Most SMEs searching for a bing ads manager are not actually committed to Microsoft Advertising. They are trying to work out whether it is worth their time at all, or whether they are better served focusing their budget elsewhere.
This article explains what a bing ads manager does, how Microsoft Advertising compares to Google Ads for SMEs, and when it makes sense to manage both — without doubling your workload or your costs.
What a Bing Ads Manager Actually Does
A bing ads manager is the person or system responsible for running paid search campaigns on Microsoft Advertising, formerly known as Bing Ads. The role covers keyword research, bid management, audience targeting, negative keyword maintenance, ad copy testing, and performance reporting — the same core disciplines as Google Ads management, just on a different network.
The distinction that matters for SMEs is scope. Microsoft Advertising reaches users on Bing, Yahoo, and the Microsoft Search Network, which collectively account for a smaller share of search volume than Google but still represent a meaningful audience — particularly among older demographics, desktop users, and certain B2B segments.
In practice, most bing ads manager activity involves importing existing Google campaigns into Microsoft Advertising, then adjusting bids and budgets to reflect the different traffic volumes and conversion rates. The import tool Microsoft provides works reasonably well, though match types, audience lists, and some ad extensions require manual review after import.
The operational reality is that managing Bing separately from Google adds genuine overhead. You are maintaining two sets of campaigns, two sets of quality scores, and two reporting dashboards. For time-pressed SME owners, that overhead is often the deciding factor.
Google Ads vs Microsoft Advertising for SMEs
The question most SMEs actually want answered is not how to use a bing ads manager — it is whether Bing is worth the effort compared to Google. After nine years running a marketing agency, the honest answer is: it depends on your sector and your margin.
| Factor | Google Ads | Microsoft Advertising |
|---|---|---|
| Market share (UK) | ~92% | ~4–6% |
| Average CPC | Higher | 20–30% lower on average |
| Audience age skew | Broad | Older, more desktop |
| B2B reach | Strong | Stronger for corporate |
| Setup complexity | Moderate | Lower (via Google import) |
| Third-party management tools | Extensive | More limited |
For most SMEs, Google Ads will deliver the volume. Microsoft Advertising can supplement that volume at a lower cost-per-click, but the incremental gain rarely justifies maintaining a separate active management workload unless campaigns are already running well on Google.
If your cost-per-acquisition on Google is already too high, adding Microsoft Advertising is unlikely to fix it. The better investment is usually improving what you have on Google first. You can read more about that in our guide to how to fix high cost per acquisition in Google Ads.
The SMEs who get genuine value from Microsoft Advertising tend to be in B2B services, financial products, or sectors where the audience skews older and less mobile-first. For consumer ecommerce at lower margins, the incremental volume rarely moves the needle enough to justify the management overhead.
When You Actually Need a Bing Ads Manager
There are specific situations where dedicating resource to a bing ads manager — whether that is a person, an agent, or a managed service — is genuinely worth it.
First, if you are in a sector where Google CPCs are very high and your daily budget is being exhausted before midday, Microsoft Advertising can extend your reach into the same audience at a lower rate. Legal, financial, and insurance sectors regularly see Google CPCs well above £5–10 per click. Even a modest Microsoft Advertising budget can produce enquiries at a significantly better rate.
Second, if you are targeting a B2B audience that accesses the web primarily through corporate devices, Bing has historically maintained a stronger presence on those machines due to default browser settings on Windows. That default placement advantage is declining but is still real in some enterprise environments.
Third, if you are already running well-optimised Google campaigns and want to scale without increasing Google spend, Microsoft Advertising is a lower-risk channel to test. The campaign structure is familiar, the reporting logic is similar, and the import process reduces setup time significantly. Understanding what a paid search service actually does will help you assess whether that extra layer of management is justified for your budget.
Fourth, in 2026, with AI-driven bidding becoming standard on both platforms, the gap between managing Google and managing Bing has narrowed. Automated strategies on Microsoft Advertising now function more reliably than they did three years ago, which reduces the hands-on management burden somewhat.
Managing Both Channels Without the Overhead
The practical problem for most SMEs is not choosing between Google and Bing — it is finding a way to manage both without the cost of a full agency retainer or the time investment of doing it in-house.
Traditional agency management solves the expertise problem but introduces a cost structure that often does not make sense below a certain monthly spend. A typical Google Ads retainer from a specialist agency runs to several hundred pounds per month before ad spend. Adding Microsoft Advertising management on top of that increases the fee further.
In-house management is possible but requires consistent attention. Paid search accounts that are set up and left alone tend to drift. Quality scores erode, bids fall out of alignment with market rates, and budget allocation gradually stops reflecting actual performance. This is true on Google and equally true on Microsoft Advertising.
The alternative that has emerged for SMEs is AI-driven management. Overtime is an AI agent that logs into Google Ads accounts directly, adjusts bids, pauses underperforming keywords, reallocates budget based on performance, and sends plain-English summaries of what it has done and why. It handles the day-to-day optimisation work that otherwise falls through the gaps when an SME owner is running their business rather than watching dashboards.
For SMEs weighing up whether to expand into Microsoft Advertising, the more useful question is often whether their Google Ads are being managed actively enough to justify adding a second channel. The comparison between pay per click software and an AI agent is worth reading if you are trying to work out what level of management actually suits your situation.
What a Bing Ads Manager Costs
Management costs for Microsoft Advertising vary considerably depending on how you approach it. A freelance PPC specialist might charge £300–£600 per month to manage a Bing account alongside a Google account. An agency will typically charge more. A fully in-house approach has no direct management cost but carries a significant time cost.
The pricing structure for AI-driven management differs from both. Rather than paying a monthly retainer tied to hours or a percentage of ad spend, AI-managed accounts operate at a fixed cost that scales with the complexity of what needs managing, not with how much time a human would need to spend on it.
For context on what Google-side management typically costs before you layer in Microsoft Advertising, our guide to how much Google Ads costs for SMEs covers the full picture including management fees, not just media spend.
The honest trade-off is this: a bing ads manager — human or automated — only adds value if the underlying campaigns are structured to succeed. Management cannot fix a broken account structure or a fundamentally unprofitable keyword set. It can only optimise what is there.
What Most Bing Ads Guides Miss
Here is an opinion you will not find in most articles on this topic: for the majority of SMEs under £10,000 per month in total ad spend, Microsoft Advertising is a distraction, not a priority.
The time and attention required to maintain a second paid search channel — even with the help of a bing ads manager — pulls focus away from the channel that is almost certainly driving most of your results. Google Ads, well managed, will outperform a split-attention Google-plus-Bing setup at the same total budget in most consumer sectors.
That does not mean Microsoft Advertising is useless. It means the sequencing matters. Get Google right first. When Google campaigns are consistently profitable and you have budget to deploy elsewhere, then Microsoft Advertising becomes worth exploring. If you are still working out how to advertise your business with Google Ads effectively, adding Bing to the mix is premature.
The same logic applies to cross-channel reporting. Managing two channels without a clear view of which one is actually driving revenue is a common way to misallocate budget. Before expanding to a second channel, make sure your attribution is solid. Our guide to tracking cross-platform advertising performance with GA4 is a useful starting point.
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If you are weighing up whether a bing ads manager is the right next step for your business, start by auditing what your Google Ads account is actually doing right now. If it is not being actively managed — bids checked, budgets adjusted, underperformers paused — then that is where the return is. Overtime manages that process automatically, so you can make an informed decision about expanding to Microsoft Advertising from a position of strength rather than guesswork. You can see exactly how the Google Ads management process works at tryovertime.com/google-ads.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a bing ads manager and do I need one?
A bing ads manager is anyone or any system responsible for running and optimising campaigns on Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads). Whether you need one depends on your sector, your current Google Ads performance, and whether the additional audience on Microsoft's network justifies the management overhead at your budget level.
How does Microsoft Advertising compare to Google Ads for SMEs?
Google Ads reaches a significantly larger audience but typically at a higher cost-per-click. Microsoft Advertising reaches a smaller, often older and more desktop-focused audience at lower CPCs. For most SMEs, Google Ads should come first, with Microsoft Advertising considered only once Google campaigns are consistently profitable.
Can I import my Google campaigns into Microsoft Advertising?
Yes. Microsoft Advertising has a built-in import tool that pulls campaign structure, keywords, ads, and bids from Google Ads. The import is not perfect — match types, audience lists, and some extensions need manual review — but it significantly reduces the setup time for a new Microsoft Advertising account.
Should I use an agency or an AI agent to manage my paid search?
Agencies bring human judgement and strategic input, but their cost structure is often misaligned with SME budgets below a certain monthly spend. An AI agent like Overtime handles the day-to-day optimisation work — bid adjustments, budget reallocation, pausing underperformers — at a lower cost and without the lag of waiting for a monthly report.
What are the main trade-offs of running a bing ads manager alongside Google?
For more on this, see our guide: Bing Ads Management Services: What SMEs Actually Need.
The main trade-offs are time, attention, and reporting complexity. Managing two channels means maintaining two sets of campaigns, monitoring two sets of metrics, and ensuring budget allocation reflects actual performance on each. Unless your Google campaigns are already well-optimised and profitable, adding a second channel typically dilutes focus rather than adding meaningful scale.