microsoft-ads

Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads)

Expert-level guidance for Microsoft Advertising — auditing, building, and optimizing search, shopping, audience, and Performance Max campaigns.

Install

git clone https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing.git && cp -r claude-marketing/skills/microsoft-ads ~/.claude/skills/

Core Capabilities

Campaign Auditing & Optimization

• Audit account structure, campaign settings, bid strategies, and budget allocation
• Review keyword match types, negative keywords, and search term reports
• Analyze quality scores and ad relevance
• Identify wasted spend and missed opportunity gaps

Campaign Types

• Search — Text ads on Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and partner sites
• Shopping — Product ads from Microsoft Merchant Center feed
• Audience — Native display ads on Microsoft Audience Network (MSN, Outlook, Edge)
• Performance Max — Automated cross-format campaigns (search, shopping, audience, display)
• App Install — Mobile app promotion campaigns
• Dynamic Search — Auto-generated ads from website content

Audience Targeting

• LinkedIn Profile Targeting (Microsoft-exclusive) — Target by company, industry, job function
• In-market audiences, custom audiences, remarketing lists
• Customer match (email upload), similar audiences
• Combined audiences with AND/OR logic

Tracking & Attribution

• UET (Universal Event Tracking) tag setup and validation
• Conversion goals: URL, event, duration, pages per visit, app install
• Offline conversion import (GCLID-based)
• Multi-touch attribution models
• Microsoft Clarity integration for session recordings

Import & Sync

• Google Ads import (campaigns, keywords, ads, extensions)
• Scheduled sync from Google Ads (daily/weekly auto-import)
• Differences to watch: audience targeting, bid modifiers, ad formats, extensions

Key Benchmarks

Metric	Good	Great	Warning
Search CTR	3-5%	6%+	<2%
Search CPC	Typically 30-40% lower than Google Ads	—	Higher than Google
Conversion Rate	3-5%	6%+	<2%
Quality Score	7-8	9-10	<6
Impression Share	60-70%	80%+	<40%
Search Term Relevance	80%+ relevant	90%+	<60%

Microsoft Ads vs Google Ads

Feature	Microsoft Ads	Google Ads
Search Volume	~10-15% of Google	Dominant
Avg CPC	30-40% lower	Higher
Audience	Older, higher income, desktop-heavy	Broader
Unique Targeting	LinkedIn Profile Targeting	None
Import	One-click from Google Ads	N/A
Shopping	Merchant Center (separate from Google)	Google Merchant Center
Performance Max	Available (newer)	More mature

Account Structure Best Practices

Account
├── Brand Search Campaign (Exact + Phrase)
│   ├── Brand Terms Ad Group
│   └── Brand + Product Ad Groups
├── Non-Brand Search Campaign (by theme)
│   ├── [Product/Service Category] Ad Groups
│   └── [High-Intent Keywords] Ad Groups
├── Shopping Campaign
│   ├── Priority: High (top products)
│   ├── Priority: Medium (categories)
│   └── Priority: Low (catch-all)
├── Audience Campaign (Audience Network)
│   ├── Remarketing
│   ├── In-Market
│   └── LinkedIn Targeting
├── Competitor Campaign (optional)
│   └── Competitor Brand Terms
└── Performance Max Campaign
    └── Asset Groups by theme

Workflow: Full Account Audit

When asked to audit a Microsoft Ads account:

1. Account Settings — Conversion tracking (UET), attribution model, auto-tagging, time zone
2. Campaign Structure — Organization, naming conventions, budget distribution
3. Keyword Analysis — Match types, quality scores, search term relevance, negative keyword coverage
4. Ad Copy Review — RSA asset quality, ad extensions (sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets)
5. Bid Strategy — Manual vs automated, target CPA/ROAS, portfolio strategies
6. Audience Targeting — Remarketing lists, LinkedIn targeting, in-market audiences
7. Shopping Feed — Product data quality, feed errors, competitive pricing
8. Budget Analysis — Budget pacing, lost impression share (budget vs rank)
9. Google Ads Sync — Import freshness, divergence from Google, Microsoft-specific optimizations
10. Recommendations — Prioritized by expected ROAS impact

How to Use This Skill

Ask me questions like:

• "Audit my Microsoft Ads account structure"
• "Help me set up LinkedIn Profile Targeting"
• "My Google Ads import isn't performing well on Microsoft — what should I change?"
• "Design a Shopping campaign structure for my product catalog"
• "What Microsoft-specific optimizations should I make beyond the Google import?"
• "Help me set up UET tracking and conversion goals"
• "Plan a Performance Max campaign on Microsoft"

For detailed Microsoft Ads API reference, UET implementation, and advanced configurations, see REFERENCE.md.

Hard Rules

These constraints must never be violated in recommendations:

1. UET tag must be verified and firing before any optimization recommendations.
2. Auto-tagging (MSCLKID) must be enabled — without it, conversion tracking and analytics break.
3. Brand syndication must be excluded from brand campaigns — syndication network delivers low-quality traffic for brand terms.
4. Google imports must be reviewed and adjusted — raw imports without Microsoft-specific optimization waste the CPC advantage.
5. Microsoft search terms must be reviewed independently — different query patterns than Google, Google-imported negatives are insufficient.
6. LinkedIn Profile Targeting must be tested for any B2B account — it is Microsoft's unique differentiator.

Scored Audit

When performing an account audit, load skills/shared/scoring-system.md for the weighted scoring algorithm and CHECKS.md for the 30-check Microsoft Ads audit checklist. Produce a health score (0-100, grade A-F) with Quick Wins and a prioritized action plan.