3 reasons to use Bing in your healthcare organisation’s Paid Search strategy

As a search marketing agency with over 10 years’ experience, we often find ourselves answering the following questions: Do you specialise in any particular verticals? Are you sufficiently experienced in a client’s specific vertical to devise their particular Paid Search strategy?

Any search marketer who has been in the industry for 10+ years will tell you that after a while, you start to develop a personal skill set for a specific vertical. Well, the same can be said of agencies as a whole and one of our specialties is healthcare. Having worked with some of the UK’s leading names such as Helping Hands, Promedica24, OvuSense to name a few, we’ve got a wealth of experience.

Making the most of Bing in your Search Marketing strategy

One of our takeaways from working in the healthcare vertical is that the Bing search engine can often be a viable route to success. Promoting Paid Search Ads by Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) frequently provide great value to these healthcare clients for three simple reasons:

1.      Relevant audience demographics

One reason for Bing’s success in healthcare Paid Search strategies is an audience demographic overlap.

Often your target audience in the healthcare or general care market vertical aligns really well with that of the age/gender demographics of Bing:

Due to the target audience demographics aligning so well with those of the “typical” Bing user, we see lower average CPC’s and higher average CTR’s, ultimately leading to much better average cost per lead. The conversion rate being highly dependent on the landing page and the specific service being offered.

2.    Gaining exposure on the right devices

Taking into account this search engine demographic, this correlates with heavier use of PC over Tablet or Mobile. For example, frequent traffic from the 45+ demographic leads to a higher proportion of users searching on their PC. The reverse tends to be truer for younger generations, who use mobile devices to search on Google. Windows PCs naturally having a much higher search market share on Bing. By incorporating Bing into your Paid Search Strategy, you’re maximising your chances of being seen by the most relevant audiences to your vertical.

3.      Capitalising on the user journey

During the initial stages a user may perform initial research on their mobile device during the “awareness” phase. They often do so Google. However, as they later progress, they are more likely to convert and engage with a brand. At this point, as the search has a higher conversion intent, it is more likely to occur a desktop/laptop and therefore the user is more likely to be searching on Bing (based on the known demographics above).

Conclusions

In any Paid Search strategy, its key to take into account your target audience and plan accordingly. While we’d never suggest using only Bing over Google when planning your PPC campaigns, it could be that you prioritise funding your Microsoft Advertising PPC campaigns over your Google Ads PPC campaigns when targeting a healthcare audience.

The same advice is true for other verticals where the target demographic aligns well with the Bing search engine, for example we’ve seen similar results when targeting brands related to or consumers interested in eco-friendly (partly due to the rise of Ecosia). We cover this in more detail in The search engine that went environmental.

For more advice on building a Paid Search strategy that aligns with your goals and delivers results, get in touch.