MARKETING
Microsoft Advertising Updates: Responsive Search Ads, Improved Reports, & More
Updates to Microsoft Advertising this month include a broad rollout of responsive search ads, clearer performance reporting, and news regarding expanded text ads.
Here’s a recap of what’s new with Microsoft Advertising for the month of January 2020.
Responsive Search Ads (RSAs)
Microsoft’s RSAs, which have been in open beta since September 2019, are now available worldwide for all advertisers.
RSAs allow advertisers to provide up to 15 possible headlines and 4 possible descriptions. Microsoft will take those and match up the most optimal combinations to create an ad tailored for the individual user.
Advertisers can import RSA campaigns from Google Ads directly into Microsoft Advertising. Learn more here.
Clearer Performance Reporting
In an effort to make performance reporting more reliable, Microsoft Advertising is removing the average position metric. Microsoft determined that prominence metrics provide a clearer view of where ads are served on a page than the average position metric does.
Average position will be removed from performance reports beginning in April. Microsoft says this change brings performance reporting closer to parity with Google Ads.
Deadline Extended for Expanded Text Ads
Microsoft is giving advertisers more time to migrate to expanded text ads, after previously announcing the ads would no longer be served after 2019.
The deadline for migrating to expanded text ads has been extended to March 31, 2020. This gives advertisers roughly two more months to migrate their standard text ads to expanded texts ads.
Microsoft Advertising already stopped advertisers from creating new standard texts ads two years ago, though existing campaigns were still eligible to be served.
