Bing Ads for Contractors: Cheaper Clicks Nobody Is Competing For

Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) holds about 9% of the U.S. search market share, according to StatCounter. That sounds small until you realize those clicks cost 30-50% less than Google. A plumber paying $40 per click on Google for “emergency plumber near me” can pay $20-25 for the same keyword on Bing.

Almost no contractors advertise on Bing. That’s the opportunity.

Why Bing clicks are cheaper

Google Ads is a crowded auction. Every plumber, HVAC company, and roofer in your market is bidding on the same keywords. More bidders means higher prices. LocaliQ’s 2024 home services benchmark report found average Google CPCs of $6-8 for general keywords and $30-50 for high-intent emergency terms.

Bing has fewer advertisers competing for the same searches. Microsoft’s own data shows that the average Bing Ads CPC across all industries is 33% lower than Google Ads. For home services specifically, the gap is even wider because fewer contractors have discovered the platform.

An HVAC contractor on r/PPC shared his 6-month comparison: Google Ads cost him $42 per lead while Bing delivered leads at $24 each. The close rate on Bing leads was actually 5% higher because the callers were older homeowners who tend to make faster decisions.

The math is straightforward. If you’re spending $3,000/month on Google Ads and getting 60 leads, shifting $500 to Bing could add 20+ leads at the same or lower cost per lead. Your total lead count goes up while your blended cost per lead goes down.

The Bing audience is your ideal customer

Bing’s user base isn’t random. Microsoft’s internal research shows that Bing users skew older (35-65), have higher household incomes, and are more likely to own homes compared to Google’s broader demographic.

Homeowners aged 35-65 with higher incomes are exactly who hires contractors. They own the homes that need new roofs, HVAC replacements, and kitchen remodels. They have the budget to pay for quality work rather than shopping purely on price.

ComScore data shows that 33% of Bing users have a household income over $100,000. These aren’t tire-kickers looking for the cheapest option. They’re homeowners who value reliability and reviews over rock-bottom pricing.

Bing also powers Yahoo Search and AOL Search. The combined Microsoft Search Network reaches roughly 36% of U.S. desktop searches. On desktop, your reach is much larger than the 9% headline number suggests.

Importing your Google Ads campaigns

You don’t need to build Bing campaigns from scratch. Microsoft Advertising has a built-in import tool that copies your entire Google Ads account structure, including campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ads, and extensions.

The import process takes less than 30 minutes. Sign up for a Microsoft Advertising account, click “Import from Google Ads,” authenticate your Google account, and select which campaigns to import. Bing copies everything and adjusts bids based on the platform’s auction dynamics.

A roofing contractor on ContractorTalk imported his Google Ads campaigns to Bing and started generating leads within the first week. His first month on Bing produced 12 leads at $29 each, compared to his Google average of $55 per lead. He didn’t change a single ad or keyword. The same campaigns simply performed better in a less competitive auction.

After importing, adjust your bids down by 20-30% to start. Bing’s lower competition means you don’t need to bid as aggressively. You can always increase bids later if you’re not getting enough impression share.

What to expect from Bing volume

Bing won’t replace Google. The search volume is lower. You’ll get fewer impressions, fewer clicks, and fewer leads than you would from Google campaigns targeting the same keywords.

Microsoft reports that advertisers typically see 10-20% of their Google volume on Bing. If your Google campaigns produce 100 clicks per day, expect 10-20 from Bing. For a local contractor, that might mean 3-5 extra leads per week.

Those 3-5 leads per week add up. At $25-30 per lead instead of $45-50, you’re adding revenue at a fraction of the cost. Over 12 months, a modest Bing budget of $500/month could deliver 200+ additional leads.

The key is treating Bing as supplementary, not primary. Keep Google as your main channel. Use Bing to capture the audience segment that Google misses entirely.

Setting up Bing Ads for home services

Beyond importing, a few Bing-specific adjustments improve performance.

Location targeting matters more on Bing. Because volume is lower, broad targeting can spread your budget too thin. Tighten your radius to your core service area and exclude locations you don’t serve. A 15-mile radius around your shop works better than targeting an entire metro.

Device bid adjustments should favor desktop. Bing has a stronger desktop user base than Google. Microsoft’s data shows that roughly 40% of Bing searches happen on desktop, compared to about 37% for Google. Desktop searchers for home services tend to be homeowners researching at their computers, which signals higher intent.

Ad extensions are free and underused on Bing. Add call extensions, location extensions, callout extensions, and sitelink extensions. These take up more screen real estate and increase click-through rates by 10-15% according to Microsoft’s own benchmarks.

Schedule ads during business hours. With lower volume, you want every click to count. Running ads at 2 AM when nobody answers the phone wastes budget. Set your schedule to match when your team can take calls.

Tracking Bing conversions properly

Install the UET (Universal Event Tracking) tag on your website. This is Bing’s equivalent of the Google Ads conversion tag. Without it, you’re spending blind.

Track phone calls from Bing ads separately from Google. Use different tracking numbers for each platform so you know exactly which leads came from where. A dedicated Bing tracking number costs $3-5/month through most call tracking services.

Set up offline conversion tracking if possible. When a Bing lead becomes a booked job, upload that data back to Microsoft Advertising. The platform uses it to optimize bidding toward clicks that result in actual revenue, not just phone calls.

Monitor your search terms report weekly for the first month. Bing’s keyword matching can be broader than Google’s, which means you might see irrelevant searches triggering your ads. Add negative keywords aggressively to keep your budget focused on homeowner searches.

Common mistakes on Bing

Setting and forgetting. Contractors import from Google and never check the account again. Bing’s auction dynamics differ from Google’s, and your bids need adjustment based on actual performance data. Check weekly for the first 3 months.

Using the same budget as Google. Your Bing budget should be 15-25% of your Google budget. Starting too high means burning through budget before you understand what converts. Start at $15-20/day and scale based on results.

Ignoring Bing-specific features. Microsoft Advertising has LinkedIn profile targeting, which lets you target homeowners by job title, industry, and company. A remodeling contractor can target high-income professionals. An HVAC company can target facility managers for commercial work. Google doesn’t offer this.

Not testing Bing Shopping campaigns. If you sell equipment, filters, or maintenance plans online, Bing Shopping ads have significantly lower CPCs than Google Shopping. The competition gap applies to shopping campaigns too.

When Bing works best

Bing performs strongest for contractors in suburban and affluent markets. The platform’s older, higher-income user base aligns with homeowners in established neighborhoods who have the equity and income to invest in home improvements.

Emergency services see good results because Bing users searching “emergency plumber” at 9 PM have the same urgency as Google searchers. The keyword intent is identical, but the click costs less.

Replacement and installation services benefit from Bing’s desktop research audience. A homeowner comparing HVAC systems on their desktop during the evening is a high-quality lead. They’re past the awareness stage and actively comparing options.

Adding Bing to your marketing stack

Set up a Microsoft Advertising account, import your best-performing Google campaigns, and allocate $500/month to start. Run it for 60 days, tracking cost per lead and close rate separately from Google.

If your Bing cost per lead comes in 30%+ lower than Google with comparable lead quality, increase the budget. Most contractors who test Bing end up keeping it permanently because the economics are too good to ignore.

Your methodology for measuring lead quality matters here. Cheaper clicks only matter if they produce real jobs. Track Bing leads through your pipeline and compare close rates against Google before scaling.

The contractors paying $40+ per click on Google while ignoring Bing are leaving the cheapest leads in home services on the table. Nine percent of searchers is a lot of homeowners, and almost nobody is competing for their attention.