Why Bing Ads are a Hidden Gem for Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Most home service businesses put their whole ad budget on Google and stop there. That makes sense on paper since Google owns most of search, most agencies build around it, and it’s where the raw volume lives.

Here’s what gets missed, though.

Microsoft Advertising, the platform almost everyone still calls Bing Ads, changed a lot in the past year. 

It got bigger. Clicks stayed cheaper. And it now drops your ads directly inside AI chat answers. If your last honest look at Bing was back in 2024, you’re working off an old map.

Key Insights

• Bing crossed 1 billion monthly active users in 2026, though its search share still sits near 5%
• Clicks on the same keywords typically run 25% to 40% cheaper than Google
• Only about a third of US advertisers use the platform, which is why the auction stays cheap
• AI Max went generally available in August 2026, putting your ads inside Copilot conversations

Bing Just Got Bigger & Better

On its Q3 FY2026 earnings call, Microsoft reported that Bing crossed 1 billion monthly active users for the first time. Search ad revenue, minus traffic acquisition costs, grew 12% year over year. 

That was the third straight quarter of double-digit growth, and Edge held or gained browser share for the twentieth quarter running.

Bing’s global search share still sits around 5% according to StatCounter. A billion monthly users and a 5% share tell you two different stories. Plenty of those users land on Bing through a Windows default or an Edge shortcut rather than typing bing.com on purpose.

So why should a home inspection or HVAC company care about a search engine with a 5% share?

Because 5% of search in a metro area is still thousands of people looking for a contractor every month, and hardly anyone is bidding against you for them.

What Clicks Actually Cost Your Trade

Let’s talk about the money, because that’s the part that decides whether any of this is worth your Tuesday afternoon.

Paid search in home services has gotten expensive, and inspection sits at the pricier end of it. Here’s the Google side of the picture as it stands in 2026.

On Microsoft, agencies running the same campaigns side by side typically report clicks running 25% to 40% cheaper. 

Fewer businesses are bidding, so the auction clears at a lower price. Someone searching “home inspector near me” on Bing has the same closing date and budget as someone searching it on Google.

What That Price Difference Looks Like in a Real Campaign

Benchmarks are useful, but your actual ad account is where the real story is.

From May 1 through August 28, 2026, we compared Google Ads and Microsoft Ads performance for “home inspection services” in Austin, Texas. 

Same service, same market, two very different costs.

On Google, the average cost per click came in at $25. On Microsoft, it was $15.

That’s a 40% lower CPC just for reaching someone searching for the same service.

The difference carried through to lead costs, too. Google Ads generated leads at $110 each, compared with $87 on Microsoft Ads. That works out to roughly a 21% lower cost per lead.

That is why we don’t look at Microsoft Ads as a replacement for Google. We see it as a way to find additional high-intent searches without paying Google prices for every click.

[Disclaimer: Costs may vary by location and market conditions] 

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Advertising in the Age of AI: Bing, Copilot, and Generative Search

This section didn’t exist a year ago, and it’s the strongest reason to get on Microsoft Ads now instead of next year.

People don’t just type keywords anymore. They’ll ask questions. 

Someone with a leaking water heater asks Copilot what it costs to replace one and who does it near them. That whole conversation used to be invisible to advertisers.

Not anymore. In April 2026, Microsoft launched AI Max for Search campaigns, which expands query matching and personalizes ad delivery across AI surfaces like Copilot and Bing. 

It ran as an open pilot through the summer, and as of August 2026, Microsoft started rolling AI Max out globally, moving it into general availability across accounts.

AI Max adds three things to your existing search campaigns:

• Search term matching that reaches queries beyond your keyword list, using signals from your keywords, ads, landing pages, and user intent
• Text customization that generates extra ad messaging from your existing assets and website content
• Final URL expansion that can send a click to a different landing page when Microsoft thinks it fits the search better

Translated: you no longer need to guess every phrasing of “my furnace is making a clicking noise.” The system reads the intent behind the question and puts you in the answer.

The 85/15 Rule: How Much We Suggest You Spend On Microsoft Ads 

Nobody should move their paid search program off Google. Google has the volume, and volume books jobs. Microsoft Ads works best as a second lane on the same road.

For that 15%, pull the top-performing keywords from Google, the ones already producing booked jobs at a cost you’re happy with. 

Skip the experimental terms. Skip the broad awareness stuff. You’re buying the same intent at a lower price, so start with intent you’ve already proven pays.

Then run it for 90 days with clean conversion tracking on calls and form fills.

• If your Microsoft cost per booked job comes in under Google’s, shift toward 80/20 and widen your keyword set
• If it doesn’t, you’ve spent 15% of one quarter’s budget to learn something concrete about your market

One thing to expect while you test. Imported campaigns usually start with lower Quality Scores, so your first few weeks of CPCs will look worse than your steady state. Give it four to eight weeks before you judge the numbers.

What Microsoft Ads Won’t Fix

Being straight with you here saves everyone a frustrating quarter.

It won’t rescue a business that doesn’t answer the phone

Affordable clicks into a broken funnel only add more disappointment. The same goes for a landing page that takes nine seconds to load or a booking form that asks for eleven fields. Fix the obvious first.

It won’t replace your Google volume

In most home services markets, the total available Microsoft search volume is a fraction of Google’s, so treat it as a margin improvement on leads you’re already competing for, not a complete replacement.

Ready to Test Microsoft Ads the Right Way? 

We build paid search programs for home service businesses, and we’ve seen what a badly configured Bing import does to a contractor’s budget. 

Our team handles the setup, exclusions, tracking, and a 90-day read on whether it’s actually working for your trade in your market.

Let’s talk strategy.