LocaliQ vs. Microsoft Advertising

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
LocaliQ
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
LocaliQ is a marketing platform that helps businesses attract and retain ideal customers with a suite of AI lead management and digital agents, marketing automation, omnichannel campaign management, advanced reporting, and expert-led services.N/A
Microsoft Advertising
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) contains Microsoft's advertising solutions. Advertising formats include search (Microsoft Search ads), Display and Native ads, Retail Media, and Video and Connected TV (CTV) ads. Services include Performance Max, the company's conversion optimization AI assistant and guide.N/A
Pricing
LocaliQMicrosoft Advertising
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
LocaliQMicrosoft Advertising
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsLocaliQ offers both self-serve and premium solutions. LocaliQ’s free, self-serve experience provides access to Free Website Grader, Free Inbound Call Recorder, Chatbot (free and $9.99/month options available), Scheduling Technology (free and $9.99/month options available), and Listings solutions ($9.99/month and $14.99/month options available). For LocaliQ's premium solutions, users are partnered with a LocaliQ expert to create the best marketing plan for their businesses that utilizes a full suite of marketing products.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
LocaliQMicrosoft Advertising
Considered Both Products
LocaliQ
Chose LocaliQ
LocaliQ is more economical that marketing agencies we've used in the past. Our dollar goes farther. We've also used services from phonebook providers that were getting into the online advertising field. At the time, it was just being introduced so the reps knowledge on the …
Chose LocaliQ
Those platforms are self-served, and I have no time to dedicated to just get to the bottom of each one of them.
Chose LocaliQ
I have always used Local IQ and have been so satisfied I have never shopped around for another product.
Chose LocaliQ
LocaliQ was chosen for its comprehensive marketing capabilities, combining localized targeting, digital and print ads, and automated optimizations. While other platforms excel in specialized areas, LocaliQ provided a well-rounded solution tailored to our company goals of …
Chose LocaliQ
We chose LocaliQ above a few other sites because they appeared to be the most professional and have the most knowledgable team. They worked with other businesses in our industry and we felt comfortable experimenting with their services. They provided a professional presentation …
Chose LocaliQ
I have investigated national services like American Eagle and also small market locally owned business like Red Shoes.
Each year, I look into at least one other service provider to evaluate our service value. So far, no other company has come close to providing an all around …
Chose LocaliQ
Many of my clients have dabbled in Google Adwords then realize they don't want to handle this themselves.
Chose LocaliQ
We had not used other products prior to our use of LocaliQ products.
Chose LocaliQ
I did not investigate other platforms. My org has had a relationship with LocaliQ prior to my arrival, so I continued that partnership. I guess it's worth adding, we comparison shopped with two other local agencies but the pricing was much better with LocaliQ.
Chose LocaliQ
I prefer the personal relationships that have developed over the years working with LocaliQ. I like that I have a contact person that I can communicate with directly as opposed to a chat or support ticket.
Chose LocaliQ
It was a disaster of a launch, and we quickly ended it. I hope it has got better, and we will, at some point, start a new chatbot with one of our existing relationships.
Chose LocaliQ
Wix was very do it yourself. LocaliQ is done for you.
Chose LocaliQ
When we review different companies to use for the next year, LocaliQ always stands out against the rest due to the amount we get for the amount of money we spend.
Chose LocaliQ
I have not used other products as the last marketing company did not review our information with us.
Chose LocaliQ
Tried a couple of other marketing companies, none of which can compare to LocaliQ in terms of capabilities and results.
Chose LocaliQ
  1. ReachLocal is relatively cost-effective when compared with HubSpot
  2. It has all the must-have services for your website and campaign management
Chose LocaliQ
I haven't used any competitors listed, but I am familiar with GTMA and have worked with them. Their advertising strategies have been more robust, and I prefer their Google ads and Facebook ads methods over ReachLocals. I like ReachLocals basic report functionality over GTMA's. …
Chose LocaliQ
I have only used website developers in the past and haven't used any marketing companies.
Chose LocaliQ
We used Demandforce prior to moving to ThriveHive. I believe that ThriveHive is just a better overall value in terms of pricing, services and of course the personal guidance you get by having a dedicated coach.
Chose LocaliQ
ThriveHive offered the most features at the best price when I set up my site. The ongoing support is great as well.
Chose LocaliQ
While WordPress provides you with the opportunity to build a custom website, it stops there. ThriveHive has a strong small business marketing suite of products that are integrated into a WordPress-based website while also making it easy for the user to make quick and easy edits …
Chose LocaliQ
There are other vendors trying to sell their products. We have maintained business with ReachLocal due to their great customer service.
Microsoft Advertising
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft is the best if you want to target the USA business; it has a great standing against these other platforms.
Chose Microsoft Advertising
We're using both. Basically using directly importation from google to Microsoft Advertising. If you already run ads on google, it's very easy to copy the structure on Microsoft Advertising as well.
Chose Microsoft Advertising
In my opinion, Microsoft Ads is definitely inferior to Google Ads as a platform, but there's no reason you can't use both. We have never chosen Microsoft Ads solely over Google Ads, it's only a supplement because Google Ads provides so much more scale potential from its search …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Because of duckduckgo we have to use Microsoft advertising and it turns out as the worst user experience given the company of this magnitude. Worst.
Chose Microsoft Advertising
This is a platform that had potential if only it was run by ethically minded people. It's not.
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Not a good experience I will you skippable ads on Youtube.
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Technically, there is no comparison with the above systems - just a lack of features and a bunch of technical bugs.
Chose Microsoft Advertising
The cost per click is definitely lower than Google Ads. But the drawback of it is that the audience size is smaller as well. The reason we picked Microsoft Advertising is that it is a good complementary solution to Google Ads. We use both of them with different budgets and we …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Advertising supports Google Ads integration, one of the efficient paid search engine extension. More so, Microsoft Advertising has a responsive, and informative live chat option, simplifying the customer help services. Microsoft Advertising supports conversion …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft advertising is a creative, and diverse marketing option, which makes it preferred by many enterprises. The success rate of Microsoft advertising due to its stability and consistency is another huge merit, and this results to practical results. Finally, Microsoft …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Obviously Google is a huge competitor. Typically Google is top of the game for many advertising solutions including search. Microsoft ads has a lower scale and reach compared to Google. However, Microsoft ads audience does not overlap much with Googles, providing incremental …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Advertising has more trustworthy and reliable keyword targeting, but the volume is much lower on Bing.com and related networks than on Google.com and related networks. The display capabilities and performance is lower on Bing as well. The import tool is easy to use …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
It's a smaller market and different demographic, but CPCs can be lower so your ROI can be decent. Overall the interface feels a bit clunky and it's hard to find some features, but that may be because I spend most of my time in Google Ads.

We picked Microsoft Ads because it's …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
[Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads)] has access to superior traffic volume and ability / capability to spend ad dollars. [Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads)] is really the only paid search advertising option that competes with google ads in any capacity whether …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Unfortunately, I don't think anyone has been able to properly and effectively compete with Google. They are the mammoth in the space - so therefore, I don't think either Bing or Gemini have had a fair shot to showcase their potential worth.
Again, I have found it very difficult …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Bing Ads has a bit less traffic, however, its syndicated network is preferred because we can see where traffic is coming from. I would like to see custom mods for publisher sites to become a feature.
Chose Microsoft Advertising
You have lower volume on Bing ads but the traffic is usually better and you get lower CPC with higher conversion rates.
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Bing Ads works similarly to Google Ads (Formerly AdWords) in the fact that it is search engine marketing. It differs in how it reaches a slightly more educated audience, has lower CPC (less competition) and often a better ROI. "Green technologies", solar, wind, etc. work …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Bing Ads is an excellent complement to Google Ads because most likely, it is reaching a different audience. Depending on where your traffic is coming from, one search engine may be better to focus on than the other.
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Less cost than Google Ads but smaller audience. The interface is not as user-friendly and it is somewhat slow. The Bing Ads audience is smaller as they only have about 20% of the search market place. So you are limited by the number of searches vs. budget usually.
Chose Microsoft Advertising
In general, Bing Ads as an alternative to Google Ads is pretty weak. As mentioned, while it does have its use cases, many times these are limited as well. With Bing, it seems like there is always a large drop off in the quality of traffic versus advertising products, which …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
Bing is definitely most comparable to Google; in terms of audience sizes, it has about 30% of the traffic that Google Ads can drive; however, its costs are much more efficient, and this additional inventory is less competitive. Additionally, Bing has some features not available …
Chose Microsoft Advertising
As mentioned, it is overall more cost effective and you cannot afford to ignore all that Search traffic.
Features
LocaliQMicrosoft Advertising
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
LocaliQ
7.6
Ratings
3% above category average
Microsoft Advertising
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content6.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages6.70 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
List management7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
LocaliQ
7.6
Ratings
12% above category average
Microsoft Advertising
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading6.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
LocaliQ
7.8
Ratings
5% below category average
Microsoft Advertising
-
Ratings
Calendaring9.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
LocaliQ
7.8
Ratings
16% above category average
Microsoft Advertising
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
LocaliQ
8.0
Ratings
16% above category average
Microsoft Advertising
-
Ratings
Dashboards7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
LocaliQ
9.0
Ratings
34% above category average
Microsoft Advertising
-
Ratings
Customizability9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
LocaliQ
-
Ratings
Microsoft Advertising
3.9
Ratings
3% below category average
Ad campaign creation00 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Ad deployment00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Display advertising00 Ratings1.90 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation00 Ratings3.60 Ratings
Sequence targeting00 Ratings1.00 Ratings
Contextual advertising00 Ratings4.50 Ratings
Social advertising00 Ratings1.00 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
LocaliQ
-
Ratings
Microsoft Advertising
5.3
Ratings
1% above category average
Ad dashboards00 Ratings4.70 Ratings
Ad performance reports00 Ratings4.70 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking00 Ratings6.30 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting00 Ratings5.40 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization00 Ratings5.40 Ratings
Ad Auctions
Comparison of Ad Auctions features of Product A and Product B
LocaliQ
-
Ratings
Microsoft Advertising
6.6
Ratings
3% below category average
Ad bidding00 Ratings6.60 Ratings
Best Alternatives
LocaliQMicrosoft Advertising
Small Businesses
Thryv
Thryv
Score 8.7 out of 10
WordStream
WordStream
Score 6.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Kentico Xperience
Kentico Xperience
Score 8.1 out of 10
WordStream
WordStream
Score 6.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Kentico Xperience
Kentico Xperience
Score 8.1 out of 10
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Adobe Advertising Cloud
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
LocaliQMicrosoft Advertising
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(0 ratings)
5.9
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
LocaliQMicrosoft Advertising
Likelihood to Recommend
LocaliQ is phenomenal at s multichannel marketing approach. It is incredibly effective and efficient to run all of these simultaneous campaigns through one company. As a small nonprofit, we would not have been able to have the reach LocaliQ gave us if we had opted to use multiple companies. It would have been too much for our staff to handle.
Read full review
Despite using our account for advertising with every other social media company, Microsoft flagged ours as fraudulent. After dealing with them for weeks, we finally got to a manager, who said that they didn’t know anything, couldn’t provide any information, and was unable to do anything about it. It seems odd, but it would flagger account every time we try to upload the campaigns from Google directly into their ad manager. I would suggest if you try and use their platform, don’t tell them you’re using Google cause they seem to have a thing against it. Once your account is flagged, they have no reasonable way of resolving it, nor they are able to offer any support. You’re better off to just try a different way. Ultimately, just don’t use Microsoft advertising if you can possibly avoid it. Hopefully soon DuckDuckGo will have their own advertising platform and we can eliminate Microsoft given the terrible time we have working with this one of many, social media platforms.
Read full review
Pros
  • ThriveHive is a smaller marketing team dedicated to helping small to medium sized businesses perfect their marketing messages. ThriveHive is particularity good at understanding how Google, and other search engines work, and have been instrumental in helping my company to grow and evolve.
  • With ThriveHive, you get a dedicated coach who is matched to your type of business. This experience with similar businesses gives your coach a better understanding of your business and the challenges your company faces.
  • My coach is very good at responding to my needs within 1 to 2 business days. Email contacts are fluent and as often as I need, to discuss ideas or questions. I can only speak of my relationship with my coach, and I am very pleased.
  • I feel that ThriveHive makes every effort to take excellent care of their clients, and makes you feel like you are their most important customer. I definitely believe that this is one of ThriveHives' greatest assets.
Read full review
  • Familiar interface, offers editor for bulk changes, adding negative keywords is much easier than in Google Ads
  • Nice reporting tools within the interface, detailed reports can be made fairly easily
  • Had very nice tools to help import/export ads directly from Google Ads, which saves a ton of time
Read full review
Cons
  • The email content editor could use some additional bells and whistles, it cannot handle some more advanced functions, but for the basics it is more than adequate.
  • Options for website creation are a bit limited and the turnaround time can be a bit lengthy at times because of the volume they do.
  • Tracked phone lines can be a bit pricey, but not exorbitant.
Read full review
  • Bing's ad platform could definitely use some improvements - it hasn't been updated in a long time, and it feels very outdated.
  • We feel that the optimization algorithms don't always perform as well for Bing Ads as they do in Google Ads (optimize for conversions, etc.).
  • It would be great to have even more integrations with LinkedIn audience targeting offered - right now, you can just make some bid optimizations in a couple of areas; we'd really like to get more robust options there, and maybe even things like cross-platform tracking.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
We have had good success with it over all of our clients. We continually recommend bing to reach "the rest of the searchers".
Read full review
Usability
Overall usability pretty good. If we would have gotten better return on our advertising dollar I would have continued with them - their dashboard was very easy to use and the recaps they provided were helpful. They try to put data in bite-sized pieces for the client that are understandable (unlike google's reporting page itself which can be a bit difficult to understand at times). Their team was friendly, semi-responsive, and provided explanations when requested
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It's very easy to use overall. It has an import from Google Ads to make things simpler. Overall, I would say you can get up and running very quickly. It's similar to other platforms, so if you have used them, it's intuitive.
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Support Rating
No answers on this topic
Our Bing Ads reps are very good and attentive. They've offered good recommendations and are quick to resolve unexpected issues and problems. Occasionally they have roped in technical support folks that have been friendly and helpful too. The general helpline for Bing Ads is also very good, especially when compared to Google's customer support.
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Alternatives Considered
LocaliQ is more economical that marketing agencies we've used in the past. Our dollar goes farther. We've also used services from phonebook providers that were getting into the online advertising field. At the time, it was just being introduced so the reps knowledge on the topic was quiet limited.
Read full review
Obviously Google is a huge competitor. Typically Google is top of the game for many advertising solutions including search. Microsoft ads has a lower scale and reach compared to Google. However, Microsoft ads audience does not overlap much with Googles, providing incremental reach. Although Microsoft ads lags a bit behind in adapting the new updates that Google comes out with, their customer service is very good and they are likely to go out of their way to adapt their platform to your needs whereas their competitor does not
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Scalability
As mentioned prior, their ability to utilize and maximize our resources so that we receive the best results on all avenues of marketing and advertising. We see better lead generation, brand recognition and top of mind awareness due to LocaliQ efforts
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Local print advertising enhanced our community presence and strengthened brand loyalty.
  • The automation of PPC and display campaigns has saved our marketing team at least 15-20 hours per week of work monitoring campaigns.
  • Service fees feel steep for the campaigns we run, especially for a business with constrained budgets.
Read full review
  • We've had a very hard time spending our budgets on Bing which has caused us a lot of extra work on our end. We've essentially had to move that money back to Google or other platforms.
  • It does have an easy import from Google so you're not doubling efforts.
  • The CPCs tend to be less expensive than Google - which is always good for business owners.
Read full review
ScreenShots

LocaliQ Screenshots

Screenshot of the Dash lead management dashboard and engagement centerScreenshot of the Marketing Dashboard, which provides access to reports 24/7, or can be used to listen to phone calls and recordings, and manage a lead inbox. LocaliQ customers receive access to the Marketing Dashboard with the purchase of any other products at no additional cost. Upgrades available for automated lead nurture solutions.Screenshot of LocaliQ’s search ad technology includes expertise from account setup and keyword creation to data analysis and reporting across multiple search engines.Screenshot of Social ads, based on a business's unique goals and budget.Screenshot of LocaliQ listings solutions to get a business accurately listed, with lower cost or premium options.Screenshot of the AI-powered Dash SMS Agent that qualifies leads and convert customers. AI responses are generated using website content to provide a customer experience as good or better than a human interaction.