Bing has officially announced that they are making the switch to what Google AdWords refers to as “Enhanced Campaigns”. It appears that Bing has employed the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” approach here, considering in April 2013 Bing explained why they would not be switching over to “enhanced campaigns”. Presumably, the ability to run AdWords campaigns in Bing Ads with fewer tweaks is the reasoning for the change of heart.
When will these changes take place?
In September 2014 Bing Ads will combine Desktop and Tablet targeting into one targeting option. This means that you will be choosing between targeting Desktop/Tablets, Mobile, or both.
In January 2015 Bing Ads will combine all three devices, and there will be no device targeting options.
Can You Adjust Your Bids Based on Device?
Yes. You will be able to use bid modifiers in order to adjust bids based on devices, just the same as you can in AdWords. Currently in AdWords you can adjust Mobile bids anywhere from -100% to 300%. These same modifiers are available in Bing.
To Bing’s credit, they are giving advertisers a feature that AdWords doesn’t offer: allowing advertisers to use bid modifiers on tablets. You will be able to implement bid modifiers of anywhere from -20% to 300% on tablets in Bing Ads.
How Do You Adjust Your Current Campaigns in Bing?
As we all had to when AdWords made the switch to “Enhanced Campaigns”, we’ll again have to adjust to the new device targeting options. Bing was kind enough to send out the graphic below:
Be prepared to utilize bid modifiers on devices accordingly. If you do not want to show on mobile, set the modifier to -100%. Also, remember that in Bing Ads you will be able to adjust your bids on tablets. Unfortunately, Bing Ads will only allow you to bid down 20% on tablets, but it’s still a nice feature exclusive to Bing.
Conclusion
Bing initially thought the initial change by AdWords would hurt Google, as it made it more difficult for advertisers to target who they believed to be their “target audience”. However, it seemed to be too important to Bing’s customers to be able to implement campaigns from AdWords without having to make multiple tweaks to those campaigns.
How do you feel about this change in Device Targeting? Let us know in the comments below!
