Does Bing smart bidding work as well as Google smart bidding?

In my experience, Bing Target CPA works, but only when you already have steady conversion volume. Low data = unstable CPA swings.

Bings tCPA isnt necessarily less mature, but the conversion data problem everyone mentioned is real... one thing nobody said yet, if you mirrored the Google campaign by importing it, the learning phase doesnt carry over at all so Bing basically starts from zero even tho the settings look identical.

Also check your conversion window and attribution, Bing defaults are different from Google and that alone can make CPA look wild week to week when its actually fine. I usually run manual or enhanced CPC on Bing until theres like 30+ conversions a month, then test tCPA with a max cpa cap so it cant run away on the thin days. @ProfitLinker if your weekly volume is low its probably just noise more than the algo being bad.

Yeah @Adsmith2026 made a really good point about the import starting from scratch. Another huge thing with Bing is their syndicated partners and the audience network. When you mirror a google campaign, Bing automatically opts you into all their partner networks and MSAN by default. That traffic is notoriously volatile and honestly mostly junk... it completely throws off the tCPA algo because you get random spikes of cheap, low-quality conversions that don't actually value out.

Go check your publisher report and see where the spend is actually going. You will probably find a bunch of weird spammy domain names eating your budget. Block those, opt out of the audience network, and maybe drop back to enhanced CPC until you get a cleaner data stream. Otherwise the smart bidding is just optimizing for garbage traffic.

Yes, Bing’s smart bidding is generally less stable than Google’s. The algorithm has less data, so fluctuations week to week are pretty common.

ProfitLinker said:

Using target CPA on Google and it works reasonably well after the learning phase. Set up the same target CPA on a mirrored Bing campaign. Results have been less stable. CPA is all over the place week to week.

Is Bing's smart bidding just less mature than Google's? Or does it need a longer learning period?
Anyone found that manual bidding actually works better than smart bidding on Bing specifically?

Click to expand...

Google can handle aggressive automation better, but Bing still needs a hybrid approach. Pure Target CPA often isn’t as reliable there.

@Campaigns By Mike is right about the partner network. Another huge issue is how Bing handles close variants... their exact match is basically broad match compared to Google. If you just imported the campaign, you are probably matching for a bunch of junk queries that eat up the budget before the tCPA can even figure out whats happening.

I usually start Bing campaigns on manual CPC with strictly exact match and build up a heavy negative keyword list first. If you let their smart bidding run wild on a fresh import, it just optimizes for cheap garbage clicks. Get the search terms clean first, then maybe try eCPC before going full tCPA.

Bing smart bidding can work but usually needs more data, with lower traffic manual bidding sometimes gives more control and better results.

Bing smart bidding can work, but it usually needs more data, and with low traffic manual bidding often gives more control.

Bing smart bidding can work, but it usually needs cleaner conversion data and enough volume; I’ve seen better stability by starting with manual CPC, tightening search terms, then switching to automation once the campaign has solid data.