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

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ProfitLinker

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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?
 
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Bing usually needs more patience in my opinion, but if volume is low manual bidding sometimes gives better control.
 
From what ive seen Bing’s smart bidding just needs more data to stabilize, and in smaller volumes manual bidding sometimes feels more consistent than tCPA there.
 
From my exp Bing smart bidding can work good, but it usually needs more data and volume than Google, so CPA can be a bit up and down.
 
Because Bing's smart bidding has low traffic and is prone to significant fluctuations, manual bidding is often more stable and cost-effective than smart bidding on Bing.
 
we manage Google and Bing paid campaigns and in our experience Bing smart bidding does need a longer learning period and more conversion data to stabilize compared to Google and manual bidding often works better on Bing especially for smaller accounts with lower monthly conversions
 
bings smart bidding is definitely clunkier but the real killer is usually the partner network. if you just mirrored the google campaign, you probably have syndicated partners turned on. tCPA on bing loves to chase those cheap partner clicks that rarely convert, which makes the CPA jump around like crazy. try switching to eCPC first and run a placement report to exclude the junk. manual is okay but eCPC is a decent middle ground if you dont want to babysit bids every day.
 
If smart bidding feels inconsistent, maybe try running manual bidding side by side for a couple weeks. sometimes Bing responds better when you guide it more instead of relying fully on automation.
 
yeah the partner network is a huge leak but also check your search terms report. bing is way more aggressive with close variants than google is. an exact match keyword on bing basically behaves like broad match nowadays. if you just imported the campaign directly, you're probably bidding on a ton of irrelevant search queries that google would have filtered out. i usually start bing campaigns on manual or ecpc with a massive negative list first, then only flip to tcpa once the search terms are clean and conversions are steady. doing it right out of the gate on a mirrored campaign is just asking bing to burn your budget.
 
In my opinion you night want to check if bing has enough conversion volume. smart bidding works best when there is consistent conversion data
 
mirroring directly is usually where it goes wrong. beyond the partner network and close variants which are already mentioned, check your attribution lag. bing has a massive delay reporting conversions, sometimes up to 48 hours. if you have tCPA running, the algorithm constantly over-corrects because it thinks the campaign is dead, then gets a bunch of delayed data and spikes the bids. i almost always stick to eCPC on bing unless the account is pulling at least 100+ conversions a month on that engine alone. otherwise the algo just doesn't have the brainpower to stabilize.
 
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...
I've found Bing's smart bidding can work well, but it often feels less consistent than Google's, especially on lower volume campaigns. My theory is that Google simply has far more data to train its models on. If a campaign isn't generating many conversions, Bing's automated bidding seems to struggle more with week to week volatility.

In a few smaller accounts I've actually had better results starting with manual or enhanced CPC until enough conversion data accumulated. Once the campaign had a solid history, smart bidding seemed to perform much better. Curious whether others have seen the same thing or if it's niche dependent.
 
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...
Honestly Bing needs more patience. Smart bidding can work, but it does not react as quickly as Google’s system.
 
@The WP Nerd is totally right about the attribution lag, that delay kills tCPA because the algorithm is basically flying blind and constantly over-adjusting. I ran into this exact thing last year with a lead gen client. We imported a working Google setup and Bing just tanked it within a week.

The auto-import from Google is a trap because it defaults to opt-in for the syndicated partners like @XSMMDoctor mentioned. If you haven't already, go into your ad group settings and opt out of the partner network entirely, then drop back to eCPC for a month. Once the conversion data actually catches up and stabilizes, you can try tCPA again but even then... manual or eCPC usually wins on Bing unless you have massive budget.
 
Yeah the attribution lag @The WP Nerd mentioned is a massive pain, but another thing that saves my sanity on Bing tCPA is setting up a portfolio bid strategy just so you can put a hard cap on the max CPC. If you don't cap it, the Bing algo gets desperate during those lag periods and will randomly bid $30 on a keyword that should cost $1.50... usually on some garbage partner site too. I usually set the max cpc limit to about 2x or 3x my average Google cpc. It stops those crazy weekly spikes from draining the budget while the system slowly gathers data.
 
Yeah, I’ve seen the same. Bing’s smart bidding usually feels less stable than Google, especially on lower traffic accounts. It tends to need more conversion volume and longer learning time. In some cases, manual bidding gives more predictable results on Bing until the data volume is strong enough for automation to settle.
 
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...
Manual bidding sometimes works better on Bing, especially for smaller accounts or low conversion volume, because it gives more control and stability.
 
bing's algo just has way less data/volume to work with, smart bidding needs scale and bing doesn't have it
 
I've seen decent results with Bing Smart Bidding on lower-volume campaigns but Google Smart Bidding still seems to have more data signals available Has anyone tested both on the same campaign budget and audience
 
From my exp Bing smart bidding can work good, but with lower conversion volume it feels less stable than Google, so sometimes manual or enhanced CPC gives better control.
 
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