Lots of exciting new features are rolling out for Bing Ads in 2016, including Bing Native Ads. According to Bing, “the MSN audience is more engaged” and “native ads can yield a click-through rate that is five to seven times higher compared to the average click-through rate for display ads.” Currently, Bing Native Ads are only available in Beta for US advertisers but should be rolling out to all advertisers soon.
For some time, advertisers have seen success using native formats with Yahoo Gemini. In fact, according to inc.com marketing trends, Native Ads purchase intent is 53% higher compared to traditional banner advertising. Below we will cover what you need to know about Bing Native Ads and what it means for your account.
What Are Native Ads?
Native Ads are a form of media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it’s placed. So what do these terms mean?
- Form: Ads match the visual design of the experience they live within. It looks and feels like natural content.
- Function: Ads behave consistently with the native user experience. It functions like natural content in the page environment in which they appear.
The goal is also to serve ads that are relevant to users based on their intent and the experience.
Where Will My Native Ads Appear?
Bing Native Ads appear on select MSN web pages. All clicks on your native ads will take the user to the destination URL you specify when you create your ads
Who Will See My Native Ads?
Bing Native Ads build on and extend Bing search by matching user intent with relevant ads. This matching is done in multiple ways.
- Search history: Native Ads take user search history in Bing as intent signals, then match and serve the most relevant Native Ads in a display publisher.
- Site activities: Like Bing Ads remarketing, Native Ads support remarketing based on site visits and activities.
- Page content: Content consumptions such as a Tesla Model S on MSN Autos section may be used as user intent to serve up auto-related Native Ads.
Bing extracts keywords from the title and content of pages on MSN to determine what those pages are about. Next, when a user is on MSN, it compares the keywords on the page with queries in the user’s search history. Bing then maps the keyword on the MSN page with queries from the user’s search history. From here, Bing determines which ad will be most relevant to the page content and the user’s interests. Even though no query is typed into a search box, the same matching and ranking algorithms used in paid search are used to determine which ads will be served in Bing Native Ads.
How To Implement
Some campaigns will be opted into Bing Native Ads by default. If your campaign is not, reach out to your Bing Rep to request access to the beta. Once your account is eligible, here is how to setup a campaign.
Step 1: Gather Images
Bing recommends that users upload a large image that will be cropped into 4 smaller images automatically. You can find the Bing Image Specs here.
Step 2: Create New Campaign Or Opt-In Existing Campaigns
If you are optimizing from an existing campaign using image extensions, you will need to adjust Native Ads bid modifiers under Advanced Settings > Native Ads.
From here you can either increase bid modifiers to 900% (which is primarily only Native traffic) or opt-out by decreasing to 100%.
Step 3: For New Campaigns, Create Ads And Keywords
- Create ads: The ad character limits are the same as traditional search campaigns – 25 character headlines and 71 character description lines.
- Enter keywords and negatives.
- Save.
Step 4: Upload Your Image
Under Ad Extension > View Image Extensions > Campaign or Ad Group
The new image is automatically cropped into the four aspect ratios for Native Ads, which you can edit.
How Do I Optimize And Manage Bing Native Ads?
The same matching and ranking algorithms used in paid search are used to determine which ads to serve in Native Ads. With that in mind, below are a few optimization and best practice recommendations.
- Bid modifiers – Set bid modifiers anywhere from -100% to +900%.
- Pricing – Cost per click format similar to search campaigns.
- Remarketing – Layer Bing Native Ads with high-value remarketing audiences.
- Keyword research – Use search query data to determine what users are searching for and what to exclude.
- Relevance is key – Make sure landing pages and ad copy are relevant.
- Test and optimize – Test various messaging and images. Make sure to allow enough time for data to be statistically significant.
What Does Bing Native Ads Mean For Your Accounts?
If you are advertising on Bing Ads in the US, Bing Native Ads will be coming to your accounts soon. I see the biggest opportunities with ecommerce accounts, however, I also could see lead gen accounts benefiting from this jazzy new ad format. For lead gen accounts it will be important to keep an eye on lead quality.
If you do not already have access to Bing Native Ads reach out to your Bing rep to get started or be on the lookout for Native results showing in your campaign performance tab.
