Maximising Your Reach with Microsoft Ads: A 2025 Guide for Small Business

In digital marketing, when Pay Per Click (PPC) is considered part of the marketing strategy as a clear option for growing your business’ website traffic, marketing decision makers can be forgiven for immediately thinking of Google Ads. After all, what was once named Google AdWords does dominate the paid advertising market with approximately 80% market share of search engine traffic.

But what if there is another platform gaining a lot of interest that you could consider for your strategy? For example, Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads), which has long been considered as playing second fiddle to Google Ads.

It’s time to think again. Over the past few years Microsoft Ads has become a serious platform for UK businesses looking to expand their online presence. At this moment in 2025, Microsoft Advertising represents almost a quarter of all desktop searches in the UK, offering a valuable opportunity to extend your digital presence and reach beyond the usual audiences.

Why and When Choose Microsoft Ads?

Here at Clever Marketing, we have been using Microsoft Ads for many years for our clients with great results. Microsoft Ads offers a massive opportunity when you need to amplify your presence and promote your business beyond Google or Meta. Additionally, MS Ads allow you to advertise across multiple sites, including Bing, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Outlook, Xbox, and Windows.

It’s important to mention that this extensive network provides access to an older, more affluent demographic, primarily consisting of desktop users and businesses utilising Microsoft 365 and the Microsoft Edge browser.

However, one of the most exciting changes that Microsoft has made in recent months was to incorporate Copilot AI (ChatGPT-4) features, which have attracted millions of users.

As a result, businesses will see many benefits of Microsoft Ads, including:

• Lower Cost-Per-Click (CPC) when compared to Google Ads.
• Higher conversion rates and better Return on Investment (ROI).
• Access to an audience that’s not necessarily available on other search engines.

So, all that said, Microsoft Ads is well worth considering in your marketing mix, because it can add more to your bottom line at an extremely cost-effective price point.

Marketing Tip: Consider spending some time defining your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) to understand if Microsoft Advertising will reach the right audience for your business.

Strategies for Microsoft Ads Success in 2025

The quickest way to start is by importing your existing campaigns from other platforms like Google Ads or Meta Ads. However, Microsoft Ads has some unique tools that you can utilise to speed up your campaign setup.

Leverage AI and Automation

Microsoft Ads offers powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, like Copilot, to handle repetitive tasks and scale campaigns efficiently. Implement these strategies in your Microsoft Advertising dashboard:

• Enable AI recommendations for automatic bid and ad placement refinement.
• Have a look at using AI-generated text for your ads; even if you don’t completely utilise it, the suggestions can be useful and inspiring.

And lastly, there are two options that you can use to almost completely leverage AI and automation.

• Utilise Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) to create relevant ads directly from your website content.
• Experiment with Microsoft’s Smart Campaigns for automated management.

However, we do not recommend you go this route, unless it’s as a “last resort” if you lack the time or skills, because you are effectively relinquishing all control over your ads to AI.

In fact, to get the most out of Microsoft Advertising we strongly recommend having skilled human oversight of the kind you’ll get from the expert Paid Media team at Clever Marketing.

Optimise for Targeted Keywords

Your business should conduct thorough keyword research using Microsoft’s keyword tool to identify relevant, high-volume, and low-competition keywords. Additionally, it’s wise to create ad groups and optimise your ads around these keywords for maximum impact.

Utilise Ad Extensions

Aim to improve your ad rank and visibility by incorporating ad extensions, such as:

• Sitelink extensions.
• Call extensions.
• Location extensions.
• Callout extensions.

By implementing these features, you’ll be delivering a more comprehensive and valuable experience for your audience.

Harness LinkedIn Targeting

A unique feature of Microsoft Ads is its integration with LinkedIn data. Use this to target specific companies, industries, or job functions, ensuring your ads reach the most relevant audience.

LinkedIn is probably the most valuable social platform for business-to-business (B2B) marketing these days, and that wealth of granular data is why Microsoft acquired it in 2016.

Embrace Video Content

If it’s relevant to your products and services, you can further boost your ad impact with dynamic video content. Video extensions work particularly well across Microsoft Ads’ network, offering cross-device display options like banners, billboards, and half-page formats.

Focus on Shopping Campaigns

For e-commerce businesses, you should prioritise shopping campaigns to drive growth and showcase your products directly in the search results.

Microsoft Ads Best Practices for 2025

With our in-house team’s extensive experience in Microsoft Advertising, we’ve compiled a list of Microsoft Ads best practices for your organisation to implement this year.

1. Import high-performing Google Ads campaigns into your Microsoft Ads console to save time and replicate success.
2. Create your conversion tracking specifically for Microsoft Ads using the UET tag.
3. Analyse your campaigns’ performance reports regularly to maximise conversions and increase ad visibility.
4. Optimise your campaigns for conversational and voice search trends.
5. Use the Microsoft Audience Network (MSAN) to expand your reach across premium properties like Outlook. Be careful which websites you include or exclude to ensure you get the most from the network.
6. Implement strong calls-to-action (CTAs) using action extensions or sitelink extensions.
7. Refine your targeting settings based on location, demographics, interests, and device use. Remember to take advantage of the LinkedIn-based targeting if your audience is B2B or professional.

By implementing these strategies and best practices, all types of small businesses can maximise their reach and ROI with Microsoft Ads in 2025. As the platform continues to evolve, staying informed about new features and updates will be crucial for maintaining a competitive edge in the digital advertising landscape.

Of course, to save time and energy, if you’d like our digital marketing agency to assist with or run your Microsoft Ads campaigns, then give our friendly team a call on 01276 402 381 and we’ll be happy to discuss your project. Or you can drop us a note through our contact form.