Most advertisers looking to get into the PPC space consider Microsoft a sort of afterthought, something you could do in the future if you ever have more money than Google Ads could spend. However, Microsoft Ads is worth looking into for many reasons and can be adaptable into a broader, farther-reaching strategy due to the fact that Microsoft Ads has an entirely different audience as well as different feature targeting that makes it uniquely beneficial for B2B.

Why Microsoft's Audience Is Different (and Worth Paying Attention To)

Let's start with Microsoft's audience. Microsoft itself, along with Microsoft Ads, has a well-educated, more affluent audience. This is due, in part, to the many businesses that use Microsoft as the backbone of their ecosystem.

Microsoft itself says its display network consists of 36% of users who have graduated from college and 37% of users who have income in the top 25%. This also gives Microsoft users some pretty hefty purchasing power.

Lower CPCs and Less Competition Mean Better Efficiency

In addition to this, we've seen Microsoft budgets run much lower across the board. Granted, there is less traffic within Microsoft. However, this plays a part in making competition much lower than across Google Ads. Along with this, CPCs are typically 30-70% lower depending on the market. This allows advertisers to gain higher ad positions with better efficiency all at a lower cost.

If you're managing a small or medium-sized business PPC account where every dollar has to work hard, that kind of cost differential is difficult to ignore.

B2B Targeting Capabilities Google Ads Simply Doesn't Have

Microsoft also has some pretty fantastic B2B targeting capabilities that Google Ads lacks. One in particular is professional targeting across LinkedIn audiences. You can target your ads to users based on their company, industry, or job function. This works similarly to audience targeting within Google Ads where you can either add a bid adjustment or solely target that audience.

And while you can target a host of LinkedIn users using Microsoft's targeting, many businesses are found there as well. Over 3.7 million companies globally use Microsoft 365, from large enterprises to small businesses, and many business-centric users can be found within the Microsoft ecosystem (Bing, Edge, Outlook, MSN, and games) with Edge as their default browser. These same users are searching across Bing, Outlook, or within Windows apps.

If you've been wondering whether B2B is even worth pursuing through paid search, we'd also point you to our post on 4 reasons small B2B businesses should start with Bing, which covers some of this from a slightly different angle.

Getting Started Is Surprisingly Easy

Probably the best part about Microsoft is how easy it is to get started. If you are already running ads across Google, Meta, or Pinterest, you can easily import them into Microsoft in a couple of easy steps.

Simply click on "Import" on the left-hand side, select your platform, and follow the instructions:

If you only want to import certain campaigns, make sure you choose that in the workflow. Microsoft will also want you to set up an import schedule, but you can either opt out of that and choose a one-time import, or pause the schedule once you have done the initial import.

We've found it better to optimize Microsoft campaigns separately within Microsoft as opposed to importing the changes you've made within Google into Microsoft. Once you have your campaigns imported, you will find that many of the navigation options are quite similar to Google Ads, making it easy to transition from one platform to the other. For a closer look at some of the features Microsoft has that Google doesn't, check out our post on 5 Microsoft Ads extensions Google doesn't have.

Microsoft Ads Deserves a Real Place in Your 2026 PPC Strategy

Microsoft Ads should be viewed as a powerful, essential platform rather than a mere afterthought to a broader PPC strategy. Its distinct audience, which is notably more educated and affluent, coupled with its lower competition and cost-per-click, offers a strong advantage for advertisers, especially in the B2B sector with its unique professional targeting capabilities via LinkedIn. Furthermore, the seamless import process from platforms like Google, Meta, or Pinterest makes integrating Microsoft Ads into your existing efforts exceptionally easy, positioning it as a highly efficient and effective way to broaden your reach and boost performance in 2026.

If you're curious about how Microsoft Ads fits into a more comprehensive paid search approach, you can explore more of our thinking on campaign strategy or learn more about what ZATO does with Microsoft Advertising.

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