• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 17, 2014

Microsoft will shutter Bing Ads Express at the end of July, steering search marketers to Bing Ads. The company will make Bing Ads Express accounts, data and platform no longer available to marketers after July 30.

Marketers can continue to promote their companies and brands across Bing, Yahoo and partner sites by signing in at Bing Ads with their existing username and password, per Microsoft. Ginny Sandhu, group product marketing manager of mobile and local advertising at Microsoft, explains in a blog post that once they are logged in, marketers will need to create a new account and go through the campaign creation process.

Microsoft has been investing time and money in Bing Ads, recruiting small businesses to use the platform. The platform recently added URL auto-tagging for Google Analytics integration, along with reporting features and live chat support.

Bing rolled out the beta version of Bing Ads Express in October 2013, apparently modeled after AdWords Express. For minimum monthly spend of $50, the platform allowed small businesses an advertising campaign tied to their Bing business listing and geotarget the ad to show in their location.

Marketers choosing to set up a new account on Bing Ads before July 30, should pause their Bing Ads Express ads to avoid running duplicate ads and being double billed. Consolidating Bing Ads Express with Bing Ads could prove a positive move, as the engine continues to build market share with a variety of brands.