According to benchmark data, the average cost per click on Google Ads went up by 12% in the first quarter of 2026, and B2B is still one of the most expensive areas for paid search. Google’s platform now uses AI to manage campaigns, which means marketers need to use a different approach than before.
B2B marketing directors who need to show results should focus less on whether paid search works and more on whether their campaigns are set up to deliver real sales opportunities instead of just surface-level numbers.
What You Need to Know About Google Ads
Google Ads is still the main platform for paid search, and it continues to deliver strong returns. On average, businesses make $2 for every $1 they spend, which is a 200% return on investment, and well-managed accounts often do even better, according to Google. However, the way marketers build and manage campaigns has changed a lot.
Most Google Ads spending now uses AI-powered bidding. Smart Bidding usually works better than manual bidding if you have enough conversion data. Manual bidding is now only useful for specific cases, like protecting your brand keywords or testing new ideas. Marketers now focus on making sure conversion tracking is accurate, audience signals are strong, and first-party data is high quality. Since 2022, only Responsive Search Ads are available, and machine learning picks the best headlines and descriptions for each auction.
The way campaigns are set up has changed, too. In 2025, Google introduced the Power Pack framework, which uses Performance Max for the whole sales funnel, Demand Gen for the middle, and AI Max to capture search intent. Ads now show up in AI Overviews and Google’s conversational AI Mode, giving brands new ways to reach buyers early in their research. Broad match modifiers are gone, so keyword strategies now focus on broad match with strong audience signals and automated bidding. The old hands-on control model for PPC is no longer the standard.
What You Need to Know About Microsoft Ads (Bing)
Many people overlook Microsoft Ads, but B2B marketers should pay attention to it. The average cost per click is about 33% lower than on Google Ads. In B2B, the difference is even bigger: about $2.25 per click on Bing compared to $3.44 on Google. This lower cost means you get more clicks and more data for the same budget, which is especially helpful when testing new campaigns or working in a costly market.
What makes Microsoft Ads valuable for B2B is its audience. Bing is the default search engine on Windows computers and Edge, so it gets more searches from professionals during work hours. About 32% of Bing users are managers or higher, compared to 24% on Google, and over 40% of US Bing users make more than $100,000 a year. For companies selling to large businesses, this is a real advantage.
Microsoft’s ownership of LinkedIn also provides an exclusive targeting layer. Advertisers can target by job title, company name, company size, and industry using deterministic LinkedIn profile data, a capability that Google simply cannot match. For B2B teams already running Google Ads, the practical approach is to start by allocating 10–15% of paid search budget to Microsoft Ads, measure cost per opportunity rather than just cost per click, and scale toward 20–30% as the data confirms the efficiency advantage.
How to Build Your Paid Search Strategy
A common mistake in B2B paid search is focusing on the wrong goals. Campaigns that aim for lots of clicks or form fills may not lead to real sales opportunities. Before you start on either platform, answer three key questions:
- What action do you want prospects to take?
- How will you track conversions all the way to your sales pipeline in your CRM?
- What cost per acquisition will make your campaign profitable?
Choose keywords that show real buying intent, like “[solution category] for [industry],” “[competitor] alternative,” or “[product type] pricing.” Make sure your ad messages match the keywords, and send visitors to a landing page with one clear goal. If you send paid traffic to your homepage, you will waste clicks and increase your cost per lead.
You must also make sure your conversion tracking captures more than just basic actions. Connect Google Ads with GA4, set up Microsoft’s Universal Event Tracking, and, if possible, send offline conversion data from your CRM back to both platforms. This helps the bidding systems focus on clicks that lead to real sales opportunities, not just form fills.
The Attribution Gap in B2B Paid Search
Even if your campaigns are strong and your conversion tracking is set up well, most B2B marketing teams still have a big attribution gap. As many as 98% of website visitors leave without filling out a form, asking for a demo, or giving any contact information. These visitors do not appear in your CRM, meaning most of your paid search traffic ends up in what is often called the dark funnel.
This leads to two main problems.
First, you are probably not giving your paid search campaigns enough credit because you can only measure the small number of visitors who identify themselves. For example, a campaign might bring in hundreds of visits from your ideal customers, but if only three fill out a form, it may seem like the campaign is not working.
Second, your sales team cannot follow up with the anonymous visitors who showed interest. The buying intent is there, but without knowing who these companies are, you miss out on those opportunities.
For marketing teams, this changes how you measure paid search ROI. Instead of only looking at form fills, you can see which campaigns and keywords bring visits from your ideal customers and which ones attract less relevant traffic. You can then compare Google and Microsoft Ads not just by cost per click, but by the quality and fit of the companies each platform brings in. Your budget decisions can then be based on real business value, not just incomplete data.
See What Your Paid Search Campaigns Are Really Delivering
If your paid search campaigns are driving traffic but you are not seeing it translate into pipeline, the issue is most likely visibility rather than volume.
Lead Forensics identifies the businesses visiting your website after clicking your Google or Microsoft ads, even when they do not fill out a form, giving both marketing and sales the intelligence they need to act on demand that would otherwise go undetected.
Paid Search FAQs
How much of my paid search budget should go to Microsoft Ads versus Google Ads?
A practical starting point for B2B teams is to allocate 10 to 15% of your total paid search budget to Microsoft Ads while keeping the majority on Google. From there, measure cost per opportunity on each platform rather than just cost per click. If Microsoft Ads is delivering qualified traffic at a lower cost, which it often does given CPCs are roughly 33% cheaper, scale your allocation toward 20 to 30%. The goal is to let performance data drive the split rather than defaulting to Google out of habit.
Why is manual bidding no longer recommended for B2B paid search?
Google’s Smart Bidding now outperforms manual CPC in most accounts that have sufficient conversion data, because the algorithm processes far more signals per auction than any human can manage. Manual bidding is only practical in narrow situations like protecting brand keywords or running early-stage tests where conversion volume is too low for automation to learn. The marketer’s role has shifted toward managing the quality of the inputs that automation relies on, such as accurate conversion tracking, strong audience signals, and clean first-party data.
What is the dark funnel and why does it matter for paid search ROI?
The dark funnel refers to the anonymous research activity that happens on your website before a prospect ever identifies themselves by filling out a form or requesting a demo. In B2B, up to 98% of website visitors leave without converting, which means the vast majority of traffic generated by your paid search campaigns is invisible to your CRM. This creates a significant attribution gap: campaigns that drive high-quality visits from ideal customer profile accounts can appear to be underperforming because only a tiny fraction of that interest is being captured and measured.
Can I use LinkedIn targeting data in my paid search campaigns?
Yes, but only through Microsoft Ads. Because Microsoft owns LinkedIn, advertisers on the platform can target search campaigns using LinkedIn profile data, including job title, company name, company size, and industry. This is a deterministic targeting layer that Google cannot replicate. For B2B teams selling to specific personas or account lists, this integration makes Microsoft Ads particularly effective at reaching decision-makers who are actively searching for solutions during working hours.
