PC users, 10.1 billion PC searches a month and a 39.1% share of PC searches (Comscore qSearch custom, December 2025, as published by Microsoft Advertising).
| Search engine | Desktop share, U.S. | Mobile share, U.S. | All devices, U.S. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 74.71% | 94.13% | 85.19% | |
| Bing | 18.80% | 2.15% | 9.89% |
| Yahoo | 4.11% | 1.56% | 2.64% |
| DuckDuckGo | 1.94% | 1.57% | 1.75% |
Sources: StatCounter Global Stats, search engine market share in the United States, desktop, mobile and all platforms, September 2026; Microsoft Advertising Network for Search (Comscore, December 2025, desktop only). Retrieved 24 October 2026.
The two sources measure differently, so the numbers do not match, but they agree on what matters for a budget: Microsoft is a desktop channel. A job people search for from an office chair is worth testing there; a job searched from a phone in a flooded kitchen is mostly a Google and Local Services Ads job.
03 — Who they are
Who uses Microsoft's search network in the U.S.?
A better-off, more office-based audience than its size suggests. Microsoft says 41% of the U.S. users on its search network have household income in the top 25%, and 56% of its U.S. B2B segment are business decision makers, 30% of them senior (Microsoft Advertising audience data for the U.S. search network, retrieved 24 October 2026).
| Audience segment (U.S.) | Household income in top 25% | College graduates | Under age 45 | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All users | 41% | 49% | 54% | 63% use search engines for product research |
| B2B | 52% | 63% | 62% | 56% business decision makers, 30% senior |
| Finance | 58% | 67% | 47% | 21% planning to buy health insurance |
| Auto | 51% | 57% | 66% | 33% planning to buy insurance in 3 months |
| Retail | 45% | 52% | 49% | Shopping ads and Copilot product placements |
Source: Microsoft Advertising Network for Search, vertical market segments, United States (data file read 24 October 2026). Microsoft does not name the survey behind these figures; treat them as directional.
Top 25% by definition holds a quarter of households, so 41% is about 1.6 times its share of the population. That is the honest case for Microsoft Ads: fewer searches, but more of them from people who can afford a large job or buy for a company.
04 — Where to start
Which businesses should test Microsoft Ads first?
Businesses whose customers search at work, and businesses already paying high Google clicks for searches Google cannot give them more of. In the U.S., Google's top-of-page bids run $20.00–$60.00 for "managed it services" and $15.83–$80.00 for "commercial roofing contractor" (Google Keyword Planner, 24 October 2026), so a second auction for the same buyer is worth a test.
| Business | Google top-of-page bid, U.S. | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| IT services, B2B software, office services | managed it services: $20.00–$60.00 | Test early; add LinkedIn company and job function bid adjustments. |
| Commercial trades (roofing, cleaning, HVAC for buildings) | commercial roofing contractor: $15.83–$80.00; commercial cleaning services: $5.25–$40.00 | Test early; facility managers search from a desk. |
| Insurance and financial services | commercial insurance: $11.05–$70.67 | Test, after checking state ad rules and Microsoft's policies for your product. |
| Online stores with a product feed | Varies by product | Test Shopping through Microsoft Merchant Center; it is also the way into Copilot shopping placements. |
| Emergency home services | emergency plumber: $24.42–$110.00 | Later. Most of this demand is on phones, where Microsoft's share is small. |
Source: Google Ads Keyword Planner, United States, English, top-of-page bid range, retrieved 24 October 2026. These are Google's prices; compare Microsoft's inside your own account.
Selling to companies? See Google Ads for SaaS. Running a store? Ecommerce PPC covers margin-based bidding, which applies on Microsoft Shopping too.
05 — Where the ad shows
Where do Microsoft ads appear, and which setting should you choose?
By default, a new Microsoft campaign shows across the entire Microsoft Advertising Network: Bing, AOL, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, syndicated partner sites and, since 21 February 2023, the Microsoft Audience Network on MSN, Edge and Outlook (Microsoft Advertising Help; Microsoft ad distribution notice, January 2023). For a lead-generation account, the usual first move is to narrow that.
| Question | All search networks (default) | Microsoft sites and select traffic |
|---|---|---|
| Where search ads show | Bing, AOL, Yahoo and syndicated search partners | Microsoft-owned sites and partners Microsoft rates as higher quality |
| Audience Network placements | Included | Excluded, per Microsoft's guidance for keeping search ads out of audience placements |
| Site-level reporting | Partner sites listed in the Website URL (publisher) report | Reported in aggregate only |
| Can you exclude a site? | Yes, partner by partner, and new partners keep appearing | No, these sites cannot be excluded one by one |
| When to use it | After a month of clean data, if the partner report shows real leads | At launch for most local and B2B lead accounts |
Sources: Microsoft Advertising Help, where your ads appear; Microsoft Q&A on opting search ads out of the audience network and the Microsoft sites and select traffic tier; Microsoft, Changes in ad distribution, January 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
It is Microsoft's version of Google's search partners default, which our Google Ads audit checks for the same reason.
06 — Starting from Google
How do you import Google Ads into Microsoft Ads without copying the problems?
Use Google Import to save the build time, then treat the result as a draft. Microsoft says "not all information will be imported" and that a scheduled import keeps pulling in newly supported item types until you opt out, so a weekly import can quietly overwrite what you rebuilt for Bing (Microsoft Learn, Google Ads Import, updated 5 June 2026).
| Step | Where | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fix Google first | Google Ads | Wasted search terms, bad locations and double-counted conversions get copied too. |
| 2. Import once | Microsoft Ads, Import | Run "Now". Schedule (daily, weekly, monthly) only campaigns you will never edit in Microsoft. |
| 3. Read the import history | Import schedule & history | It lists what could not be imported. Rebuild those by hand. |
| 4. Check targeting | Campaign settings | Only age and gender audience targeting carries over. Re-check locations and set ad distribution (section 05). |
| 5. Check bidding | Bid strategy | Unsupported Google strategies fall back to enhanced CPC. On campaigns created since 1 October 2026, a max CPC cap is only available with enhanced CPC, Target impression share or a portfolio strategy. |
| 6. Install UET and goals | UET tag, Conversion goals | Add Microsoft's tag and goals for calls, forms and sales; send a test lead and confirm it counts once. |
| 7. Mine Bing's own search terms | Search terms report | After two to four weeks, add negatives from what Microsoft searchers actually typed; it is not Google's list. |
Sources: Microsoft Learn, Google Ads Import (updated 5 June 2026); Microsoft Advertising Help, what gets imported from Google Ads; Search Engine Roundtable, 21 August 2026. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
Step 6 decides the rest: Microsoft's automated bidding learns from UET conversions the way Google learns from its tag. Our conversion tracking setup page explains what to count as a primary conversion.
07 — What changed
What changed in Microsoft Ads in 2025 and 2026?
Mostly bidding and Copilot. From 1 October 2026, new Microsoft Ads campaigns using Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value or Maximize Clicks on their own can no longer set a max CPC, the cap that stops one click from costing more than you allow (Microsoft notice to advertisers, August 2026, reported by Search Engine Roundtable).
| Date | Change | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| 4 August 2025 | Target CPA and Target ROAS stop being separate strategies for new campaigns; they become optional targets inside Maximize Conversions and Maximize Conversion Value. | Same bidding, new menu. Existing campaigns were not changed. |
| 21 April 2026 | Offer Highlights for retail in Copilot, Edge and Bing; AI Max for Search announced for an open pilot in May, serving Copilot and Bing. Copilot Checkout (announced January 2026) is in beta. | Copilot placements come through Search, Shopping, AI Max and Performance Max, not a separate buy. |
| 1 October 2026 | Max CPC removed from new non-portfolio campaigns with standalone automated bidding; enhanced CPC, Target impression share and portfolios keep it; older campaigns keep theirs for now. | Before you rebuild an old campaign, decide whether you need the cap; deleting and recreating loses it. |
Sources: Search Engine Land and PPC Land on the August 2025 change; Microsoft Advertising blog, Win across all three eras of the web, 21 April 2026; Search Engine Roundtable, 21 August 2026. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
08 — The LinkedIn advantage
How does LinkedIn targeting work in Microsoft Ads?
Microsoft owns LinkedIn, so it can raise or lower your bid when the searcher works at a company you list, in an industry you choose or in a job function such as purchasing or accounting. It is available only for campaigns targeting the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, France and Germany, with up to 1,000 companies per campaign or ad group (Microsoft Advertising Help, retrieved 24 October 2026).
Treat it as a bid lever, not a filter. A 2020 PPC Hero review found these options work only through bid adjustments, and a list of more than 3,000 companies produced fewer than 50 impressions in two months. So keep your normal keywords and bid up for the job functions that sign contracts (operations, purchasing, IT). Microsoft has also tested LinkedIn data as a Performance Max signal since early 2025.
Sources: Microsoft Advertising Help, LinkedIn profile targeting; PPC Hero, 1 December 2020; Search Engine Land, February 2025.
09 — How Eloari does it
What Eloari's Microsoft Ads management includes
Eloari's PPC management is day-to-day management of paid search across Google and Microsoft: budget pacing, search term mining, quality score and wasted-spend control. Tracking is installed and verified before any spend begins, the accounts are opened under your business, and the founder runs them personally.
Onboarding takes about two weeks: access, tracking and a check that leads reach you in days 1–7, the build in days 8–14 (for Microsoft: the import review, ad distribution, UET goals and LinkedIn bid adjustments), launch around day 14 and a first read between days 21 and 30. Reporting is one view of what each channel returned, so the platforms stop grading their own homework: cost per lead and cost per sale for Google and Microsoft on one page.
10 — Fit
Should you add Microsoft Ads now, or fix something else first?
Add it when Google already works and has run out of searches to buy. If Google does not make money yet, a second engine copies the problem to a smaller auction.
| Your situation | What it usually means | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Google brings leads at a cost you can live with, but more budget buys nothing | You are capped by Google's search volume | Add Microsoft Ads. |
| Google spends but the phone is quiet | Wrong searches, locations or tracking | Fix Google first with an audit. |
| Total paid search budget under $2,000 a month | Too little data to split across two engines | One engine first, usually Google. |
| You sell to businesses or to higher-income households | Microsoft's audience skews your way | Test early, with LinkedIn bid adjustments. |
Roughly $2,000–$3,000 a month is the minimum sensible spend for paid search to produce reliable data in the U.S. For click prices, see how much Google Ads costs.
11 — Pricing
How much does Microsoft Ads management cost at Eloari?
Eloari charges a flat monthly fee for PPC management starting at $900, billed month to month with thirty days' notice, no setup fee and never a percentage of ad spend. Ad spend is paid by you directly to Microsoft and Google, with no markup.
| Tier | Monthly ad spend | Flat fee | Included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | Under $5,000 | $900/mo | Google or Meta, conversion tracking, ad copy, monthly report |
| Growth | $5,000 – $20,000 | $1,500/mo | Google or Meta, call tracking, landing page testing, ad copy, biweekly review |
| Full | $20,000+ | $2,500/mo | Google and Meta, full tracking stack, landing page testing, weekly review |
Microsoft paid search is part of PPC management; in the free review we tell you whether your budget supports a second engine at all. The fee is never a percentage of ad spend, so the Microsoft budget carries no 15% surcharge. You own all ad accounts, pixels, tracking, conversion history and creative assets, including the UET tag.
12 — Who runs it
Jonatã Ariel Silveira
President, Eloari Management Group · Meta Business Partner
Twenty years in paid media, copywriting and direct response. Eloari currently manages more than $100,000 per week in advertising spend, and the founder runs the accounts personally.
14 — Questions
Microsoft Ads questions
Is Microsoft Ads worth it for a small business?
It is worth a test when Google already brings profitable leads and more budget no longer buys more of them, or when your customers search from a computer at work. In September 2026, Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo handled 24.85% of U.S. desktop searches (StatCounter). If Google is not profitable yet, fix that first.
Is Microsoft Ads cheaper than Google Ads?
Third-party benchmarks have long reported lower average clicks on Microsoft, where fewer advertisers bid, but there are also fewer searches and the benchmarks mix industries, so the comparison that matters is cost per lead and cost per sale in your own account. Run both for the same services for at least a month and compare.
Is Bing Ads the same as Microsoft Ads?
Yes. Bing Ads was renamed Microsoft Advertising in April 2019, and most people still call it Bing Ads. The same account serves ads on Bing, Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia and partner sites.
Can I import my Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Ads?
Yes. Google Import copies campaigns, keywords, ads and extensions, once or on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule. Not everything carries over, and a scheduled import can overwrite changes made in Microsoft, so import once, review the history and manage it on its own.
Do Microsoft ads show in Copilot?
Yes. Microsoft says its ads reach Copilot through Search, Shopping, Performance Max and AI Max, which it announced for an open pilot in May 2026 serving Copilot Search, Copilot Answers and Bing.
How do I stop Microsoft ads from showing on low-quality sites?
Choose the "Microsoft sites and select traffic" ad distribution option, which keeps search ads off syndicated partners and out of the Audience Network. Otherwise, check the Website URL (publisher) report and exclude partner sites that spend without leads.
How much does Microsoft Ads management cost?
At Eloari, PPC management covers Google and Microsoft paid search on a flat monthly fee from $900, with no setup fee, month to month, and never a percentage of ad spend. The first account review is free and we reply within two business days.
15 — Next step
Find out if Microsoft would add leads, or just cost.
Send your website, your monthly ad spend and what Google brings you today. We will tell you whether a second search engine is worth testing for your business and what we would fix first, whether or not you hire us.