Bing recently announced an improvement to certain health queries, meaning users are seeing updated organic listings for searches on topics like health conditions (try obesity or dry skin), medicines (try ibuprofen), and diseases (try diabetes). For health advertisers, now it's even more important to focus on keywords in the top of the search funnel. Unlike brand queries, people searching on general health terms are in research mode. With these new results pages, users could be spending more time on Bing searching, refining, and reading, which means more opportunities for them to interact with your ad.
To better understand how to optimize for these results, let's see how a user might navigate Bing's organic and paid health results pages (or skip ahead to the recommendations).
Sample User Scenario
Kevin wants to know more about causes of diabetes and get prevention tips, so he searches Bing for 'diabetes':
He sees 'Type 2 Diabetes' listed under 'Related conditions', so he clicks to refine his search. Kevin then clicks on the first organic link and is taken to a Mayo Clinic article on Type 2 Diabetes within the Bing user interface:
The article stresses the importance of maintaining a healthy weight, so he goes back to Bing and searches for 'weight loss':
At this point, Kevin might continue researching, look for a weight loss program, or simply go for a run. During this process, he saw four different search results pages, so your ads had four unique opportunities to get his attention.
Optimize for Bing Health
Now that you know the general user experience for Bing health queries, here are some tips on how to optimize:
1. Secure Top Positions: In articles like the Mayo Clinic article on type 2 diabetes, there are usually only two ads in main line, and the yellow shading helps ads in positions 1 and 2 to stand out. Check your adCenter keyword performance report to make sure you're in position 2 or higher.
2. Expand Keyword Coverage: The improved organic results give users lots of options for search refinements. For example, a user that searches for acne will find a list of related conditions and medications. To expand, do a search on some of your generic health keywords and add to your keyword list any relevant deep link located under the improved organic listings.
Also, skim through any articles you find to see what your potential customers are reading. For example, the article on diet pills discusses BMI, specific weight-loss drugs, and calories, which are just a few of the searches that might follow a reading of this article.
3. Increase Ad Copy Relevance: Bing users searching on topics like skin care, high blood pressure, or pet allergies might not know how your product relates to their search. They also might not be ready to purchase a specific product yet. Use {param2} insertion and action words like "research," "find out," and "discover" rather than "buy" to align with their search intent.
Feel free to leave comments or questions below. If you want to know more about Bing Health, check out Tina Kelleher's recent post, Bing on 2010: Health, Fitness and What They Mean for Microsoft adCenter Advertisers, and keep up with new posts by becoming a fan on Facebook or by following us on Twitter.
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