How do you allocate budget across campaigns and ad groups?

Allocating budget across campaigns and ad groups in Bing Ads (Microsoft Ads) is all about prioritizing performance, supporting business goals, and maximizing ROI. Here's a practical framework for smart budget allocation, whether you're running a small account or managing multiple campaigns:

🔑 1. Start with Business Priorities
Align campaigns with your core business goals:

Brand Awareness → Allocate to branded/search impression share campaigns.

Lead Gen/Sales → Prioritize high-ROAS, high-converting campaigns.

Product Launches/Promos → Allocate short-term surge budgets for visibility.

🎯 Example:

50% → Direct response (leads/sales)

30% → Remarketing

20% → Awareness/brand

📊 2. Use Performance-Based Allocation
Distribute budget based on campaign/ad group efficiency:

Look at historical data: ROAS, CPA, CVR, CTR.

Scale up high-performing campaigns.

Reduce or pause underperformers.

Metrics to prioritize:

Low CPA / High ROAS = more budget

High CTR + High CVR = good engagement + conversions

Low Impression Share (due to budget) = opportunity to scale

📌 Tip: Use Lost IS (Budget) as a signal that a campaign deserves more budget.

⚖️ 3. Prioritize High-Intent Campaigns First
Assign your budget top-down:

Branded Search (low CPA, high CTR)

High-Intent Non-Branded (product/service keywords)

Remarketing (low-funnel)

In-Market/Audience Targeted Campaigns

Broad/Awareness (exploratory)

🔁 Re-evaluate regularly — audiences and trends shift.

🔍 4. Segment Budgets by Campaign Objective
Each campaign type often requires a different approach:


Campaign Type   Budget Approach
Search   Performance-focused; allocate based on keyword ROI
Shopping   Allocate per product category or margin level
Remarketing   Smaller budget, highly efficient
Audience Ads   Test with controlled budget, scale if CPA is strong
Brand Campaigns   Set caps to avoid overspending on low-competition terms
🔁 5. Use Shared Budgets (Smartly)
When appropriate, use shared budgets across campaigns with:

Similar goals (e.g., all lead-gen campaigns)

Comparable performance

✅ Benefit: Microsoft Ads will automatically allocate budget to the best-performing campaigns in the shared pool.

⚠️ Watch for: One campaign dominating the shared pool — review regularly.

🎯 6. Allocate at the Ad Group Level for Precision
Within campaigns:

Shift more budget to top-performing ad groups.

Pause or reduce spend on low-CTR, high-CPC, or poor-converting ad groups.

Use labeling or segmentation to organize high vs. low intent ad groups.

📌 Example:

Ad Group A (high CVR) → raise bids or increase budget share.

Ad Group B (low CTR) → test new copy or consider pausing.

⏳ 7. Allocate Budget Over Time (Daily/Weekly/Monthly)
Adjust your budget allocation:

Daily for time-sensitive promos or seasonal campaigns.

Weekly for regular performance reviews.

Monthly/Quarterly for strategic planning.

Use automated rules to ramp up or taper off budgets as needed.

📈 Example Budget Allocation Strategy
Let's say you have a $10,000/month budget:


Campaign Type   Allocation   Rationale
Branded Search   $1,000   High CTR, low CPC
Non-Branded Search   $4,000   Primary traffic driver
Shopping Ads   $2,500   Direct product sales
Remarketing   $1,000   Low CPA, repeat customers
Display/Audience Ads   $1,500   Upper funnel awareness/test budgets
🛠� Adjust weekly based on ROAS & CPA.

🔄 Final Tip: Reallocate Frequently Based on Live Data
Budget allocation is never "set it and forget it." Monitor:

Conversions

Spend pacing

Market changes

Campaign fatigue

📊 Tools that help:

Microsoft Ads Budget Reports

Campaign Experiments

Performance Targets