What are Microsoft Search Ads?

Learn all about search ads and where certain ad distribution options are supported.
Note

This feature is available in all Microsoft Advertising markets.

With Microsoft Search Ads, you can reach potential customers who are actively searching for your products and services. These ads can appear with search results on sites like Microsoft Bing, AOL, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, and other partners. Microsoft Search Ads may also appear on relevant audience sites to help you engage your ideal audience and achieve your advertising goals. This includes sites like MSN, Microsoft Start, Microsoft Edge, Outlook.com, and publisher partners based on our unique knowledge about your potential customers. For more information about choosing where you want your ads to show, see Ad distribution settings.

The benefits of using Microsoft Search Ads

  • Drive sales and maximize ad spend. Microsoft Search Ads are optimized to increase engagement with potential customers who are interested in your products and services. This helps ensure you maximize ROI (return on investment) and meet your performance goals.
  • Reach customers who are ready to buy. Connect with customers who have shown a high intent to make purchases based on their web searches.
  • Advertise across the entire Microsoft Advertising Network. All Microsoft Search Ads are eligible to appear across the entire Microsoft Advertising Network, so you don't miss out on any potential customers.

Creating search campaigns

With search campaigns, you create your ad groups and provide the keywords and assets (images and text) for your ads. We'll use them to deliver your ads at the right time using keyword matching, ensuring that your ads are optimally matched with potential customers' search queries. You can also adjust your targeting settings and apply bid adjustments to ensure that your ads reach your target audience. Microsoft AI will help you show the most effective and relevant ads to the right people to maximize campaign performance.

Where your ad appears on search results pages is determined by the relevant keywords you use to reach potential customers. For example, an advertiser owns a toy store and wants to create ads for kids' electronics. The advertiser might include keywords like "walkie-talkies," "electronic pets," and "kids' music players" in their ad group so the ads can be more relevant to potential customers' web searches and show above or next to the search results.

To learn more about creating search campaigns, see How do I create a search ad campaign?

Microsoft Search Ad types

Include and exclude search partners

The Website URL (publisher) report is a useful tool for determining how well your ad does on search sites. From this report, you'll see how often your ad displays on different sites, which can help you determine the sites that are beneficial and those that aren't. Learn more about the Website URL (publisher) report. You can then use the exclusions feature to exclude specific sites from search ad distribution. To learn more, see How to prevent your ads from showing to certain people.

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