Parallel tracking, more custom parameters coming to Microsoft Advertising for improved tracking

Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) is going to be making several updates in the coming months to improve page load for users and provide better tracking for advertisers.

Parallel tracking. When parallel tracking is enabled, a user is taken directly to the landing page after clicking an ad, while the ad click measurement process happens separately in the background. The landing page can load immediately, which means happier users who stick around.

Google Ads rolled out parallel tracking for search ads last fall and for display ads in May, so you may already be familiar with it. Microsoft Advertising currently has it available as an option in some accounts, and the company says it expects to make it available to all advertisers soon. If you want to participate in the beta, reach out to your ad rep.

Final URL suffix. Soon to be located in the “Campaign URL options” section of campaign settings, a Final URL suffix field will enable you to specify the parameters you want attached to your landing page URL for tracking. “You won’t have to worry about any encoding rules as you would if they were included in your tracking template,” said Rose Dorleans, Microsoft Advertising program manager in the blog post.

If you’re using parallel tracking, Microsoft Advertising recommends using the Final URL suffix to define the landing page parameters needed during redirection to ensure those values get passed to your website.

Each suffix can contain one of the following types of values:

• Static URL parameter.
• Values that reference Micrsosoft Advertising URL parameter values.
• Any parameters listed on the final URL tracking template or custom parameter help page.

Custom parameter expansion. Now you can set up to eight pairs of custom parameters for URL tracking. The character limit has also been expanded to 250 characters. This will be available at the campaign, ad group and keyword levels, and support for additional levels is coming soon, said Dorleans in the announcement.