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Last Updated July 21, 2025
Google dominates the search engine space with millions (if not billions) of active users. But Bing still has plenty to offer businesses looking to grow online. Our Bing vs. Google comparison shows you how these platforms compare.
For decades, Google has dominated the search engine market.
But that doesn’t mean we should forget about Bing.
As Microsoft’s search engine improves its user experience and features, its user base grows, making it an attractive marketing channel for businesses.
Last spring, over 1.4 billion unique global visitors visited Bing.com, up from 1.3 billion visitors in the previous months.
But with limited time and resources, you may be wondering what each platform has to offer.
Let’s compare the Bing vs. Google search engines and look at each platform’s users, search features, ad platforms, AI capabilities, analytics, and more.
Bing vs. Google comparison
Google and Bing are the most popular search engines, and share the same goal: to deliver the best possible search results to users.
The fact is that most people turn to Google for their queries.
Google processes about 8.5 billion searches every day, compared to Bing’s 900 million.
While that’s a big disparity, we can’t ignore those millions of Bing users, especially since the search engine offers similar features and capabilities.
Google vs. Bing: market share
Google dominates the global search market. According to Statista, as of March 2025, Google accounts for more than 79% of the global search market, and Bing accounts for more than 12%. (Other search engines like Yahoo and Yandex round out the list.)
It’s also worth noting that Bing’s user base is growing as Microsoft adds new features to improve the user experience. For example, a month after launching its AI update, Microsoft’s Bing reached over 100 million daily active users.
The stats suggest Google is the better search engine based on market share alone. But let’s not overlook its popularity growth in the U.S. — Microsoft handles more than 28% of all search queries in the United States.
If we were to ignore Bing altogether, we’d be missing out on almost one-third of U.S. search engine users.
So, if your target market is in the United States, then it’s worthwhile to optimize for Bing and Google.
Bing users vs. Google users
Both search engines have similar user demographics. Bing’s audience is around 36% female and about 64% male. Google’s audience is over 42% female and nearly 58% male.
As for user ages, both search engines have a similar demographic. Here’s a general breakdown.
Approximate Bing user age demographics:
- 18-24 years old: 18.5%
- 25-34 years old: 25.9%
- 35-44 years old: 23.6%
- 45-54 years old: 15.6%
- 55-64 years old: 9.8%
- 65+ years old: 6.6%
Approximate Google user age demographics:
- 18-24 years old: 21%
- 25-34 years old: 28%
- 35-44 years old: 19%
- 45-54 years old: 14%
- 55-64 years old: 9%
- 65+ years old: 6%
When comparing Google vs. Bing’s users, there’s no significant difference. Bing has a slightly higher percentage of male users and users in the 35 to 44 age range.
But with no major differences, it’s safe to say that regardless of the target audience, you can leverage either search engine to reach potential buyers.
The differences in search features
Bing and Google have key differences in how they generate and display search results. Here’s a look at the two different search engines, comparing the following elements:
Search functionality
The search functionality of each search engine is (again) very similar. Both Google and Microsoft Bing offer the following search functionality:
- Text search
- Image search
- Video search
- Voice search
- Visual search
- Maps
- News
- Shopping
- Flight search
(Image: Bing.com screenshot)
(Image: Google.com screenshot)
The search engine results page
The search engine results pages (SERPs) for Google and Bing are similar, but they have some key distinctions.
For instance, when searching for “vegan skincare,” the Google SERP features sponsored product ads at the top of the page.
It also has suggestions for filtering the results further, like “cruelty-free,” “organic,” “under $15,” and “fair trade.”
(Image: Google.com screenshot)
The Bing search results page is similar, but with fewer visuals and more emphasis on lists of brands.
Like Google, product ads still appear near the top of the search results.
Underneath the product ads on Google are a mix of sponsored text ads and organic search results. Each has a headline and text description.
Some of the results have additional information. For example, the organic search results for Sephora, a beauty retailer, include a seller rating and current offers like free delivery and 30-day returns.
(Image: Google screenshot)
On Bing, text ads and organic search results follow in a similar fashion. Bing’s SERP also highlights videos related to the search query, plus Facebook reviews of local skincare businesses.
(Image: Bing screenshot)
(Image: Bing screenshot)
The Bing organic article recommendations look similar to the Articles section on the Google SERP, which collects lists of the best vegan skincare products.
However, the articles are listed much further down on the Google SERP, below sections like “Discussions and forums” and “In stores nearby.”
(Image: Google screenshot)
Google also has a “people also ask” section where you can explore the answers to commonly asked questions.
Bing and Google have a related searches section with other keywords people search for when looking at vegan skincare. The screenshots show how the design of these sections is similar.
(Image: Google screenshot)
(Image: Bing screenshot)
Search algorithms
Google and Bing use proprietary algorithms to analyze and rank web pages.
Both have the common goal of delivering the best and most relevant results to search engine users.
Both Google and Bing’s algorithms leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
The Google algorithm has used RankBrain, the ML algorithm, since 2015. It uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand the context of words and phrases.
The Bing algorithm also uses AI and machine learning. Microsoft integrated OpenAI with Bing and Edge in early 2023.
When you search for “What is vegan skincare?” on both search engines, an AI-generated response appears as the featured snippet at the top of page one for both.
Google’s is dubbed AI Overview, while Bing’s is called Copilot. (More on those a bit later.)
Ranking factors
Search engine optimization is important for both Google and Bing, but the two search engines use slightly different criteria to rank web pages.
Quality content
Quality content is an important ranking factor for both Google and Bing. The more high-quality, relevant content you create, the more opportunities you have to rank high on the search engine results pages.
Keywords
When it comes to keywords, Google uses semantic search to understand the meaning and intent of users’ search terms. Bing uses OpenAI technology to understand context to deliver results based on search intent.
Backlinks
Both search engines use backlinks as a ranking factor. However, Google focuses more on relevance, diversity, and domain authority. Bing focuses more on the quantity of links and their anchor text.
On-page SEO
Google puts more focus on the completeness of your content rather than the exact keywords because it can understand synonyms, variations, and natural language.
Bing prefers exact-match keywords and places importance on title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and other on-page optimization factors.
Technical SEO
Both search engines want well-structured website content and code. They also emphasize page speed, mobile-friendly design, and security (HTTPS).
Google uses structured data to pull out snippets, and Bing does the same for its answer boxes.
Further reading: Use this guide to technical SEO to learn more about improving your search engine optimization.
Search quality
Google and Bing favor unique, high-quality content that’s relevant to the user’s query. The two search engines use different factors to measure the quality of content.
Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines are one example of a method the search engine uses to evaluate quality. Content that demonstrates Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness is more credible and, therefore, more likely to rank on the SERP.
Bing uses different methods to evaluate content. Its main evaluation criteria are readability, freshness, and multimedia.
Bing favors content that’s easy to read and navigate, is up-to-date, and includes images, video, or other media that enhance the user’s understanding of the topic.
Bing Ads compared to Google Ads
Many advertisers may approach PPC with the understanding that it’s Bing Ads vs. Google Ads. But the truth is, each has strengths and deserves a place in your digital marketing plan.
Google Ads
Even though there are many PPC platforms out there, Google Ads has become synonymous with pay-per-click advertising for many marketers. Google has two different advertising networks where you can run ad campaigns.
The Search Network is where advertisers can create text ads that appear on the search engine results page. The Display Network is where advertisers create display ads that appear on various websites.
Google Ads has multiple ad formats, including:
- Text ads
- Responsive ads
- Image ads
- App promotion ads
- Video ads
- Shopping ads
- Call-only ads
You can run different ads from the same Google account and sometimes from the same campaign. Google also has ad extensions to enhance your ads.
Microsoft Ads
Microsoft Ads, formerly Bing Ads, appear on the Bing search engine and other Microsoft digital advertising spaces like:
- Yahoo
- AOL
- MSN
- DuckDuckGo
- Microsoft Edge
- Outlook
- Skype
- Windows
- Cortana
- Xbox
If you’re not familiar with Bing Ads, you may be wondering who uses Bing to advertise.
Businesses across industries — from retail and ecommerce to finance and healthcare use Microsoft advertising to reach their target audience.
(Image: blog.hootsuite.com)
Bing offers several ad formats for pay-per-click advertising, including:
- Display ads
- Dynamic search ads
- Responsive search ads
- Expanded text ads
- Audience ads
- App install ads
- Multimedia ads
- Product ads
- Vertical ads
Microsoft also offers ad extensions, such as app, call, callout, image, and location extensions that add additional information to your ads.
Google Ads vs. Bing Ads: Targeting
Both Google and Microsoft Ads allow for exact match, broad match, and negative keyword targeting.
Google Ads allows advertisers to target more than 40 languages, and Microsoft Advertising includes more than 30 languages.
Google offers audience and content targeting. Audience targeting allows you to reach people based on who they are, their interests and habits, and what they’re looking for online.
You can also target people who’ve interacted with your ads, website, or app. Content targeting allows you to target based on topics, placement, and content keywords.
Bing allows you to set targeting options at the campaign or ad group level. With Bing, you can target ads based on location, day of the week, time of day, gender and age, and device.
Google Ads vs. Bing Ads: Ad creative
Search ads appear very similar on Google and Bing, and both platforms support ad extensions.
Here are the basic Google ad specs for search ads:
- Headline: up to 30 characters
- Final URL: 2,048 characters
- Description: 90 characters
Here are the basic Bing ad specs for search ads:
- Title: Two 30-character ad titles separated by a hyphen
- Description: 90 characters
- Final URL: 2,048 characters
Which PPC ad platform should you use?
If you’re wondering which ad platform is better for your business, we’ve got to ask: why not both?
“If your marketing goals are focused on performance and bringing in the highest value conversions, we’ve found that using any and all platforms where your target market exists has worked for many of our clients,” says Rambod Yadegar, HawkSEM’s co-founder and president.
“Tracking all touchpoints of the user journey — from initial click to sale — is a vital aspect of closing the loop on performance and ROI.”
He adds that his team does this with ConversionIQ, HawkSEM’s proprietary software, to granularly track every step of the buyer journey to see which aspects of a campaign are working and which need to be adjusted.
Google’s Gemini and Bing’s Copilot
Bing and Google have generative artificial intelligence features that help search engine users get the answers they’re looking for quickly and easily.
Microsoft Copilot
Bing’s AI chatbot, Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat), is based on the same technology as ChatGPT. The tool is free and accessible right from the Microsoft Bing search engine. You can also log into the tool separately to use it as a standalone tool.
Much like GPT, Bing Copilot can generate copy, write code, and answer complicated questions.
Microsoft’s AI also has access to the internet through Bing. Copilot can generate and process images you upload to give you more information about them, such as identifying plants.
Google Gemini
Google Gemini is an umbrella name for its AI tools. The search engine renamed Bard, its conversational AI chatbot, to Gemini, and integrated its workspace-oriented tool, Duet AI.
There’s a free Google Gemini app for Android, and it’s also available for Apple iPhone users within the Google app upon signing in.
Like Microsoft Copilot, Gemini can help with brainstorming, learning, and writing. You can also use it to interact with Google’s other services like YouTube, Google Maps, and Gmail.
Bing Places vs. Google Business Profile
Bing Places and Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) are free tools businesses use to show up in local search results on Bing and Google. Both tools require you to claim your listing, complete your profile, and verify your listing.
When you search for a local business, you’ll see the business listings at the top of the search engine results page on Bing and Google.
(Image: HawkSEM’s Google Business profile)
(Image: HawkSEM’s Places profile)
Each platform also has a map view that shows the locations of the different businesses that appear in the search results.
When you open the profile, you’ll see similar information, such as contact information, images, and other details about the business.
Both profiles will show customer reviews. Google allows customers to leave a review directly on the company’s Google Business profile.
While you can’t leave a review on Bing, the platform pulls customer reviews from third-party sites like Yelp that you can read on the company’s business profile.
It also pulls general review stats from Facebook, Yelp, Uber Eats, and more. You can click on these rating stats to read the full reviews on each organization’s website.
Since the profiles are free to set up and require updating when changes are made, it’s worthwhile to claim your profiles on both search engines. There’s no harm in getting traffic from both platforms.
Google Analytics or Bing Webmaster Tools?
Both Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics (aka GA4) are go-to tools for SEO professionals. Both are free, web-based tools that track website traffic and web presence on their respective search engines.
Google Analytics provides the following benefits:
- Real-time data tracking and analytics
- User behavior and audience insights
- Mobile and cross-device tracking
- Custom reporting and data visualization
- Integrates with Google Ads
While Bing Webmaster Tools offers:
- Site performance and crawl status monitoring
- Keyword and search query analysis
- Sitemap and URL submission
- Mobile and international targeting options
- Integrates with Bing Ads
If you’re optimizing for both search engines, you may want to use both tools, depending on the type of data you want to track.
The takeaway
When it comes to SEO and PPC, digital marketing professionals often focus on Google due to its dominant position in the global search engine market.
But as Bing continues to improve its offerings, it draws in more search engine users, making it a powerful platform for businesses that want to grow online.
At HawkSEM, we aren’t just an organic SEO agency. We also offer PPC management services to support our clients with Google Ads, Bing Ads, paid social media marketing, and Amazon advertising.
If you need help deciding which platform is right for you or you want to leverage both to reach your audience, let’s chat.
This article has been updated and was originally published in April 2024.