If you run Google Ads for awning or patio cover installation, you already know how expensive a single click can be. In competitive markets, some of the top search terms for "retractable awning installation" or "covered patio contractor" routinely push past $30 a click, and national lead aggregators bid aggressively to swallow the first page. What most contractors in this trade do not realize is that the same searchers, the ones with the budget and the home to justify a custom awning or patio enclosure, are often using Microsoft Search Network properties and seeing far fewer ads from your competitors.

Microsoft Advertising, the platform that serves ads across Bing, Yahoo, MSN, and partner sites like DuckDuckGo, remains underexploited in the outdoor living and shade structure category. While your Google Ads competition may number in the dozens per keyword, the Bing auction for the exact same intent frequently has fewer than half the active bidders. The result: top-of-page positions, lower cost per click, and lead forms that frequently cost 40 to 60 percent less than what you pay on Google. For a category where every lead is worth thousands in project revenue, ignoring Microsoft Advertising leaves money on the table.

Who Searches for Awning and Patio Cover Installation on Microsoft Advertising

The Microsoft search audience skews toward exactly the buyer profile that drives high-value outdoor shade projects. Users of Bing, Edge, and MSN tend to be older, with a median age in the 45-to-65 range, and they report higher-than-average household income and homeownership rates. These are people who have lived in their homes for years, have built equity, and are actively investing in improvements that extend living space outdoors.

For an awning or patio cover contractor, that demographic isn't a nice-to-have. It is the buyer who can write a check for a motorized louvered roof, a custom retractable awning over a deck, or a year-round enclosed patio room. They search on Bing because it is the default on their Windows laptop, they use Outlook as their primary email, or they simply never changed their search engine. The intent is the same, but these users rarely see the same ad density they would on Google, which means your ad stands out more and the clicks you do pay for are less likely to be tire kickers.

Beyond pure residential search, the Microsoft Advertising platform also surfaces commercial opportunities that are often invisible on Google. Property management firms, restaurant owners, hotel operators, and facility directors searching for commercial awning solutions or large-scale patio cover bids can be targeted with precision using a capability unique to Microsoft Advertising: LinkedIn Profile targeting.

Microsoft Advertising Features That Matter for Awning and Patio Cover Installation

Rather than a generic overview of the platform, the features that create a direct competitive advantage for shade structure contractors fall into a few specific buckets.

Search Network Reach with Less Competition

Microsoft Advertising delivers ads on Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and the privacy-focused DuckDuckGo, which uses Bing's search results under the hood. The combined volume for contractor-related searches in most metropolitan areas is meaningful. For terms like "custom retractable awning near me," "sun shade installation," or "aluminum patio cover contractor," the aggregated monthly search volume across the Microsoft network may be 15 to 25 percent of what you see on Google. While that volume is smaller, the click fraction you can capture often represents an entirely new stream of leads you are not getting today, and one that costs dramatically less per acquisition.

LinkedIn Profile Targeting

No other search platform allows you to layer job title, company, and industry targeting onto your paid search campaigns. For awning and patio cover contractors who also serve commercial clients, this is a unique channel. With Microsoft Advertising, you can set up a campaign that bids on general shade structure keywords but only serves ads to users whose LinkedIn profiles match specific roles such as:

• Facilities Manager
• Restaurant Owner
• Hotel General Manager
• Property Developer
• HOA Board Members (via company targeting)

This prevents wasted spend on residential clicks when you want to bid for commercial projects, without needing separate keyword lists or negative audiences. For a business that does both residential and commercial awnings, LinkedIn targeting on Microsoft Advertising lets you run two precisely segmented campaigns on one platform.

Microsoft Audience Network

Your search ads can also appear across Microsoft-owned properties including MSN, Outlook, and Microsoft Edge's new tab page as native display ads or vertical text ads, via the Microsoft Audience Network. For a patio cover installation company, this means homeowners who read home improvement articles on MSN or who check the weather on the Edge start page can see your ad without you having to purchase separate display ad placements. The system uses the same ad copy and landing page, and you only pay per click. For local businesses trying to build brand awareness around a new awning product line or a seasonal promotion, this extends reach without added complexity.

Seamless Import from Google Ads

If you already run Google Ads, you don't have to start from scratch. Microsoft Advertising allows a direct campaign import that pulls in your campaign structure, keywords, ad copy, and extensions. SBS manages this import process and corrects the elements that do not translate cleanly, such as audience segments, certain automated bidding settings, and match type behaviors that diverge between the two platforms. The result is a head start, not a copy-paste, with adjustments made for the Bing search environment.

The Competitive Landscape for Awning Contractors on Microsoft Advertising

On Google Ads, the auction for outdoor living and shade structure keywords is crowded at the top. National aggregators like HomeAdvisor, Angi, and Thumbtack often occupy multiple positions, along with large regional installers and local competitors. The result is a high-floor cost per click and a bidding war that pushes small to mid-size contractors toward the bottom of the page or forces them into lower-volume long-tail keywords.

On Microsoft Advertising, that same auction pressure is frequently absent. In a typical mid-size metro area, you might find:

• Only two or three direct competitors actively running Bing search ads for "retractable awning contractor," instead of the ten or more on Google.
• National aggregators either absent or allocating far less budget because their internal models prioritize Google volume.
• First-page and top-of-page impression share achievable with lower bids, meaning your ad extensions, call assets, and location details show more often.
• Cost-per-click for commercial-intent keywords frequently 30 to 50 percent lower than the Google equivalent.

We have managed accounts in the outdoor improvement space where the same keyword producing a $28 click on Google returned an $11 click on Microsoft Advertising, with a conversion rate only marginally different because the searcher intent and project readiness were similar. The lower competition is not a theory. It is a consequence of home services advertisers concentrating budgets on the platform they assume has all the volume, and it creates an opening for contractors who are willing to allocate even a modest test budget.

How SBS Structures a Microsoft Advertising Campaign for Awning and Patio Cover Contractors

The mechanics of building a Bing search campaign for this trade involve more than an import button. We make a series of decisions that are specific to the shade structure and outdoor living niche.

Import or Build from Scratch

If a client has a Google Ads campaign that is already structured well, with tightly themed ad groups, solid ad copy, and a healthy conversion history, importing saves time. SBS will import the campaign, audit the match types (we remove any overly broad keywords that work on Google but can cause irrelevant spend on Bing due to different close-variant matching behaviors), and strip out settings that do not apply. For a new contractor without any Google Ads presence or with a poorly organized account, we build a fresh Microsoft Advertising campaign from the ground up, using our keyword research that reflects actual Bing search query data, not just Google's.

Bid Strategy Differences

Smart Bidding on Microsoft Advertising, including Maximize Clicks, Target CPA, and Target ROAS, works similarly to Google but typically requires a longer ramp-up period and a higher volume of conversions to stabilize. For an awning contractor who may see fewer than 15 conversions per month on Bing initially, we often start with enhanced CPC or manual bidding to accumulate data, then transition to Target CPA once the conversion pixel has enough signal. Rushing an automated bid strategy before the platform understands what a lead looks like is a common mistake, and one we avoid by phasing the approach.

Negative Keyword Strategy for Shade and Outdoor Searches

Many negative keywords mirror what you would exclude on Google: "DIY," "how to install," "patio cover plans," "awning repair manual," "free estimate" if you charge for design consultations, and "cheap." However, Bing search queries can vary. For example, searches that include "window awnings" or "door canopies" may surface if not excluded correctly, and the auction may match you to "canvas replacement" or "awning fabric repair" which are service-adjacent but not installation. We build negative lists that reflect the actual search term reports we see inside Microsoft Advertising for this specific trade, not a generic list.

Budget Allocation Between Google and Microsoft

A cannibalization concern is legitimate, but in practice, Google and Microsoft Advertising largely reach different segments of the search audience. We structure budgets so the two channels complement each other. A typical starting point is to allocate 15 to 20 percent of the total paid search budget to Microsoft Advertising, then adjust upward based on cost per lead and volume. When we see Microsoft leads coming in at half the cost per acquisition, that share frequently grows on its own merits.

Trust Signals and the Microsoft Business Profile

Bing search results integrate business ratings and reviews from multiple sources directly into the ad display and organic listings. Having a fully completed Microsoft Business profile (the equivalent of a Google Business Profile) is essential. SBS ensures that location extensions are correctly mapped to the verified listing, that photos of completed awning and patio cover projects are uploaded, and that the review aggregation pulls in ratings from platforms like Yelp, Facebook, and the Better Business Bureau where possible.

Ads with rating extensions and location assets show higher click-through rates, and for a local trade where trust is everything, that visual validation on a search results page can be the difference between a click and a scroll-by. We also link the ad account to Bing Places so that the rating appears consistently on all relevant campaigns.

Mistakes Awning Contractors Make When They Finally Try Microsoft Advertising

After years of running only Google Ads, many contractors dip a toe into Bing and get frustrated when the results do not match their expectations. The issues we see repeatedly include:

• Importing a Google campaign with all match types intact. Broad match modified keywords that work well on Google's algorithm may trigger unrelated queries on Bing, wasting budget on people searching for awnings for RVs or commercial truck canopies.
• Leaving LinkedIn audience targeting completely unused. For a business that would gladly take a five-figure commercial patio cover job from a restaurant group, ignoring the ability to target facilities directors and restaurant owners with the same search campaign is a missed revenue stream.
• Setting a daily budget so low that the campaign never exits the learning phase or generates enough clicks to produce a statistically meaningful number of conversions. A budget of $10 per day on Bing is almost guaranteed to produce zero leads and a cancelled campaign.
• Ignoring the Microsoft Audience Network entirely and confining the campaign to search-only. Since the Audience Network can serve ads to homeowners reading outdoor living articles on MSN or checking their Outlook inbox, excluding it means walking away from impressions that often convert at a reasonable rate with no extra management burden.
• Not separating call and form conversion tracking per platform. When everything is lumped into one bucket, the contractor cannot see whether Bing leads actually come at a lower cost. SBS always tracks phone call conversions separately by platform, so the data speaks for itself.

Why SBS Manages Microsoft Advertising Differently for This Trade

We do not treat Bing as a clone of Google with fewer users. The audience characteristics, the auction dynamics, and the features that create an edge for awning and patio cover installation contractors are different enough that a dedicated strategy matters. SBS runs both Google and Microsoft Advertising for clients in the outdoor home improvement space, and we approach each platform with its own playbook.

What you get when SBS takes on your Microsoft Advertising presence:

• An audit of any existing Bing account or a fresh build if you are new to the platform, with keyword research pulled from Microsoft's own keyword planner and search term reports.
• Clean import from Google Ads with match type corrections, bid adjustment, and removal of incompatible audience signals.
• Proper conversion tracking, including call extensions and call-only ads, segmented by platform so you always know which channel generated the lead.
• LinkedIn Profile targeting layered onto campaigns for commercial awnings, patio enclosures for multi-family properties, and large-scale shade installations for venues.
• Microsoft Audience Network ads enabled with monitoring, not left on autopilot.
• Regular budget rebalancing based on cost per lead data, so dollars flow to the channel that produces the most affordable, highest-quality project inquiries.

The contractors who add Microsoft Advertising to their paid search mix right now are capturing leads from the exact homeowners and commercial buyers that their competitors are not even bidding on. If you want to reach older, higher-income homeowners actively planning an awning or patio cover project without paying Google's premium auction prices, the network is there and underserved.

Contact SBS to discuss adding Microsoft Advertising to your paid search program, or to have us audit an existing Bing account that is not converting. We will show you what the network can produce for your specific service area, backed by real numbers, not projections.