Bing Ads – The Web Authority

December 30, 2019July 27, 2019

Stop Bleeding Cash in AdWords- Move Out of Broad Match

As a Google Partner and Bing Partner, I feel like I can speak with authority on this topic. In AdWords alone, I manage an actual monthly ad spend for clients of over $120,000 per 30 days or $1,441,776 yearly. As an experienced account manager I have to say that I simply hate broad match.

Don’t get me wrong, I like using broad match modifiers for keywords, but I feel that for most clients broad match is simply a way to bleed cash out of a pay per click account.

Google AdWords and Bing Ads (especially Bing Ads) Love, Love, Love broad match keywords. Heavy use of broad match without a reality check on the terms your ads are showing for is lining their pockets with your cash.

McCord Web Services is a Bing Partner and Accredited Bing Ads Professional.

If you don’t believe me, click just one of your high click volume broad match keywords and then click the drop down to view search queries. You will be shocked to see what is there.

Even with a huge and extensive negative keyword list, the way both Google and Bing Ads show your ads on synonyms for your broad match keyword would simply not be a good fit for most businesses that are focused on direct action or lead conversions and sales.

I hate to say never, but as click costs rise in an account the first thing I do is move out of broad match, use only broad match modifiers, phrase match and exact match. I end up with a much better cost per conversion and better overall results.

Need a savvy pay per click account manager on your side? Check out our programs. We work as a white label supplier/expert for agencies

May 6, 2019May 3, 2019

Bing Ads Becomes Microsoft Advertising

McCord Web Services is a Microsoft Advertising Partner

Just this last week Bing Ads rebranded itself as Microsoft Advertising. This is an interesting update for a platform that looks to move outside the box consumers have put it in.

With advertising from Bing Ads appearing on Windows PCs in many areas and on Microsoft properties, it makes perfect sense to move beyond the Bing platform and make the name more descriptive.

I expect that there will be additional integrations with Microsoft products in the months to come as the powers that be re-brand the platform and enlarge offerings.

The Bing Partners program portal has been updated to reflect this new name and branding.

April 15, 2019December 28, 2018

Bing Places – Local Business Listings – How to Guide

Of course you’ve listed your business on Google, but have you grabbed your Bing Places account? With Windows 10 and more Bing integration with this new platform, I am finding my own self on Bing more. So don’t forget you want your own business to be found easier and faster on Bing too as they get more traffic.

Grab Your Listing

First make sure you have a Microsoft ID for your business, then visit Bing Places online at https://www.bingplaces.com/ then go to the site and login and enter in your business phone number. Bing will auto populate a form with what it knows about your business. You can then either claim the listing or create a new one.

If your old address shows, go ahead and claim it as you have to claim and verify by phone before you can change to your new address.

Update Your Listing

Then work your way through the five or so screens to add information about your business. You’ll be asked to choose one of Bing’s categories for your business. This is not the time to get creative, you’ve got to choose one of theirs. Add pictures to your listing, but they have to be bigger than 468 pixels wide by 360 pixels tall.

Verify Your Listing by Snail Mail

To assure Bing that you are who you say you are, you will for the first time need to verify your listing by snail mail. Bing will regular mail you a postcard with a PIN. It will typically arrive in less than one week.

There’s No Optimization

Really there is nothing more you can do for your listing. Don’t get fooled into buying any optimization services. There is simply nothing else that can be added to your listing to boost performance.

Do I think it is important to claim your listing – absolutely! Better to provide the “right” information as the business owner than for Bing to guess about your business hours and possibly even use the wrong phone number.

March 18, 2019March 16, 2019

Its Easy to Use Bing Ads Structured Snippets

There’s something new you may have missed in Bing Ads in the extension tab – Structured Snippets.

They are easy to set up and Bing Ads likes to display them under your ad like Callouts. There is no link with the text, but the Snippets give you a chance to quickly let your clients know what else you do or offer.

Here’s how to set them up:

Go to the “Extension” tab.
2. In the drop down select “Structured Snippets”
3. Select your category – I typically use Types.
4. Add up to 20 Snippets.
5. Make sure to click save.

I usually set these up at the campaign level, but you can set them up at the ad group level too.

If you are looking for a savvy Bing Ads account manager, make sure to check out our services and pricing.

January 23, 2019January 17, 2019

Bing Ads Accredited Professionals

This last week I recertified my Bing Ads professional credentials for another year and renewed my Bing Partner status.

Additionally, two of my staff members, Rebecca A. McCord and Roberta S. McCord, passed the exam for the first time to become as Bing Accredited Professionals. Both are my daughters and work in my business to assist with client account management.

Certifications assure that your account management is done by professionals with knowledge of the pay per click platforms and how to optimize accounts. Both team members still work closely with me and perform account review and management under my supervision as they work to develop strong expertise on their own.

Congratulations Rebecca and Roberta!

September 5, 2018August 30, 2018

Bing Ads a Great Place for Medical Professionals

Nancy C. McCord, Owner of McCord Web Services LLC

Many businesses only consider advertising on Google AdWords, but for many businesses, Bing Ads should be considered a viable adjunct to AdWords.

For many of my clients (but not all), Bing Ads brings in lower cost conversions than AdWords. For medical professionals, I’ve had good success in most markets in generating conversions at a lower cost (sometimes as much as 50% less) than in Google AdWords.

There are differences between Google AdWords and Bing Ads and many similarities as well.

Here are just a few of the differences:

Bing Ads is best used for US and Canada advertising and not for global coverage. AdWords is great for global advertising.

Bing Ads uses the user’s browser setting to determine language – Google uses the Google.com language setting.

Bing Ads is still using a 30% bid cap when you use eCPC bid settings. Google did away with theirs this last year and so it can sometimes be expensive to let Google adjust your bid to be competitive.

Bing Ads has made it very, very easy to import AdWords programs into Bing Ads. Google has done nothing to make this easy. There are times when a program is performing better in Bing Ads and the only way to get it into AdWords is an Excel import with further tweaking after the load.

In Bing Ads the enhanced site links will only show for keywords that have won the auction and have a high quality score and are to appear in the top ad position on the page.

Bing Ads now has a “get a ride” feature next to directions in the location settings that interface directly with your personal Uber account. The get a ride extension setting is automatic.

Not every business will do well on Bing Ads, but for those that have, the results are excellent. Bing Ads may well be worth another look.