Recently, Bing increased its desktop search engine market share to 21 percent, making it second only to Google.
The platform saw 3.6 billion desktop-based searches in February 2016 — more than Yahoo, Ask and AOL. The Microsoft-owned search giant plans to capitalize on this success with expanded text ads, Bing Ads Editor 11.0 and the global expansion of its keyword research tool.
1. Expanded Text Ads
In June 2016, Bing announced that it would support expanded text ads. Fully optimized for mobile devices, these ads include additional space for marketers to showcase products and services, with a more prominent headline and a longer description line. Previously, advertisers were limited to 71 characters when creating text ads for Bing. The new format boasts 80 characters and two 30-character headlines. Display URLs will also change: Bing Ads users can now choose a customizable URL path.
“With expanded text ads on the Bing Network, we will embrace the trend of providing an improved text ad experience that provides more information to the customer about their destination,” says Jamie Chung, program manager at Bing Ads. “For advertisers, this means more clicks, increased click-through rates and more customer traffic to your website.”
Bing’s announcement came just a few weeks after Google introduced expanded text ads for its AdWords platform.
2. Bing Ads Editor 11.0
In May 2016, Bing premiered Bing Ads Editor (BAE) 11.0, the latest update to its marketing management suite. New features include multiple account management — users can now import and download unlimited accounts in the Account Manager window — and an improved search interface that makes it easier to find campaigns. Also, marketers can copy and paste data across accounts.
“When building BAE 11.0, we focused on answering two questions,” says Prince Bajracharya, a program manager at Microsoft. “First, how can we enable you to do more in less time? Second, how can we improve the user interface to make it easier for you to use Bing Ads Editor?”
BAE for Mac debuted in June 2016 too, with a native desktop editor that streamlines marketing processes and gathers data about cost-per-click and pay-per-click campaigns
Users can download the latest version of BAE from Microsoft’s Download Center to their desktop device. Older versions will not be updated.
3. Bing Keyword Research
Bing’s keyword research tool, launched in September 2015, provides marketers with insights into their campaigns, such as organic search volume trends, historical metrics from the previous six months and keyword suggestions. Now, to tempt more marketers away from Google, Microsoft has big plans for the application, hoping to make it the top keyword tracker for advertisers everywhere.
In July, Bing extended the tool to several new international markets, including Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. It’s the latest stage in a global rollout: Bing Ads brought its services to five southeastern Asian countries in September 2013 — Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam — and plans to open a new office in Manchester, UK.
While it still lacks the cultural impact of Google, Bing has nearly twice the desktop search market share of rival Yahoo, despite only launching in 2009. The future looks bright for the Bellevue, Washington-based platform: In the last few months, the search engine has extended its keyword research tool to new territories, overhauled its ads editor and announced expanded text ads.