• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 2, 2015

In a move that may seem a little unusual, Bing Shopping campaigns are now integrated into the Google DoubleClick Search (DS) Commerce Suite.

The move allows advertisers to manage, automate, and measure Bing Shopping Campaigns using the full range of DoubleClick Search tools, Performance Bidding Suite, Adaptive Shopping campaigns, and Purchase Detail reports. Brands now have one dashboard to manage Google and Microsoft Bing advertising.

Google explains that to create and report on a Bing Shopping Campaign in DS, marketers need to add a Bing Merchant Center store and a Google Merchant Center account. The Bing store and the Google account should contain the same products with the same values for some product attributes, per Google. The Bing Shopping Campaign will use the inventory data from the Bing Merchant Center store to advertise the marketer's products. DS will use the inventory data from Google Merchant Center for reporting on Bing Shopping Campaign.

Ironically, Google recognizes the rise in use of Microsoft Bing search advertising. The SEMPO 10th Annual State of Search Industry report released Monday suggests that 60.2% of brands and their agency partners are not only investing more of their budget in Google, but also 24.6% more in Bing, while about 15.2% admit they will invest more in Yahoo. The study's findings also compare agency and marketer opinions on the evolving role of search in today's digital marketing mix and the issues influencing tactical implementation.

Local search also continues to raise a few eyebrows. BIA/Kelsey estimates that local search advertising revenue in the United States will rise from $7.8 billion in 2015 to $8.2 billion in 2016, $8.5 billion in 2017, and $9.5 billion in 2020.