Microsoft’s Bing search engine is experimenting with a feature displaying the number of monthly visits to an advertiser’s website in its search ads. This concept aims to help users identify popular and potentially trustworthy sites based on visitor numbers.
???? Bing is testing a new feature that shows the number of visitors on ads last month.
↗️ I think this may be helpful to users for make more informed decisions about which ads to click on.#ppcchat#PPC#Ads pic.twitter.com/KQmcCHuAoA
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) September 28, 2023
Interestingly, a similar feature was previously tested by Bing in 2014, called “Top Ad Annotations.” It showcased visitor counts for different visit ranges, such as 10,000+, 100,000+, and one million+. Advertisers had to meet specific criteria, including a minimum of 10,000 monthly visits, high click-through rates, and a low occurrence of “quick back browser clicks.”
The 2014 version displayed grey text annotations without links and black text annotations with links. Some ads also included Twitter follower counts. However, the current experiment differs in several ways, including eligibility criteria and potential availability on mobile devices.
Despite its historical context, this new development signals Bing’s commitment to transparency and user trust. Advertisers with significant monthly traffic on Bing and Yahoo may want to explore using Top Ad Annotations in their campaigns by contacting Bing Ads representatives.
Some may consider this new Bing test an unfavorable development. Advertisers with high-traffic websites will have an advantage over others because they can display impressive visitor counts. This could create difficulty for smaller or newer advertisers to compete with them, as they may lack the same website traffic to showcase.
via SERoundTable
