How to set up Bing Ads next to Google in Australia

Most AU marketing leads already know the Microsoft Search Network is sitting on Edge, Windows, and Yahoo inventory their Google campaigns never touch. The job this week is narrower: stand up Microsoft Advertising beside a live Google Ads account so you can bid on that residual demand without double-counting conversions, blowing GST-inclusive CAC, or teaching two smart-bidding systems on different definitions of a “lead”.

“Done” looks like this. A Microsoft Advertising account under your ABN entity, UET firing the same conversion events you trust in Google Ads, and campaigns either imported-then-cleaned or built from a controlled seed. Geography locked to the Australian markets you actually serve. And a reporting cut that separates Google clicks from Bing clicks in AUD before anyone argues about ROAS. You are not chasing parity with Google volume. You are adding a second auction with cleaner CPCs on a slice of commercial intent Google leaves on the table.

If your Google engine already books demos, quote forms, or phone calls, treat Bing as a parallel SEM line - not a science project and not a full rebuild of every campaign you ever ran in Sydney or Melbourne.

What has to be true before you create the Microsoft Advertising account

Skip this and you will “launch” with broken tags, mismatched currencies, or an import that clones every bad broad-match experiment you meant to retire. Get the plumbing right first.

Commercial and access checklist

• Admin access to the existing Google Ads account (or a clean MCC link) so import and change history are possible without waiting on a freelancer’s login.

• A Microsoft Advertising account owned by the business, billed in AUD, with GST treatment clear to finance. Do not leave the account under a personal Microsoft ID or an overseas agency MCC you cannot reclaim.

• Decision rights on daily budget for the first 14 days. Bing rarely needs Google-scale spend on day one; it does need enough volume for UET and bid strategies to see conversions.

• A single source of truth for what counts as a conversion (qualified form, booked call, checkout, offline sale import) - the same definition you use for Google Smart Bidding.

Tracking and site readiness

• Google Tag Manager (or equivalent) already deploying your Google tags so you can add UET without a developer queue for every edit.

• Installing UET in Google Tag Manager: step-by-step

Installing UET in Google Tag Manager: step-by-step

• Landing URLs that load cleanly on mobile. Only about 55.9% of origins pass all three Core Web Vitals in recent CrUX data; if your quote page fails INP on Android, Bing traffic will look “expensive” when the real leak is post-click.

• UTM conventions already used on Google so Microsoft clicks land in GA4 and the CRM with a distinct source/medium (for example microsoft / cpc), not as (direct) or a second google / cpc collision.

• Consent and privacy posture that still allows a conversion pixel plus enhanced conversions-style first-party signals where your legal team allows it. Losing 20%+ of conversion data to blockers and privacy defaults is common; you cannot afford a second channel with half the signal of the first.

Offer and ops

• Sales or SDR capacity to handle incremental form volume. Bing often skews slightly older and more desktop in some B2B categories; response SLAs still matter.

• Negative keyword and brand-protection rules you already trust in Google, ready to reapply after import.

• Finance aligned that early Bing CPCs may look cheaper while volume is thin - unit economics get judged after you have enough conversions to trust CPA, not after three days of cheap clicks.

If any of those are missing, fix them before you hit import. A soft next step if the dual-engine SEM load is heavier than your team wants: skim how HeyLead runs Bing Ads / Microsoft Advertising as a managed line beside Google rather than a one-off experiment.

How-to: build Microsoft Advertising beside Google without wrecking AUD reporting

Work the sequence in order. Each step is something you can click, configure, or verify - not a slogan.

How-to

1. Create the Microsoft Advertising account under the company. Use the business Microsoft account, set time zone to the primary AU market you optimise for (usually Australia/Sydney or Australia/Melbourne for national brands), currency AUD, and confirm billing. Link only the people who need change access. Screenshot the account number for finance and for any agency handoff later so you never lose history to lock-in.

2. Connect Google import deliberately - do not auto-sync forever on day one. In Microsoft Advertising, use Import from Google Ads, authenticate the Google account, and select a controlled subset first: your best Search campaigns by conversion volume or CPA, not every paused Zombie RSA from 2023. Prefer a one-time import for the pilot. Continuous auto-import is useful later; early on it re-imports structural mess and undoes Bing-side negatives.

3. Strip the import of Google-only junk before you enable spend. Pause or delete Performance Max-style constructs that do not map cleanly, Display/Demand Gen leftovers if they came across, and audience experiments that have no Microsoft equivalent. Collapse duplicate ad groups. Re-check match types: Microsoft still rewards disciplined exact and phrase on commercial terms even while automation expands. Reapply brand exclusions and competitor rules you rely on in Google.

4. Lock geography and language to how you actually sell in Australia. Target Australia or the metro set you serve (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and so on) with radius or location intent set to people in those locations - not “interested in” tourists researching a holiday. Language English. If you run state-level offers (strata compliance work in NSW vs end-of-lease cleans in VIC), split campaigns or ad groups so bids and landing pages match the offer, not one national blob.

5. Install Universal Event Tracking (UET) once, globally. Create a UET tag in Microsoft Advertising, place it via GTM on all pages, and publish. Verify the tag is active in the UET tag helper / Microsoft diagnostics. One tag base; multiple goals later. Do not paste a second copy of UET in the CMS footer “just in case” - duplicate tags inflate conversions and poison bidding.

6. Define conversion goals that mirror Google - not a looser vanity set. Map thank-you page loads, generate-lead events, or phone-click events to the same business outcomes you optimise Google for. If Google only counts MQL-qualified forms after CRM validation, do not let Bing optimise on raw “submit” while Google optimises on qualified. Add enhanced conversions / first-party hashed signals where policy allows so smart bidding is not flying blind when cookies drop.

7. Wire UTMs and offline or CRM feedback. Append consistent UTMs on every final URL. Build the same offline conversion or CRM reverse-ETL path you trust for Google if sales cycle length matters. Last-click across two search engines will double-count assisted journeys if you naively sum platform dashboards; decide the finance rule up front (platform for optimisation, GA4 or CRM for board reporting).

8. Rewrite ads and extensions for Microsoft SERP realities. Keep the RSA assets that already win on Google, then add AU-specific proof: response times, licence or compliance lines where relevant, GST-inclusive pricing cues if you advertise price, and sitelinks to the same high-intent landers - not the homepage. Microsoft RSAs still display up to 3 headlines and 2 descriptions in most AU placements - same limits as Google - but Bing’s ad rank leans harder on ad relevance scores than bid alone, so exact keyword inclusion in headline 1 still moves CTR meaningfully. Also check that sitelink descriptions are populated; Bing surfaces them more consistently than Google does in AU SERPs. If the brief is B2B, lean on desktop-friendly proof blocks; if it is home services, make the phone extension and call-only paths obvious.

9. Set bids and budgets like a pilot, not a mirror of Google. Start with manual CPC or a capped maximise-conversions strategy on a modest daily budget while conversion volume is thin. Automated bidding that “inflates budgets without improving quality” is a real objection when signal is sparse - give the system clean conversions before you hand it the keys. Expect some queries at lower CPC than Google; also expect thinner volume. Reallocate weekly based on qualified CPA in AUD, not click volume.

10. Launch, then run a 72-hour verification pass. Confirm UET page views, conversion counts on a test submit, geo of real clicks, search terms report for obvious waste, and that Microsoft clicks appear in GA4 with the right campaign names. Only then raise budget. Keep a living negative list; 20-30% of SEM spend still dies on irrelevant queries and weak landers when nobody trims the term report.

11. Align the landing page to the query cluster. Send commercial Bing traffic to the same intent-matched pages you use for Google, not a generic homepage. If forms abandon or CTAs sit below proof, fix that before you scale. Session behaviour tools such as HeyLead Insights help you see scroll depth and form drop-offs on those landers so you are not guessing why a cheaper CPC still misses CPA.

12. Document the dual-engine operating rules. Write a one-pager: which campaigns live only on Google, which are shared, how often you import, who owns negatives, and how finance attributes pipeline. Without that, someone will “helpfully” turn on continuous import and overwrite a month of Bing-side work.

When the pilot is live, keep Google as the volume engine and Bing as the incremental coverage play. You are buying unique query and inventory mix - Edge defaults, some Windows-heavy office traffic, partner network placements you chose to allow or block - not a clone of every Google impression.

Common Microsoft Advertising import mistakes that waste AU paid search budget

Import succeeds and the account still underperforms. These are the stalls we see most often next to a healthy Google account.

Two different conversion definitions. Google optimises on CRM-qualified leads; Bing optimises on every form fire. CPA looks brilliant in Microsoft and dreadful in the pipeline review. Fix the goal map before you scale budget.

Duplicate or missing UET. Tag in the head and again via a plugin. Or tag only on the homepage while thank-you pages sit on a different template. Conversions either multiply or never fire. One base tag, goals on top, verified with a real test lead from an AU IP.

Currency and time-zone drift. Account in USD because someone used a US passport Microsoft login years ago. Finance reconciles AUD invoices against USD dashboards and trust dies. Rebuild or correct currency early; do not “just convert in the spreadsheet forever.”

Broad match and partner network left wide open. Imported campaigns expand into low-intent partner placements. Search terms fill with research junk and job seekers. Tighten network settings, add negatives weekly, and separate pure brand if brand CPC on Bing is cheap enough to run alone.

Homepage handoff. Ads promise a calculator, strata quote, or demo; the click lands on a brand story page. Buyers already tell each other: if a partner only “sends traffic to your homepage,” run. Match message to lander the same way you should on Google.

Smart bidding too early. Maximise conversions on twelve clicks and three soft goals teaches the algorithm noise. Stay manual or tightly capped until you have a stable conversion count, then graduate.

Reporting that sums two last-click platforms. Google and Microsoft both claim the same multi-touch deal. Board ROAS looks like 4x-plus on paper while cash collection disagrees. Use platform stats to optimise bids; use CRM opportunity source rules or incrementality logic for the executive pack.

If creative and landers are the weak link rather than the auction, fix proof and form friction before you add another engine. Channel addition does not fix unclear offers - tighter positioning and cleaner attribution still beat “more platforms” for teams tired of vague monthly decks.

Need a second pair of eyes on structure after import? HeyLead’s Bing Ads management work sits beside existing Google accounts so measurement stays coherent rather than bolted on.

FAQs

Should we import everything from Google Ads on day one?

No. Import the campaigns that already produce qualified conversions and clear search intent. Leave experimental PMax, thin display holdovers, and dead ad groups behind. A smaller clean account beats a perfect mirror of Google’s historical clutter.

How much budget should an Australian pilot use?

A common starting point for AU SMB pilots is $30-$80/day for 3-4 weeks - enough to generate 15-30 conversion events for the bidding system to learn from, without alarming finance. Adjust up if your average CPA on Google is high (e.g. $200+ per lead) and you need meaningful volume faster. The trigger to increase isn’t time elapsed; it’s UET and CRM agreeing on at least 20 qualified conversions. Raise only after that signal is clean. There is no honest universal ROAS promise before the account runs on your landers and offer.

Is Microsoft Advertising worth it if Google already hits ROAS targets?

If Google Search is already hitting your CPA target, Bing earns its place only when blended paid-search CAC improves - not just because the clicks are cheaper. Run the pilot, measure qualified CPA in AUD over a full learning window, and kill it if the numbers don’t hold.

Do we need separate landing pages for Bing?

Not separate brands - separate intent alignment. Reuse the Google landers that convert, keep UTMs distinct, and fix speed and form friction once for both engines. Mobile still drives a large share of paid clicks globally while converting softer than desktop; do not ignore mobile INP because Bing skews a bit more desktop in some verticals.

Who should own the Microsoft login?

The company. Agency or freelancer access via roles is fine; ownership and billing must sit with you so history, pixels, and audiences are not held hostage if the relationship ends.

What marketing leaders are seeing

“HeyLead was able to quickly bring structure and order to our Search Engine Marketing campaigns. Their methodical approach turned around our SEM performance and allowed us to demonstrate the ROI from the programs. They brought innovations to the table that increased the visibility of the online journeys our prospects and customers were taking. This allowed us to rapidly align our content and approach to match our customers’ needs.” - Paul Liddiatt, Chief Marketing Officer, New Book

Putting it to work

This week

• Confirm AUD billing, time zone, and admin ownership on a company-controlled Microsoft Advertising account.

• Import only your top converting Google Search campaigns; pause everything that is not core intent.

• Deploy one UET tag via GTM and fire a real test conversion that matches your Google goal definition.

• Standardise Microsoft UTMs and verify them in GA4.

• Run the Core Web Vitals checker on the primary lander and fix glaring INP or LCP issues before you scale spend.

• Schedule a 72-hour search-terms and geo QA pass on the calendar - not “when someone remembers.”

Next 30 days

• Build negatives from live Bing term reports weekly.

• Graduate eligible campaigns to automated bidding only after conversion volume stabilises.

• Align CRM disposition so Bing-sourced leads get the same quality labels as Google.

• Compare qualified CPA and pipeline contribution by engine in AUD, not platform-reported ROAS alone.

• Document import rules so continuous sync cannot silently overwrite Bing-side edits.

Pull your last 30 days of Google converting search themes, import that shortlist into Microsoft Advertising with mirrored goals and a single UET, and do not raise budget until a test lead shows in both the Microsoft conversion column and your CRM with clean UTMs. When you want the dual-engine setup, UET discipline, and ongoing bid hygiene handled as an operating program rather than a side project beside Google, HeyLead can take the Microsoft Advertising line - import hygiene, tracking parity, and AU geo control - off your plate; start the conversation at heylead.com/au/contact.