Paid media · Microsoft Ads
Microsoft Adsafter the import.
The Google structure is a draft. Queries, bids, and the syndicated network get a decision before the budget is trusted.
The short answer
A second auction, not a copy.
Microsoft Ads is worth adding when Google search already converts and you want the same intent on a second auction. It is not worth adding to decorate a proposal, and it is not a place to paste every Google campaign unchanged. Volume is often lower, so the account should be simpler. We import, then we rewrite negatives, ads, and bids for the queries that actually appear. Syndicated placements stay off until a placement report says they belong.
Second auction
Add it when the query already pays on Google.
The fit is practical. A law firm, a B2B offer, or a home service that already converts on Google search can pick up incremental queries here without a new creative theory. The people searching are not identical. Ads still have to match the query, and the landing page is the same page only if the intent is the same.
Skip it when Google search is still unsorted. A broken conversion and a muddy structure, copied twice, is two accounts to misunderstand. Skip it when the offer has no search demand and someone hopes a smaller auction will be cheaper by magic. Cheaper clicks on the wrong query are still the wrong query.
- Google search already produces a qualified lead or order.
- Tracking can record the same conversion definition here.
- You can live with a smaller account, not a mirror of every ad group.
After import
Rewrite the import before you scale it.
Import brings campaigns across. It also brings negatives that do not match this query mix, and bids that were learned in a different auction. We read search terms here as their own list. Ad groups that will not get enough volume are combined or dropped. Brand still sits apart from non-brand, for the same reason it does on Google.
The syndicated network and audience placements are a choice, not a default we forget. If those clicks do not produce the qualified conversion, they go off. LinkedIn profile targeting inside this platform is coarse. We use it only when the audience is broad enough to spend and sales agrees the titles are real. It is not a replacement for a LinkedIn campaign.
- Search terms reviewed in this account, not assumed from Google.
- Bids set from this auction, not left at the imported number.
- Syndicated placements off unless the conversion shows up.
Mistakes
A permanent clone with the network left on.
The failure is an import on Friday and a budget increase on Monday. Nobody opened the search terms. The syndicated network spent into apps and parked pages. The report compared cost per click with Google and called the lower click a win. The qualified lead did not move.
The other failure is splitting the account into as many campaigns as Google has, then starving all of them. Learning never starts. We would rather run fewer non-brand groups that can be read than a replica that cannot exit learning or gather a search terms report worth having.
- No budget increase on an import that has not been read.
- No syndicated spend excused because the click was cheap.
- No campaign-per-keyword structure the volume cannot support.
Separate books
This auction does not borrow Google's result.
We report Microsoft on its own: qualified conversions, cost, and the search terms that spent. A lower cost per click than Google is not the goal. The goal is incremental qualified demand at a cost you would still pay if Google did not exist. Brand is still its own line.
Placement and network reports are part of the monthly read, not an annual surprise. If the syndicated network is on, it has to show qualified conversions. If it cannot, it is turned off and the account is judged on search alone. We do not average this account with Google Search into one ROAS story.
- Qualified conversions and cost, reported apart from Google.
- Search terms unique to this account, with negatives.
- Network and placement spend visible when it is enabled.
Example engagement
A law firm that imported and left it.
Law firm with a working Google search account for two practices. Microsoft had been imported a year earlier and barely opened. The syndicated network was on. Several ad groups had no impressions because the structure was a full copy of Google. Brand and a generic injury term shared a campaign.
We cut the structure to the two practices that convert, separated brand, and turned the syndicated network off until a placement could show a qualified consult. Bids were reset from this auction's traffic, not left at the imported figures. The Google account stayed the larger book. Microsoft was judged only on the consults it added. We did not call a cheaper click a better practice.
Import
Treated as a draft, then rewritten before budget moved
Two lines
Brand and the practices that convert, not a full clone
The example uses anonymized results from a Quorum engagement. It is one account, not a benchmark you should budget against.
Questions
Microsoft Ads questions.
Is Microsoft Ads always cheaper?
Clicks are often less contested. That is not the same as a lower cost per qualified consult. We compare qualified conversions. A cheap click that becomes a job seeker or the wrong practice is not a discount.
Should every Google campaign be imported?
No. Import the queries that already convert and have a landing page. Leave the experiments, the starved ad groups, and the messy brand mix behind. You can add campaigns later if the search terms report shows a gap.
Do you run the audience network?
Not by default. If we test it, it has its own budget and a stop rule tied to the qualified conversion. It does not sit inside a search campaign where it can borrow the search campaign's results.
Can this replace LinkedIn for B2B?
No. Profile targeting here is a coarse layer on search, not a full LinkedIn program. If the offer is sold to a job title and search demand is thin, LinkedIn is the conversation. This account does not pretend to be that one.
What tracking has to exist first?
The same conversion you trust on Google, recorded once, with enough volume to read. If that tag is still being argued over, we do not open a second account so both can be wrong in parallel.
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