Last updated October 2026
Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) is the search advertising platform that serves ads across Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, AOL, and Microsoft-owned properties including LinkedIn — reaching an audience of 1+ billion monthly searches globally, with significantly lower cost-per-click than Google Ads and unique B2B targeting capabilities that make it particularly valuable for Indian companies selling to enterprise and professional buyers.
Why Should B2B Marketers Look Beyond Google?
Google Ads dominates digital advertising budgets, and for good reason — it has the largest search market share. However, concentrating 100% of your search budget on Google means:
- Higher CPCs due to saturation: Every competitor is bidding on the same Google keywords. For competitive B2B terms like “ERP software India” or “cybersecurity consulting”, Google CPCs can reach ₹200-₹800 per click
- Missing a valuable audience segment: Bing’s search share in India is growing, particularly among corporate users where Microsoft Edge is the default browser on company-provisioned Windows laptops and desktops
- No LinkedIn integration: Google has no direct connection to LinkedIn’s professional data. Microsoft Advertising uniquely offers LinkedIn profile targeting for search ads — the only platform where you can target by job title, company, or industry in a search advertising context
For Indian B2B companies, Microsoft Advertising is not a replacement for Google Ads — it is a high-ROI supplement that typically delivers 30-50% lower CPC at comparable or better conversion rates for professional audiences.
Understanding the Microsoft Advertising Network
When you advertise on Microsoft Advertising, your ads appear across:
- Bing Search: The primary search engine, handling 10-12 billion monthly searches globally
- Microsoft Edge Browser: The default browser on all Windows machines. New tab and address bar searches go to Bing by default — most corporate users never change this
- Yahoo Search: Powered by Bing’s search engine through a long-term partnership
- DuckDuckGo: The privacy-focused search engine uses Bing’s ad network for its paid results
- Microsoft Start: The news and content feed on Windows and Edge
- LinkedIn (Audience Network): Extend your search campaigns to reach professionals on LinkedIn’s display network
- Outlook.com: Native ads within the Outlook web and mobile email client
The audience profile skews professional: Bing users tend to be older (25-54), have higher household income, and include a disproportionate share of business decision-makers. For B2B marketing, this audience profile is ideal.
Setting Up Microsoft Advertising for India
Account Creation
Create an account at ads.microsoft.com. You can use your existing Microsoft/Outlook/Hotmail credentials. Microsoft Advertising supports INR billing, and you can add an Indian credit/debit card or use UPI for payments.
Importing Google Ads Campaigns
The fastest way to start: Microsoft Advertising has a direct Google Ads import tool. Navigate to Import → Import from Google Ads, authenticate your Google account, and select which campaigns to import. The tool copies:
- Campaign structure (campaigns, ad groups, ads)
- Keywords and match types
- Bid amounts (you can adjust by a percentage during import — start at 80% of Google bids since CPCs are lower)
- Ad extensions
- Audiences and targeting
After import, review and adjust: some Google-specific features (Performance Max campaigns, certain audience types) do not have direct Microsoft equivalents and may need manual recreation.
LinkedIn Profile Targeting (Unique to Microsoft)
This is the single most valuable feature for B2B advertisers. You can layer LinkedIn targeting on top of your search campaigns:
- Company: Target employees of specific companies (e.g., show ads only to people working at Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL when they search for your keywords)
- Industry: Target by LinkedIn industry classification (IT Services, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Healthcare)
- Job Function: Target by department (Engineering, Marketing, Finance, HR, Operations)
Example use case: An Indian cybersecurity company selling to enterprise IT teams can run a campaign targeting the keyword “endpoint security solutions” but only show ads to people whose LinkedIn profile indicates they work in IT/Engineering at companies with 500+ employees. This level of professional targeting is impossible on Google.
Campaign Strategy for Indian B2B
Campaign 1: Brand Defence
Bid on your own brand name and product names. CPCs are typically ₹5-₹15. This prevents competitors from appearing above you when prospects search for your brand on Bing/Yahoo. For Indian SaaS companies, this is especially important when prospects may find you through a Google search but validate through a second search on their corporate browser (which defaults to Bing).
Campaign 2: High-Intent Service/Product Keywords
Target keywords that indicate purchase intent: “ERP implementation company India”, “SOC 2 compliance consultant”, “custom CRM development”. Use exact and phrase match to control spend. Expected CPCs: ₹40-₹200 (30-50% lower than equivalent Google Ads keywords).
Campaign 3: Competitor Keywords
Bid on competitor brand names. When someone searches “Freshdesk pricing” or “Zoho CRM alternatives”, your ad appears offering your solution. Microsoft Advertising tends to be less competitive for competitor keywords than Google, making this strategy more cost-effective. Expected CPCs: ₹25-₹100.
Campaign 4: LinkedIn Audience Campaigns
Use the Microsoft Audience Network (display/native ads) with LinkedIn targeting to reach decision-makers as they browse Microsoft properties. Create ads offering whitepapers, case studies, or free consultations, targeted by industry + job function + company size.
Budget Allocation and Expected Performance
For an Indian B2B company new to Microsoft Advertising:
Starting budget: ₹50,000-₹1,00,000/month. This provides sufficient data for optimization while limiting risk.
Expected metrics (Indian B2B benchmarks):
- Average CPC: ₹30-₹150 (varies by industry and keyword competition)
- Click-through rate: 3-6% for search ads (comparable to Google)
- Conversion rate: 2-5% for lead generation forms
- Cost per lead: ₹500-₹3,000 (typically 25-40% lower than Google Ads)
Budget split recommendation:
- 60% → High-intent search campaigns
- 20% → Competitor campaigns
- 10% → Brand defence
- 10% → Audience network with LinkedIn targeting
Scale budget based on ROAS. Most Indian B2B advertisers find they can profitably spend 15-25% of their total search budget on Microsoft Advertising alongside their Google Ads investment.
Optimization Tips Specific to Microsoft Advertising
Use Microsoft Advertising’s AI features: Multimedia ads (automatically enhanced with images from your website) and Responsive Search Ads with 15 headlines perform well on the Bing network. Let the algorithm test combinations.
Device targeting: Desktop traffic on Bing converts significantly better than mobile for B2B. Consider increasing desktop bid adjustments by 20-30% and reducing mobile bids by 20%.
Schedule by business hours: B2B searchers on Bing are primarily using corporate machines during work hours (9 AM – 6 PM IST, Monday-Friday). Concentrate spend during these hours with bid schedule adjustments.
Negative keyword management: Bing’s broad match is more expansive than Google’s. Import your Google negative keyword list AND add additional negatives during the first month as you review search query reports.
UET (Universal Event Tracking): Install Microsoft’s UET tag on your website for conversion tracking. It is the equivalent of Google’s tag. Set up offline conversion import if your sales cycle involves CRM qualification after the initial web lead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bing used enough in India to justify advertising?
Bing’s search share in India is estimated at 3-5% of total search volume. That sounds small, but 3% of India’s search volume still represents tens of millions of monthly searches. More importantly, the quality of Bing’s audience — corporate users on Windows devices — is disproportionately valuable for B2B marketers. A 3% market share that delivers 30-50% lower CPCs and higher conversion rates for professional keywords makes it a smart investment.
Can I run Microsoft Advertising campaigns in Hindi or regional Indian languages?
Microsoft Advertising supports Hindi and other Indian language campaigns, though the search volume in non-English languages on Bing is lower than on Google. For most Indian B2B contexts, English campaigns are sufficient since your target audience (corporate professionals) primarily searches in English.
How does Microsoft Copilot affect Bing advertising?
Microsoft has integrated Copilot (its AI assistant) into Bing search, creating a conversational search experience. Ads appear within Copilot-enhanced search results. As Microsoft continues to embed Copilot across Windows, Edge, and Office products, the touchpoints for Bing-powered search and ads are expanding. Early data suggests that Copilot users engage with ads at comparable rates to traditional Bing search users.
Should we import all Google Ads campaigns or only select ones?
Import selectively. Start with your highest-performing campaigns — the ones with proven conversion data on Google. Do not import campaigns that were already unprofitable on Google; lower CPCs on Bing will not fix fundamentally poor targeting or landing page issues. Once your imported campaigns are optimized, create Microsoft-specific campaigns that leverage LinkedIn targeting.
What is the minimum budget to test Microsoft Advertising?
You can start with as little as ₹20,000-₹30,000/month for a single campaign. However, ₹50,000-₹1,00,000/month provides enough click volume (200-500 clicks) to make statistically meaningful optimization decisions within the first 30 days. There is no minimum spend requirement from Microsoft.
