Microsoft Advertising
Search Engine Land is your go-to source for Microsoft Ads news, strategies, and in-depth content. You’ll find a wide range of up-to-date and authoritative resources, including the latest news, tactic-rich tutorials, and the latest data to help you work smarter and make better decisions.
Optimizing your Microsoft Ads campaigns
Microsoft Ads offers unique opportunities to reach high-intent audiences across platforms like Bing, MSN, and the Microsoft Audience Network. This page provides practical advice and insights for optimizing your campaigns, from structuring effective ad groups to leveraging advanced targeting options.
Stay informed on updates to Microsoft’s advertising tools, including AI-powered enhancements, new bidding strategies, and cross-platform integrations. Whether you’re exploring audience targeting, different ad formats, or conversion tracking, you’ll find the guidance you need to make the most of Microsoft’s advertising ecosystem.
What you read here is written by our experienced in-house team, as well as subject matter experts from agencies and top-performing brands leveraging Microsoft’s advertising ecosystem.
Discover how businesses are effectively using Microsoft Ads to tap into unique audiences and improve performance across channels.
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Shopify Marketing now integrates with Microsoft Advertising
With the latest integration, merchants can run search campaigns across the Microsoft network within the e-commerce platform.
Microsoft Advertising’s product, similar audiences now available to more advertisers
The retargeting and prospecting audience solutions are now in open beta.
You can’t advertise that: The big list of prohibited ads across social and search platforms
To get ads approved in a timely manner, brands need to know what content is allowed, what’s restricted and what’s prohibited. we put together this cheat sheet to help.
The 4 optimization techniques from Google you can use with Amazon Ads today
Amazon ads are surprisingly easy to master for anyone who’s familiar managing Google Ads and tools can streamline best-practice optimizations.
Now you can easily find negative keyword conflicts in Microsoft Advertising Shopping campaigns
Get a better view into product negative keyword conflicts in your Shopping campaigns.
Microsoft opens responsive search ads beta to all advertisers
The automated text ad format is on track to become the new standard.
Microsoft acquires e-commerce advertising vendor PromoteIQ
The sponsored products platform will be a division of Microsoft Advertising.
Merkle: Google ad growth slowed, Microsoft gained with Yahoo in Q2
The Verizon Media transition helped propel Microsoft Advertising shopping ad growth among Merkle’s client base last quarter.
Microsoft Advertising rolling out experiments A/B testing tool globally
Here's what you need to know to get started with Microsoft Advertising experiments.
Microsoft search, LinkedIn revenue growth slow for third straight quarter
Higher revenue per search couldn't offset lower volume in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2019.
Amazon’s got a PPC lock on “Prime Day”
Whether by choice or not isn't clear, but competitors are sitting on the sidelines of "prime day" ad auctions.
Ad customizers are now available in all Microsoft Advertising accounts
Create ad customizer feeds in the UI or import them from your Google account.
Microsoft Advertising says it’s keeping average position reporting
Position-based impression share metrics are now available.
Parallel tracking, more custom parameters coming to Microsoft Advertising for improved tracking
Parallel tracking, currently in beta, will be rolling out soon.
Price extensions now supported in Microsoft Advertising Editor
Create and manage price extensions in bulk.
Frederick Vallaeys on why digital marketers will still have jobs and what they’ll look like in an AI world
"I think that this is full of opportunities for PPC, but it's going to be different from what we've been doing for the past 10 years."
Local Inventory ads rolling out of beta in Microsoft Advertising
Show ads when relevant products are in-stock nearby.
IAB: U.S. search spend grew 19% in 2018, but its share of digital ad spend ticked down, again
Search remains the primary digital format, but video continues to see rapid spend growth.
Microsoft Advertising is no longer just chasing parity with Google Ads – it’s building unique ads features
3D ads and a host of ad extensions are among the features Microsoft Advertising is testing.
Bing Ads rebrands as Microsoft Advertising
The new name reflects a broader focus on ad inventory, data and targeting capabilities.
Still have active destination URLs in Bing Ads? It’s time to migrate to final URLs
Say goodbye to standard text ads by the end of the year.
How to set up action extensions, Bing Ads’ newest ad extension
The call-to-action prompts support scheduling and tracking parameters.
Bing Ads launches new action extensions to highlight calls-to-action
Actions extensions take a page from display and social media ads with prominent calls-to-action.
Bing Ads Custom Audiences now available in most markets
Retarget your customer lists by connecting Bing Ads to a partner DMP.
Bing Ads bad account takedowns doubled in 2018
Third-party tech support scams, cryptocurrency and weapons ad content topped the areas of attention.
LinkedIn taps Bing search data for interest targeting
Advertisers can reach audiences based on business-oriented content they've engaged with on Bing.
Bing Ads Editor releases updates to make Google Ads imports faster, easier
The enhancements focus on reliability, speed and parity.
Bing Ads brings 3D ads to Search with Samsung
Users can interact with the desktop ad format to inspect product features and details.
Maximize Clicks in Bing Ads now available globally
The strategy automatically sets bids to increase click volume. There are some manual control options.
Bing to require LegitScript certification for addiction recovery advertisers
Drug and alcohol addiction recovery centers will have to be certified before running an ad campaign and can no longer use lead generators.
Here’s how to use advanced audience tactics in Google and Bing
At SMX West, Christi Olson and Brooke Osmundson covered a variety of ways PPC marketers can use audiences in Bing and Google to improve campaign performance. Here are the big takeaways.
Marketers can now view Shopping Campaigns in Bing Ads search terms reporting
The updated reporting grid also includes an Added/Excluded keywords column.
Bing Ads multiple language targeting: What you need to know
There are important nuances to ensuring your ads reach users in the languages they understand.
How to keep PPC accounts healthy when using automation
Why reports alone don’t cut it anymore in the fast-paced world of automated PPC.
Bing doesn’t show ads for queries around Super Bowl commercials, while Google does
Were you interested in driving online traffic to your Super Bowl ad campaign? If you tried to do it on Bing, you were out of luck again this year.
Bing Ads will serve all Yahoo search ads in new Microsoft-Verizon Media deal
The extended partnership will make all Yahoo search inventory available through the Bing Ads platform. Bing Ads will continue to serve all AOL search inventory.
Bing Ads launches page feeds for easier Dynamic Search Ads management
Use page feeds to manage URL groupings for auto targets in DSA campaigns.
Sitelinks tip: Set your sitelink descriptions or Google, Bing Ads can do it dynamically
If you haven't set up manual sitelink descriptions in non-brand campaigns, yet, you may not like what you see.
Bing Ads’ AI-powered Performance Insights now available globally
The tool provides an on-the-spot way to take action on performance changes in your accounts.
What makes people click on search ads?
There's a reason search ads resonate with users -- even when they know they're ads.