Microsoft Ads audit checklist (Bing Ads)

A good Microsoft Ads audit starts from one fact: Microsoft Advertising isn’t Google Ads with a different logo. Budgets are calculated differently, imported campaigns don’t carry everything across, and LinkedIn profile targeting works as a bid adjustment, not a filter. Check those first, then tracking, the Audience Network, search terms and pipeline.

If your account was built by importing from Google Ads, pay extra attention to section 2. Each item below says what to check, where to look in Microsoft Advertising and why it matters. If you also run Google or LinkedIn, the cross-channel paid media audit shows how to compare channels.

1. Budgets and pacing

The daily budget is a target

Microsoft’s budget and bid strategy guide says your budget is a target, and actual spend might be higher or lower. Microsoft usually keeps overspend to less than 100% above your daily limit. That’s “usually”, not a guarantee.

The monthly limit uses the actual days in the month

This is easy to miss if you reuse Google habits. Microsoft calculates each campaign’s monthly limit as daily budget × the number of days in the month. Google uses an average of 30.4 days. So a $100 daily budget gives:

If you change the daily budget mid-month, the limit for the rest of that month becomes month-to-date spend plus the new daily budget × the days remaining, including today. When the daily or monthly amount runs out, the campaign pauses automatically until the next day or month.

What to check:

• Month-to-date spend against your plan for each campaign, not against a 30.4-day figure.
• Campaigns that paused early because the monthly limit was hit.
• Budget changes made mid-month, and whether the new limit matches what you intended.

Shared budgets

A shared budget lets several campaigns in one account draw from a single daily amount. That’s convenient, but one campaign can take most of it. If a campaign under-spends, check whether it sits on a shared budget before changing its bids.

Our guide to why Microsoft Ads isn’t spending covers the other causes of under-delivery.

2. Google import review

Microsoft’s Google Ads import guide says most campaigns, ads, targets, ad extensions and settings import by default. It also says not all information will be imported, and tells advertisers to review campaigns after importing and add back what’s missing.

Treat every imported campaign as a draft. Check:

• Bid strategy. Microsoft supports a different set of strategies per campaign type. Target CPA, for example, is listed for Search campaigns. Confirm each imported campaign landed on the strategy you meant.
• Budgets. Import options include whether to update existing Microsoft budgets and whether to adjust them by a percentage. A scheduled import set to update budgets can overwrite changes you made in Microsoft Advertising.
• Conversion tracking. Imported campaigns still need a working UET tag and conversion goals in Microsoft Advertising (see section 4).
• Removed items. An import option controls whether items removed in Google Ads are deleted in Microsoft. Check that paused or removed Google campaigns aren’t still live here.
• Scheduled imports. Check which imports run, how often, and which account they write to.

3. LinkedIn profile targeting

Microsoft Advertising can target by three LinkedIn profile attributes: company, industry and job function. It’s available on Search, Dynamic Search ads, Shopping, Audience and, for some advertisers, Performance Max campaigns.

The rule to remember: Microsoft’s LinkedIn profile targeting page says it won’t narrow your audience. Targeting a company doesn’t exclude everyone else. It works as “bid only”, raising or lowering your bid for those people.

What to check:

• Expectations. If someone believes a campaign shows only to target accounts because of LinkedIn targeting, it doesn’t. Check search terms and audience reports for who you actually reach.
• Bid adjustments. Look at performance by company, industry and job function. Raise adjustments where conversions and pipeline come from, and lower them where spend produces nothing.
• Company lists. You can target up to 1,000 companies per ad group or campaign, and lists must be added in the platform; importing from files isn’t supported. Check the list still matches your current target accounts.

4. UET tag and conversion goals

Every conversion in Microsoft Advertising depends on the Universal Event Tracking (UET) tag. Microsoft’s UET guide says one tag can serve all your conversion goals and remarketing lists. It should be on every page of your site. Conversion goals then define which of those recorded actions count as conversions.

Tracking status

Check each goal’s tracking status under conversion goals:

An account can also lose access to a tag owned by another manager account, for example after an account transfer, and stop tracking.

Goal settings

• Count. Goals count All conversions after a click by default. Microsoft describes Unique (one per click) as a common choice for leads. A lead goal left on All can double-count form fills.
• Conversion window. It can run from one minute to 90 days. Match it to how long your buyers take to convert.
• Include in conversions. Check which goals are included in conversions and used for bidding. A micro-goal such as a page view shouldn’t steer bids on a lead campaign.

If a tag stops sending data, our guide to conversion tracking that stopped covers what to fix and how to clean up the reports.

5. Microsoft Audience Network

The Microsoft Audience Network shows ads on sites such as MSN, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft 365, and on partner sites. Microsoft’s documentation says search ads are automatically extended to these native placements. Microsoft’s support team says regular Search campaigns serve on the network unless you change the ad distribution setting.

What to check:

• Ad distribution setting. In ad group settings, under ad distribution, see whether ads run on the whole network or on “Microsoft sites and select traffic” only. The second keeps Search ads off the Audience Network.
• Website URL (publisher) report. It shows impressions, clicks, spend and conversions by website. Sort by spend and look for sites with clicks and no conversions.
• Exclusions. Add poor sites to website exclusions at the campaign or account level. New sites join the network over time, so re-run the report regularly.
• Lead quality. If leads come in from Audience Network placements, compare their quality in your CRM with search leads before deciding to keep them.

6. Search terms and negative keywords

Run the search terms report (the search query performance report) for each campaign and sort by spend. Look for:

• Spend on searches with no conversions over a meaningful period.
• Themes that can’t produce a buyer. For B2B, a common starting list is jobs, careers, salary, free, template, course, login and “what is”. Treat it as a heuristic to test, not a rule.
• Your own brand terms appearing in non-brand campaigns.

Microsoft supports exact and phrase match negative keywords, at the campaign or ad group level. Shared negative keyword lists hold up to 5,000 keywords each, with up to 20 lists per account.

7. Tracking parameters and pipeline

• Account-level tracking template. Microsoft recommends a default tracking template at the account level, so every campaign and ad uses the same URL format. Lower levels override higher ones, so check campaign and ad group templates don’t break it.
• UTMs. Use utm_source=bing and utm_medium=cpc, and dynamic parameters such as {CampaignID}, {AdGroupID} and {Keyword}. Keep spelling and case consistent with your other channels.
• Hidden form fields for UTMs on every form, so the source reaches your CRM.
• Pipeline by campaign. In your CRM, count opportunities and pipeline by Microsoft campaign, then divide spend by opportunities. If your Microsoft campaigns are small, judge them over a longer window.

How often to audit Microsoft Ads

Run a full audit like this at least quarterly, after every Google import, and when an account changes hands. Between audits, the costly problems are the quiet ones: a UET tag dropped in a site redesign, a scheduled import overwriting a budget, a monthly limit hit on the 24th.

How PipeHalo runs this every morning

PipeHalo checks every Microsoft Ads campaign in your connected accounts every morning. It flags under-pacing and over-pacing, budget concentrated in one campaign, cost per click spikes, spend with no conversions, and conversion tracking that may be broken. With HubSpot or Salesforce connected, it adds broken or missing UTMs, low-quality leads and spend with no pipeline.

Each problem shows the money at stake from your own numbers and “What to try” steps in Microsoft Advertising. PipeHalo keeps checking after your team makes the change. With Apply on, approve the fix and PipeHalo makes it for you, from pausing wasted keywords to adding negative keywords. See how the Microsoft Ads integration works.

Every plan starts with an audit of your connected accounts, and an Ad Check shows your top 3 issues before you choose one. Try the live demo or see plans.

Related questions

Is Microsoft Ads the same as Bing Ads?

Yes. Bing Ads was renamed Microsoft Advertising, and many people still search for “Bing Ads audit”. The same checklist applies.

Can I copy my Google Ads budget rules to Microsoft Ads?

No. Google caps monthly charges at 30.4 times the daily budget. Microsoft uses the daily budget times the actual days in the month, and usually keeps daily overspend under 100%. Pace each platform by its own rules.