How to Create Display Ads for Bing (Microsoft Ads): Full Guide

Microsoft Advertising’s display ads are visual campaigns displayed on sites and apps across the Microsoft Audience Network. Here’s how to get the most out of this ad type.

While Google controls the largest search advertising market share, Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) has plenty to offer.

Microsoft display ads, in particular, can help businesses expand their reach, increase brand awareness, and maximize their ad budgets.

Let’s dive into what Microsoft display ads are, the benefits of this advertising platform, and how you can set up your own display ad campaigns with special insights from digital marketing expert Max Willner.

What are Microsoft display ads?

Microsoft display ads (formerly Bing display ads) are visual ads that appear on websites, apps, and other properties across the Microsoft Audience Network (MSAN).

These ads include visual elements like banner graphics or video and can appear near the top, bottom, or side of a webpage.

In 2019, Bing Ads became Microsoft Advertising to reflect the brand’s expansion beyond search ads. Today, advertisers can reach users across Microsoft properties and partner sites, like Bing search, MSN, Yahoo, and AOL.

Where do Microsoft display ads appear?

Microsoft display ads appear across Microsoft-owned properties and partner sites. These can include:

• MSN
• Outlook
• Microsoft Start
• Microsoft Edge
• Microsoft Casual Games
• Xbox surfaces
• Partner publishers
• Native placements

Microsoft display ads vs. search ads

Microsoft display ads are visual, multimedia ads that appear across websites and apps to boost brand awareness and encourage reengagement.

Microsoft’s search ads are text ads that appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) and typically target users with higher purchase intent.

While responsive search ads can help advertisers capture high-intent traffic from search queries, display campaigns are often better suited for building awareness and reaching users earlier in the buying journey.

Willner explains how he determines which type of ad to use:

“Like a lot of display campaigns, Bing display ads will work better for you if your goal is brand awareness and/or remarketing, where you’ve got more visual appeal.”

“I’d recommend a search campaign if your goal is more high-intent/low-funnel,” he adds, “where you want a direct response like a form submission or purchase.”

Benefits of Microsoft display ads

Microsoft display ads help advertisers increase brand awareness and reengage with a warm target audience — often using a lower budget than Google Ads.

Here are some of the greatest benefits of using Microsoft display ads as part of your pay-per-click (PPC) advertising strategy:

Reach a unique audience

While Microsoft Advertising may have a smaller reach than PPC giants like Google and Meta, it still offers significant reach. It also allows you to reach a unique audience that may not be actively using Google or social media.

Boost brand awareness

Display ads help people become more familiar with your brand, which can support future paid search conversions and even complement broader digital marketing efforts like SEO.

Less competition

Willner says it best: “One of the nice things about Bing ads is that you can get in front of audiences you just can’t access via Google’s networks — and with that comes lower competition and costs compared to Google Ads.”

Get more from your ad budget

Microsoft display ads tend to cost less than Google ads, making them a good option for those with smaller budgets. Lower competition leads to lower cost-per-click (CPC) rates. This, in turn, means lower acquisition costs and higher returns.

Targeting options for Microsoft display ads

Microsoft display ads offer targeting options to reach potential customers, such as:

• Remarketing: Reconnect with users who previously visited your website or app.
• In-market audiences: Reach people actively researching products or services like yours.
• LinkedIn profile targeting: Target professionals based on company, industry, or job function using LinkedIn data (a unique Microsoft Advertising feature).
• Customer Match: Upload your customer email list to reconnect with existing customers or prospects.
• Demographic targeting: Narrow audiences by age, gender, or other demographic characteristics.
• Device targeting: Customize campaigns for desktop, mobile, or tablet users.
• Location targeting: Focus your ads on specific countries, regions, cities, or radius-based locations.

How to set up display campaigns

Once you sign up for a Microsoft Advertising account, creating ads is straightforward.

There are two ways to get started:

• Import ads from Google
• Create display ads from scratch

Import ads from Google Ads

If you’re already running Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising lets you import your campaigns to save time.

To import a Google Ads account:

• Click Import in the top navigation, then Import from Google Ads
• Sign in to Google Ads and grant Microsoft Advertising permission to access your campaigns
• Select the account you want to import under Choose accounts, then click Next
• Select Start import to import campaigns using Microsoft’s equivalent settings, or choose Advanced import to customize bids, budgets, targeting, and other campaign settings

You can also schedule recurring imports to automatically sync changes from Google Ads.

Pro tip: Review imported campaigns carefully. Some Google Ads settings don’t have direct Microsoft Advertising equivalents, so it’s a good idea to check your bids, budgets, targeting, negative keywords, and Quality Score after importing.

Create a new Microsoft Advertising display campaign from scratch

To set up Microsoft Bing display ad campaigns from scratch:

• Go to the left-hand collapsible menu and click All campaigns.
• Click Campaigns > Create campaign.

• Select Audience Ads (Microsoft’s Audience Network is their Google Display Network equivalent). This includes placements across Microsoft-owned properties and partner sites, such as MSN, Microsoft Start, Outlook, Xbox, and other publisher sites. The campaign creation wizard will walk you through the steps.

The wizard will take you through the campaign settings like your maximum daily budget, bid strategy, campaign goal, ad groups, audience settings, and other details.

Ads will be responsive, so the preview won’t be exactly what the audience always sees, but it should be more or less the same.

• When you’re done adding all the necessary details, create another ad or click Save to finish.

Once you save (barring any errors), your ad will appear on the Microsoft Audience Network.

6 Microsoft Advertising best practices

If you’re just getting started with Microsoft Advertising, it helps to understand best practices so you can maximize your ad budget:

1. Use eye-catching visuals

Display ads rely on visuals to capture users’ attention, so thoughtful ad design is essential. The best rule of thumb is to keep it simple.

Don’t overcrowd the ad with design elements or text. If the user can’t read it at a glance, there’s a good chance they aren’t going to click on it. Your ad will be more impactful if it’s easily digestible.

2. Write engaging ad copy

While visual elements can make or break your display ad success, your copy is also an important part of your display ads. Using headlines and descriptions, you can communicate the value of your business and why someone should click on your ad.

When writing display ad copy, make sure your copy is:

• Free of grammatical errors
• Relevant to your audience
• Clear and concise
• In your company’s brand voice
• Aligned with landing page copy

3. Create a strong call-to-action

Your call-to-action should be clear and direct. Tell users exactly what you want them to do when they see the ad. Encourage users to click by using active words like “register,” “download,” “book,” or “buy.”

4. Try different ad formats and creative sizes

“Take advantage of all of the placement options to get the best visibility and engagement,” Willner says.

Here are some of the most common display ad sizes supported across the Microsoft Audience Network:

• Mobile banner (320 x 50 pixels)
• Medium rectangle (300 x 250 pixels)
• Large rectangle (336 x 280 pixels)
• Square (250 x 250 pixels)
• Half-page (300 x 600 pixels)
• Skyscraper (160 x 600 pixels)
• Leaderboard (728 x 90 pixels)

Just make sure you familiarize yourself with the latest text and ad style guidelines so your creative is maximized for each placement and you don’t run into any issues.

5. A/B test often

Willner recommends A/B testing every part of your Microsoft display ad campaigns.

“Be sure to test different image themes,” says Willner. “For example, a university might want to test photos of students and photos of campus to see which one gets more traction with their audience.”

You can also test ad copy and ad formats or placements. Just remember, you should only change one element at a time so that you have the data you need to know which elements impact ad success.

Monitor metrics like click-through rate (CTR), conversions, and cost per acquisition to understand which changes improve performance.

6. Monitor results and adjust for best results

Make sure you’re tracking conversions accurately, reviewing performance metrics regularly, and adjusting your campaigns based on the data.

On Microsoft Advertising, you can monitor campaign performance metrics like impressions, clicks, and conversions. Using the insights you gather from these metrics, you can adjust your ads, budget, and targeting options for optimal results.

Pro tip: Microsoft’s automated bidding and optimization systems use campaign performance data to improve delivery over time. That’s why it’s wise to let your marketing campaigns run for at least a week or two before making any changes.

How much do Microsoft display ads cost?

Microsoft display ad pricing depends on key factors, such as your industry, audience, and goals.

According to Willner, a small- to medium-sized business should expect a monthly budget around $1,000-$3,000.

“This would put you in a pretty good spot to run Microsoft display ads in a way that helps you get some actionable insights and decent traffic,” says Willner.

“And from my experience, they typically cost less than Google Ads so that’s a major benefit for those who want to maximize their ad budgets.”

The takeaway

The lower competition and lower costs associated with Microsoft Advertising make it an attractive way for businesses to maximize their ad spend and their reach.

Even those who are currently using Google and Meta ads to reach their audiences may find that adding Microsoft ads to the mix helps improve PPC results.

Interested in how your business can use Microsoft Advertising to its advantage? The team at HawkSEM would love to help you get started. Book a consultation now.

This article has been updated and was originally published in March 2021.