Microsoft Ads import from Google: keep the imported bids or reset them?

I keep seeing people hit import on Microsoft Ads and call it done. The import copies campaigns, keywords, negatives and bids pretty faithfully, so the account looks finished in ten minutes. The problem is the audience. Bing users skew older and more desktop, and they often convert at a different rate than Google users for the same query, so a bid that worked on Google can overspend here or starve. I'd import to get the structure and negatives in place, then lower the bids and rebuild them from Microsoft's own data after two or three weeks. Curious whether anyone has a better trigger for that reset than a fixed date, like a conversion count or impression share.

Agreed on the reset, Theo, but I'd look at the bid strategy before the bid amounts. If the Google campaigns ran on target CPA or Maximize Conversions, the import carries that strategy over, and it only works when the matching conversion goals exist in Microsoft with some history behind them. If they don't, the campaign sits in learning against a goal that never fires, so even after two or three weeks there's no real data to rebuild from. Get the goals imported and collecting first, then judge the bids.

Rowan's right that the goals matter more than the amounts, and the reset trigger depends on conversion volume. On a low-volume account, two or three weeks may never produce enough conversions to judge a bid, so a date is the only signal you'll get.

"A date is the only signal you'll get" doesn't hold up. Conversions are slow on a low-volume account, but clicks and spend show up much faster. A threshold of 100 to 150 clicks per campaign takes a fraction of the time that 30 conversions does. At that point you're not judging bids on conversion rate yet, you're checking whether they win enough auctions at all, which is the starving case. Search term reports and impression share will tell you that quickly.

For the overspend case, compare Microsoft's cost per click with what Google was paying for the same terms, and see whether the spend is landing on junk queries. A date only becomes the fallback when none of that moves. The rebuild still needs conversions, though, so on a small account it's a judgment call either way, and I'd say so openly rather than let the calendar pass for data.