Boosting Brand Awareness With Bing Rich Ads In Search

One of the perks of using Bing Ads comes from Rich Ads In Search (RAIS). RAIS advertisements allow companies to provide more information on products and deeper links to their website, as well as include pictures or videos to further engage the customer. When used properly, these ads can greatly improve your return on advertising spend and lead to more informed clicks and conversions.

What Are Rich Ads In Search?

GNC RAIS Ad

Rich Ads In Search, or RAIS, enable brands to include images, videos and deep links to their websites within Bing Search. These enhancements cause ads to stand out and appeal to consumers more, leading to more engaged clicks from those who will actually convert once on-site. Images allow the user to see exactly what the ad refers to, while videos can give a customer information on the product before they even get to the site, giving them the opportunity to decide whether your ad is worth a click or not. Deep links allow you to guide users to ad-relevant areas of your site more specifically than normal sitelinks, since all four of your sitelinks will always show up.

Rich Ads In Search have some specific guidelines that must be adhered to in order to get ads up and running:

Ad Text
– 25 character headline
– 70 character ad text
– 35 character display URL

Deep Links
– Fewer than 25 characters each
– Total length of all links fewer than 70 characters

Images
– 80 x 60 pixels
– Max file size 4kb
– .ping, .jpg, .gif or .jpe files

Videos
– 0:11 – 4:00 minutes
– 75MB max file size
– 640 x 360 minimum dimension
– 80 x 60 thumbnail (generally a screenshot of the ad)

Benefits Of RAIS

RAIS ads come with plenty of benefits that make utilizing them an easy decision for brands. First and foremost, they integrate more engaging content into search ads than just plain text and sitelinks. As with any search results page, the more you can make your ad stand out, the better. Using an image or video right on the results page will draw a searcher’s eyes directly to your ad, giving it a higher chance of getting clicked. Additionally, since RAIS ads only run in the top position, they allow brands to own their brand-specific terms better than with traditional search campaigns. Countless studies, most recently a June 2014 Google test, have shown that winning on branded terms is vital in paid search, so brands should do everything in their power to appear at the top spot constantly. Finally, search engines constantly want to offer consumers the most visually appealing search experience. When using rich ads, you help Bing provide this experience, so your rich ads will be seen more favorably in the auctions. Searchers will also appreciate the visual stimulation and react well to your ads.

Case Study

Over the course of a month, we tracked and optimized a core set of priority keywords for a premium CPG brand in both standard search and with Rich Ads video advertisements. We discovered that the Rich Ads performance exceeded that of the standard search in nearly every metric. Click-through rate was 380% better for the Rich Ads keywords, with an average visit duration of 28 seconds longer than standard search. Bounce rate on site for Rich Ads visits was also 4.28% better than standard visits. The only area in which standard ads performed better was in cost per click, where standard ads were nearly a dollar cheaper per click. However, one must also consider the fact that standard ads could run below the top spot, while RAIS ads are only activated when they win the auction.

Rich Ads CTR Success

 

Rich Ads Avg Time on Site Success

Best Practices

Rich ads can do wonders for an account, but before implementing them, advertisers should consider some best practices. Since keywords cost a premium compared to standard search keywords, you should limit groups to the top 10-15 short tail, branded keywords for a product or company. Bidding on longer keywords or more keywords will cause your cost-per-click metrics to spike. Similarly, bids for these keywords should be much higher than standard search bids, since rich ads only get shown in the first position. Bids that are two to three times higher than your standard bids should ensure your rich ads show as much as you want them to.

Once rich ads have been launched and data starts to collect, you should notice improvements in both ad performance and on-site metrics. Paid search click-through rates, average position, and clicks will rise, and time on site from paid clicks should increase while bounce rate drops. With that in mind, cost per click will also increase, so be careful to ensure that your budget and cost per click goals have enough room for you to implement rich ads. When implemented and optimized properly, Bing Rich Ads In Search can engage customers and bring your account performance to new heights.

Have you seen positive results from using RAIS ads? Share your experiences in the comments below!

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