Most remodeling and construction contractors running paid search focus the entirety of their budget on Google Ads. That focus, while understandable, means they are bidding against dozens of well-funded competitors for every kitchen remodel, bathroom renovation, and home addition query, pushing average CPCs well past $40 in many metros. The same search intent, typed into a Bing-powered search box by the same type of homeowner, often costs less than a third of that, and the number of actively bidding contractors on the Microsoft Advertising network can be counted on one hand per zip code. That disparity creates an acquisition advantage your business can capture immediately.

The homeowners searching for remodeling and construction services on Microsoft's search network are not a lesser version of Google's audience. They are, in many cases, the exact buyer profile a contractor wants to talk to. Bing, Yahoo, MSN, and DuckDuckGo users skew older. A disproportionate share are between 35 and 65. They own their homes, have higher median household incomes, and possess the accumulated home equity or savings necessary to fund a mid-six-figure remodel. For a kitchen remodeler, a design-build firm, or a general contractor specializing in additions, the Bing audience is not a secondary market. It is the primary demographic for high-ticket residential construction, simply reached through a different search engine.

That demographic advantage extends into commercial remodeling as well. Property management directors, facilities leads, and corporate construction buyers who use Bing in their office workflow display the same profile: decision makers with long tenures, controlling significant capital improvement budgets. Reaching them requires a different targeting approach, and that is where Microsoft Advertising's unique capabilities start to turn Bing from a side channel into a strategic lead source.

The targeting features that matter for remodeling and construction

Most contractors already understand search campaign basics: keyword selection, ad copy, conversion tracking. The power of Microsoft Advertising for this trade lies in capabilities that either do not exist on Google or are implemented in ways that specifically favor localized, project-based lead generation.

• LinkedIn Profile targeting: Microsoft Advertising is the only search ad platform that lets you layer LinkedIn company, industry, and job function targeting onto paid search campaigns. For a contractor pursuing commercial tenant improvements, office buildouts, or multi-location retail remodels, this means you can bid on broad commercial construction terms and restrict delivery to facilities managers, real estate directors, and property management executives. No other platform allows that level of commercial buyer qualification at the search query level. For residential-focused contractors, LinkedIn targeting can still be leveraged to reach property investors, developers, and architects who influence residential project decisions.

• Microsoft Audience Network: Paid search on Bing does not end at the search results page. The Microsoft Audience Network places native and display ads on MSN, Outlook, Edge, and partner properties, extending reach to homeowners who are reading home improvement content or checking email. This works without requiring a separate display campaign buildout. For remodeling contractors, it means your brand and offer can follow an early-stage prospect who searched "kitchen remodel cost" but is not yet ready to call.

• Import from Google Ads: A well-run Google Ads campaign for remodeling services can be imported into Microsoft Advertising in minutes. The interface, ad formats, and extensions are close enough that the heavy lifting is not re-creation but adaptation. SBS manages that import and corrects the elements that do not translate cleanly: bid strategy recalibration, device modifiers, audience exclusions, and conversion tracking setup so the two platforms report independently.

• Responsive Search Ads and ad extensions: Microsoft Advertising supports responsive search ads, call extensions, location extensions, image extensions, and structured snippets, giving you the same creative flexibility as Google. The real difference is that on Bing, your extensions are more likely to appear in top position because auction pressure is far lower, adding screen real estate without additional cost.

The competitive landscape on Microsoft Advertising matters even more than the feature set. In most US metro areas, the number of remodeling contractors actively bidding on Bing for terms like "bathroom remodeler," "home addition builder," or "design-build contractor" is a small fraction of those competing on Google. Large national lead aggregators and home services platforms concentrate their spend on Google because that is where the volume is. On Bing, the auction is thinner. That means lower CPCs, higher impression share for top-of-page positions, and a far easier path to the first page for long-tail, high-intent queries.

Where this CPC differential bites hardest is on the keywords that typically devour remodeling budgets on Google. "Kitchen remodeler near me," "bathroom renovation company," and "home addition contractor" often clear $35 to $60 per click in competitive Google Ads auctions. On Microsoft Advertising, the same keywords routinely run $10 to $20 per click, sometimes less depending on the metro. The cost-per-lead math shifts dramatically when click costs drop by 60 percent and the conversion rate holds steady because the traffic is coming from a homeowner with real intent and budget.

How SBS structures a Microsoft Advertising campaign for contractors

A Bing campaign built for a remodeling or construction business is not a copy-paste of the Google account, even if the import tool streamlines the initial build. SBS approaches every account with a structure designed specifically for the Bing auction environment and the contractor's project pipeline.

The decision to import or build from scratch depends on the state of the contractor's existing Google Ads account. If the Google campaign is well organized, with tight ad groups, proven ad copy, and conversion tracking in place, importing gives us a fast start. We then recalibrate bid strategies, adjust location targeting to reflect Bing's slightly different geographic delivery patterns, and rework the negative keyword list. If the Google account is messy or nonexistent, we build directly in Microsoft Advertising with a clean foundation, using keyword research that reflects Bing search query behavior, which often includes longer, more specific phrases than Google.

Bid strategy differences are real. Smart Bidding on Microsoft Advertising, including Target CPA and Maximize Conversions, relies on conversion data to optimize. Because Bing search volume is lower, it takes longer to accumulate the 15 to 30 conversions per month that automated bidding thrives on. For many remodeling contractors, especially those in smaller metros, we start with manual or enhanced CPC bidding until enough conversion data accrues, then transition to Target CPA once the algorithm has sufficient signal.

Negative keyword strategy for remodeling on Bing deserves its own attention. Many of the same exclusion terms apply: "DIY," "how to," "free," "salary," "photo gallery." However, Bing's search queries sometimes surface variants unique to the Microsoft network, such as queries driven by the default search settings on older Windows devices or through Cortana voice searches that use natural language. SBS actively mines the search term report in the first 30 days to catch these patterns and add trade-specific negatives that keep the account clean.

Budget structure when running both Google and Microsoft Advertising is not about splitting a fixed number. SBS typically recommends maintaining Google Ads at the spending level that produces acceptable cost-per-lead, then layering Microsoft Advertising as an incremental source using its own budget. Because Bing's CPCs are lower, a modest additional investment can deliver a meaningful number of extra leads without cannibalizing Google traffic. We monitor cross-platform overlap and adjust as needed, but in practice, the audience reached through Bing is often additive because those homeowners do not search on Google to the same degree.

Trust signals and the Bing Places ecosystem

When a homeowner searches for a remodeling contractor on Bing, the search results display business ratings, review counts, and location information pulled from the contractor's Microsoft Business profile. This is the Bing equivalent of a Google Business Profile. It is free, and yet a surprising number of contractors have never completed it. SBS ensures that every client's Microsoft Business profile is fully verified, populated with accurate NAP data, service categories, photos of completed projects, and a link to the website. The ad account is then linked to that profile so that review ratings appear directly on search ads as an automated extension.

These trust signals matter disproportionately for remodeling and construction, where a project often represents a six-figure financial commitment. A contractor's ad showing four stars and 40 reviews while the competitor's ad shows nothing creates an immediate credibility gap, and on Bing that gap widens because fewer competitors have done the work to connect their profiles.

The mistakes remodeling contractors make when they move to Bing

Even contractors who recognize the opportunity on Microsoft Advertising often undercut their own results by making a handful of predictable errors. Recognizing them early accelerates performance.

• Importing a Google campaign without adjusting match types: Bing's definition of broad match and phrase match can behave differently, especially for home service terms. Simply importing without cleaning up match type overlap leads to wasted spend on irrelevant queries. SBS reviews every imported keyword group and adjusts match types to fit Bing's query matching behavior.

• Ignoring LinkedIn audience targeting entirely: For contractors who handle commercial remodeling, tenant improvements, or light commercial work, skipping LinkedIn targeting means leaving the one feature that makes Microsoft Advertising uniquely powerful on the table. A campaign targeting "office remodeling company" with no audience overlay shows ads to anyone. Layering LinkedIn job functions like facilities management and property management turns broad terms into precision buyer outreach.

• Setting budget too low to generate conversion data: Bing's volume is smaller. Setting a $10 daily budget for a kitchen remodel campaign may never produce enough clicks to generate a single lead, let alone train automated bidding. SBS works with contractors to set budgets sufficient to generate actionable lead volume, calibrated to the expected CPC in their market, so the campaign has a chance to prove itself.

• Treating Microsoft Advertising as a separate, standalone channel: The contractors who get the best results view Bing as an extension of their paid search program, with shared learnings between platforms. Keyword insights from Bing can inform Google negative keywords and vice versa. Conversion patterns on one platform can reveal geographic pockets the other is missing. SBS manages both accounts with that cross-pollination mindset.

• Overlooking the Microsoft Audience Network: Limiting the campaign to search-only on Bing leaves the Audience Network completely untapped. For remodeling contractors, audience ads on MSN and Outlook keep the firm in front of homeowners during the long consideration window that precedes a major renovation, at a CPM or CPC that is far below what similar display placements cost through Google's Display Network.

Why SBS for Microsoft Advertising management

SBS runs both Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising for remodeling and construction contractors. That dual-platform management means we build campaigns that complement each other instead of competing. We import your Google campaign when it makes sense, adapt every element for the Bing audience and bidding environment, and optimize continually rather than treating the account as a set-and-forget clone.

Call tracking and form submissions are tracked separately by platform, so you see exactly how many leads Bing produces and at what cost per acquisition. We rebalance budgets between Google and Microsoft Advertising based on performance data, not assumptions. When Bing delivers leads at a lower cost, we shift spend accordingly. When seasonality shifts demand, we adjust across both platforms in tandem.

If you are spending significantly on Google Ads for remodeling and construction leads and have never tested Microsoft Advertising, you are likely paying more than necessary for every new project. If you are on Bing already but the account feels like an afterthought, it is time to fix the structure, targeting, and bidding before your competitors realize what they are missing.

Contact SBS to add Microsoft Advertising to your paid search mix, or to audit an existing Bing account that is not converting the way it should.