In this guide
- Microsoft Advertising covers Bing, Yahoo and partners, with an audience that skews to desktop and older users, and B2B through LinkedIn targeting.
- You can import campaigns from Google Ads, then adjust.
- Set up the UET tag and conversion goals, capture
msclkidand compare with your store.
Bing is not Google, and that is the point. The audience is smaller, the competition is lighter and clicks are often cheaper. Many accounts find that Microsoft Advertising delivers a useful extra share of search conversions for a small part of the effort. This page covers the basics and the tracking set-up. Features change, so check Microsoft's documentation. See also Microsoft offline conversions, consent for Microsoft Advertising and server-side tracking for Microsoft Advertising.
Who it reaches
- People searching on Bing, Edge and Windows search, and partner sites such as Yahoo.
- A larger share of desktop users and older audiences than some other platforms.
- B2B audiences, through targeting by company, industry and job function using LinkedIn profile data where available.
Runs on your domain, anywhere
Your tracking runs on your own domain, so a visit from any country is handled the same way.
Getting started
Create an account
In Microsoft Advertising.
Import from Google Ads
The import tool copies campaigns, ad groups, ads and keywords. Review budgets, bids and settings afterwards.
Install the UET tag
Through Tag Manager, with consent settings.
Create conversion goals
Purchases and leads, with value.
Turn on auto-tagging
So msclkid is added to links.
Start with search
Add audience and shopping campaigns once search works.
Audiences and targeting
| Option | Use |
|---|---|
| Remarketing lists | Visitors, based on the UET tag, with consent |
| Customer match lists | Upload hashed customer lists for targeting and exclusions |
| In-market and similar audiences | Microsoft's own segments |
| LinkedIn profile targeting | Company, industry and job function for B2B |
Check your tracking in one pass
This is an example. Run the check on your own site to see where yours stands.
Tracking set-up
- Make sure the UET tag fires with consent.
- Capture
msclkidand store it first-party. See Safari removes click IDs. - Upload offline conversions for leads that become customers.
- Use UTMs for your own analytics.
- Compare Microsoft conversions with your store each week.
Bidding
Start with manual or enhanced bidding while you learn, then move to automated bidding when you have enough conversions. Microsoft's volume is smaller, so expect fewer conversions per campaign and plan budgets accordingly.
Judging results
Compare cost per purchase and profit per ad dollar with Google. Microsoft's numbers will overlap with Google's, since the same person may use both. Use your own first-party data to see the combined picture. Open Tracked's analytics shows spend, revenue, ROAS and profit by channel.
A realistic example
A B2B software company spends $20,000 a month on Google Ads and nothing on Microsoft. It imports its best five search campaigns, sets budgets at 10 percent of Google's, installs the UET tag with consent, turns on auto-tagging and uploads qualified leads weekly. After two months Microsoft Advertising delivers about 8 percent of its leads at a cost per qualified lead roughly a fifth lower than Google, mostly from desktop users in large companies. It is not a replacement for Google. It is a small, efficient extra channel that took a day to set up and a weekly upload to maintain. Because the volume is small, the company keeps its automated bidding simple and does not chase small swings.
Watch events arrive, live
A sample feed. In Open Tracked you see the same stream for your own store.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bing Ads?
The former name of Microsoft Advertising, the platform for ads on Bing, Yahoo and partner sites.
Can I import from Google Ads?
Yes. Review budgets, bids and settings after the import.
What is the UET tag?
Microsoft's Universal Event Tracking tag, used for conversion goals and remarketing.
Is Bing cheaper than Google?
Often per click, with smaller volume. Compare cost per purchase on your own data.
How do I track Bing conversions properly?
UET with consent, msclkid capture and offline uploads, compared with your store.
Do I need spreadsheets to read my results?
No. Once tracking is live, the Open Tracked analytics shows spend, revenue, ROAS and profit, and you can ask Ari, the built-in AI assistant, questions about your own numbers in plain words. Ari's allowance depends on your analytics plan.
Is Open Tracked different from Open Track or Open Space Track?
No. Open Tracked is the official name of our server-side tracking platform, and the website is opentracked.io. Many people search for it as Open Track, OpenTrack or Open Space Track. All of them lead to the same product: server-side Google Tag Manager hosting, first-party analytics and a CRM pipeline.
Fix your tracking at the source
Open Tracked hosts your server-side Tag Manager, keeps first-party cookies alive and shows what each ad is really worth.
The Open Tracked team
We build Open Tracked: server-side tracking hosting, analytics and the tools around them, for stores that spend on ads. Questions about this guide, or an idea for the next one?
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