Budget and Bid Strategies
Before your ads can run, you need to set your campaign's budget. You'll also need to choose a bid strategy type, and optionally set keyword level match type bids. Depending on the type of campaign you are running, see the following sections for more details.
| Exact Match Bid Value | Campaign Types |
|---|---|
| Budget Types | All |
| Bid Strategy Types | All |
| Keyword Match Types | Search |
Budget Types
Your budget tells Microsoft Advertising how much you want to spend on your campaign. You can set a daily budget for each campaign and when you reach your budget, Microsoft Advertising will stop displaying your ads until the next day or month. Keep your advertising costs under control by keeping track of your budget.
Warning
Your budget is a target; your actual spend might be higher or lower. Variations are caused by a number of factors, such as different traffic volumes in different days of the week, or automatic detection and refunding of fraud clicks that can give money back to a campaign within a few hours of the click. Microsoft Advertising anticipates and automatically compensates for the fluctuations, and usually keeps overspend to less than 100% above your daily limit.
Also note that Microsoft Advertising does not require your campaign budget to be higher than the ad group and keyword bids. In other words ad group and keyword bids are validated independently of the campaign budget.
With shared budgets you can set a single daily budget that can be used by any campaign within the same account. This enables you to efficiently distribute a single daily budget across all campaigns or across a defined group of campaigns within your Microsoft Advertising account.
Important
You might need to code for shared budgets in the Microsoft Advertising platform, even if you do not use shared budgets. To determine whether the campaign uses a shared budget, check the value of the BudgetId element (via Campaign Management service) or Budget Id field (via Bulk service).
The Bing Ads API supports the DailyBudgetAccelerated and DailyBudgetStandard values as defined in the BudgetLimitType value set.
DailyBudgetStandard
Show your ads evenly every day throughout the month so you don't run out of budget early in the month. If the click rate is higher than expected, the rate of spend may be slowed to ensure that the budget is available until the end of the day; however, you won't exceed the estimated monthly budget.
This is a great option if you have a limited budget and want your ads to show evenly throughout the day. This way, your ads won't show all at once in the morning, using up your limited budget early in the day. You will also be able to monitor your budget on a daily basis, making adjustments as necessary, to maximize your budget.
Budget Rules
Before you can submit your ad campaign, you need to set a campaign budget amount and select a budget type. Don't worry, you can change your budget amount and budget types at any time. Changes to your budget generally take effect within an hour or so. For a high level introduction to campaign budgets, see What are my budget options?
If you create a campaign and specify a daily budget, the service calculates the monthly budget limit by multiplying the daily budget by the number of days in the month. The service calculates the new monthly budget at midnight (in the campaign's time zone) on the first day of each month. If the daily budget amount or calculated monthly budget amount is depleted, the campaign is paused automatically. The calculated monthly budget must be within the allowed range for the currency. For more information about minimum and maximum budgets allowed, see Currencies.
If you update a campaign that specifies a daily budget on the first day of the month, the service also calculates the monthly budget limit by multiplying the daily budget by the number of days in the month. However, if you update the daily budget after the first day of the month, the service uses the following formula to calculate the monthly budget.
Monthly budget = month-to-date spend + daily budget * (days remaining in the month, including today)
For example, if you change the daily budget to $10 on July 15th, and you have spent $250 of the $400 budget, the new budget will be $420, which is calculated as $250 + $10(17).
The service will use the new monthly budget for the remainder of the current month, but for subsequent months, it will calculate the monthly budget by multiplying the daily budget amount by the number of days in the month.
The service will update the monthly budget of an existing campaign by using the new formula only if you update the campaign's budget; otherwise, the monthly budget remains unchanged and is enforced.
Bid Strategy Types
Your bid strategy setting tells Microsoft Advertising how you want to manage your bids. Whichever bid strategy you use, Microsoft Advertising will always respect your budget limit.
Note
The Microsoft Advertising web application uses the term Bid strategy, the Bulk API uses the Bid Strategy Type column for upload and download, and the Campaign Management API derives several bid strategy objects from the BiddingScheme object.
The following campaign-level bid strategy types are available depending on the campaign type. For more information see the Let Microsoft Advertising manage your bids with bid strategies help article.
| Bid Strategy Type | Campaign Types |
|---|---|
| Commission | Hotel |
| CostPerSale | Shopping |
| EnhancedCpc | Search Shopping |
| ManualCpc | Audience Hotel |
| ManualCpm | Audience |
| ManualCpv | Audience |
| MaxClicks | Search Shopping |
| MaxConversions | Audience Search Shopping (smart shopping) Performance Max |
| MaxConversionValue | Shopping (smart shopping) Performance Max |
| PercentCpc | Hotel |
| TargetCpa | Search |
| TargetRoas | Search Shopping |
When you use the Bing Ads API, the default bid strategy for Search campaigns is EnhancedCpc. The default bid strategy for most Shopping campaigns is EnhancedCpc; however, the only supported bid strategy for smart shopping campaigns is MaxConversionValue. The default bid strategy for Audience campaigns is ManualCpc.
Important
With some bid strategy types, your bid and ad rotation settings are ignored and conversion tracking (via Universal Event Tracking tag and a conversion goal) is required. For more information including supported locations, see Let Microsoft Advertising manage your bids with bid strategies.
Commission
With the Commission bid strategy, you pay a commission per stay. You set the CommissionRate charged to the advertiser when someone books a hotel and stays there.
Cost per sale
With the Cost per sale (CPS) bid strategy, you only pay for a sale that occurs within 24 hours of an ad click. Clicks that don't result in a sale aren't charged.
EnhancedCpc
With the EnhancedCpc (enhanced cost per click) bid strategy, you set your ad group and keyword bids, and Microsoft Advertising will automatically adjust your bids in real time to increase your chances for a conversion. Your bid will go higher on searches that are more likely to convert and lower on searches less likely to convert (up or down, this change will be made after we apply any bid adjustments you have set). Over the long haul, though, we will try to make sure that your average CPC is not higher than your bid. If you haven't optimized your campaign yet, Enhanced CPC should reduce your cost per conversion and increase your total conversion count while respecting your current budget.
Differing from the MaxClicks, MaxConversions, and TargetCpa bid strategies, with the EnhancedCpc bid strategy, Microsoft Advertising will not actually change your stored ad group or keyword bid settings. You can continue to set new bids, and we will use the new values as a starting point next opportunity.
ManualCpc
With the ManualCpc (manual cost per click) bid strategy, you set your ad group and keyword bids, and Microsoft Advertising uses these bids every time.
Note
As of May 2024, you can no longer use the manual CPC bid strategy for audience native campaigns. You can only use manual CPC for audience display and video campaigns, and for lodging campaigns. We will automatically convert any existing manual CPC audience native campaigns to enhanced CPC. If you attempt to set manual CPC for any other campaign type, the request will be ignored without error and the bid strategy will be set to enhanced CPC.
ManualCpm
With the ManualCpm (manual cost per thousand impressions) bid strategy, you set the actual cost you want to pay per 1,000 viewed impressions. A viewed impression is counted when more than 50% of the ad pixels are in the user's view and the ad is viewed for at least second.
ManualCpv
With the ManualCpv (manual cost per view) bid strategy, you set the highest amount that you'd like to pay per view or per click on a video ad, and Microsoft Advertising uses these bids every time.
MaxClicks
With the MaxClicks bid strategy, you don't need to set ad group or keyword bids. Microsoft Advertising automatically sets your bids in real time to get as many clicks as possible within your budget.
Microsoft Advertising will always respect your overall budget limit, but if you want greater control over your bids while using Maximize Clicks, you can also set a maximum CPC (cost per click). This is an optional limit you can set to make sure that Microsoft Advertising never pays more than a certain amount for each individual click.
MaxConversions
With the MaxConversions bid strategy, you don't need to set ad group or keyword bids. Microsoft Advertising automatically sets your bids in real time to get as many conversions as possible within your budget.
Microsoft Advertising will always respect your overall budget limit, but if you want greater control over your bids while using Maximize Conversions, you can also set a maximum CPC (cost per click). This is an optional limit you can set to make sure that Microsoft Advertising never pays more than a certain amount for each individual click.
You need to have conversion tracking (a UET tag and a conversion goal) set up (offline conversions are supported too) in order to use the Maximize Conversions bid strategy. If your campaign falls below 30 conversions over any 30-day period, Maximize Conversions will stop optimizing your bids. If this happens with regularity, we recommend switching to a different bid strategy.
MaxConversionValue
Smart shopping campaigns use the Maximize Conversion Value bid strategy (where Microsoft Advertising automatically sets your bids in real time to maximize total conversion value within your budget) and automated targeting to maximize overall revenue numbers with an option to define return on ad spend (ROAS) targets.
Note
The MaxConversionValue bid strategy is available for smart shopping campaigns.
PercentCpc
With the PercentCpc bid strategy, you set a percentage of the total hotel price per night, including taxes and fees. You set the MaxPercentCpc, which is the maximum effective bid limit, in absolute form, at the campaign level.
TargetCpa
With the TargetCpa (cost per acquisition) bid strategy, you don't need to set ad group or keyword bids. You set your budget and your target 30-day average CPA, and Microsoft Advertising automatically sets your bids in real time to get you to this average. Some conversions may cost more than your target and some may cost less, but Microsoft Advertising will try to make sure your average cost per conversion is in line with your target.
Microsoft Advertising will always respect your overall budget limit, but if you want greater control over your bids while using Target CPA, you can also set a maximum CPC (cost per click). This is an optional limit you can set to make sure that Microsoft Advertising never pays more than a certain amount for each individual click.
You need to have conversion tracking (a UET tag and a conversion goal) set up (offline conversions are supported too) in order to use the Target CPA bid strategy. If your campaign falls below 30 conversions over any 30-day period, Target CPA will stop optimizing your bids. If this happens with regularity, we recommend switching to a different bid strategy.
TargetRoas
With the TargetRoas (return on ad spend) bid strategy, you don't need to set ad group or keyword bids. You set your budget and your target 30-day average ROAS, and Microsoft Advertising automatically sets your bids in real time to get you to this average. Some conversions may cost more than your target and some may cost less, but Microsoft Advertising will try to make sure your return on ad spend is in line with your target.
Microsoft Advertising will always respect your overall budget limit, but if you want greater control over your bids while using Target ROAS, you can also set a maximum CPC (cost per click). This is an optional limit you can set to make sure that Microsoft Advertising never pays more than a certain amount for each individual click.
You need to have conversion tracking (a UET tag and a conversion goal) set up (offline conversions are supported too) in order to use the Target ROAS bid strategy. Also you must be tracking revenue and have non-zero revenue over the last 30 days. If your campaign falls below 30 conversions or has zero revenue over any 30-day period, Target ROAS will stop optimizing your bids. If this happens with regularity, we recommend switching to a different bid strategy.
Keyword Match Types
Match type bids help Microsoft Advertising determine how closely you want a search term or other input to match your keyword. The keyword that you bid on is compared to the user's search term in the order of Exact, Phrase, and then Broad.
Exact
An exact match results when all of the words in the keyword exactly match the user's search term.
If the plural form is not in your keyword list, the plural form of a keyword is also used in an exact match comparison. For example, if you specify an exact-match bid for the keyword, car, both car and cars will match. To prevent plural form of a keyword from matching, add the plural form to the campaign or ad group's negative keyword list.
If your keyword list does not contain the plural form of the keyword, all search results for the plural form will be included in the singular form of the keyword in the keyword performance report.
Phrase
A phrase match results when all of the words in the keyword phrase are present in the user's search term and are in the same order. For example, the keyword phrase "red flower" will match the search term "big red flower" and "red flower", but not "yellow or blue flower" or "flower red".
Broad
A broad match results when words in the keyword phrase are present in the user's search term; however, the order of the words can vary. For example, the keyword red flower will match the search term red flower, flower is red, and other variations. It will also match the query red and the query flower.
Broad match can also match on synonyms and other semantic variations of the queries. For example, a search term for red carnation might result in your ad being displayed because carnation is a type of flower.
Because the search engine can vary its algorithms to expand queries to find broader matches by looking for synonyms and other meanings of the queries, the outcome can sometimes result in keywords being matched to irrelevant queries.
To reduce the chance of irrelevant ads being served to users and the quality score of those ads being affected due to low CTR, you can add any irrelevant queries to your list of negative keywords. To determine the irrelevant queries, see the Report Types.
Bid and Delivered Match Types
You should set the ad group Search Bid that will be used as the default bid for Exact, Phrase, and Broad match types. You can then override the default by setting individual keyword level match types. Generally, the more precise you require the match to be, the higher conversion rates tend to be while impressions tend to decrease. Finding the right balance between conversions and impressions can help maximize the return on investment (ROI) of your campaign. If you're not sure which match type to use, we suggest starting with broad match. You can then use keyword performance reports over time to see which keywords lead to ad clicks and optimize your keyword list.
- If a majority of the keywords in the report are not related to your ad, you might want to use one of the more precise match types.
- For keywords that you want to continue leading to clicks, add them to your keyword list with a more specific match type such as Phrase or Exact.
- For keywords that you don't want leading to clicks, add them to your keyword list as negative keywords. For more information, see Negative Keywords.
Exact match is the most restrictive and broad match is the least restrictive match type. If the keyword matches by using the more restrictive match type, it will also match using the less restrictive match types. If the exact match comparison succeeds, the exact-match bid value is used if it exists; otherwise, it gets the bid value from the first less-restrictive match type that has a bid value (set at the keyword or ad group level).
If there is not an exact match, the phrase-match type comparison is used. If there is a match, the phrase-match bid value is used if it exists; otherwise, the broad-match bid value is used (set at the keyword broad match bid or ad group level search bid). If there is not a phrase match, the broad-match type comparison is used. If there is a match, the broad-match bid value is used (set at the keyword broad match bid or ad group level search bid).
The following table shows example keyword bid values for each match type, as well as the bid value that would be used based on the delivered match type if the keyword participated in the auction. The delivered match type (exact, phrase, or broad) identifies the comparison used to match the keyword to the user's query. For example, if the keyword is "red shoes" and the user's query is "pretty red shoes," the delivered match type would be phrase. The delivered match type may differ from the match type you bid, for example if you bid on a broad match and the search term was an exact match.
| Exact Match Bid Value | Phrase Match Bid Value | Broad Match Bid Value | Delivered Match Type | Bid Value Used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No bid | 0.10 | 0.20 | Exact | 0.10 |
| No bid | 0.20 | 0.10 | Exact | 0.20 |
| No bid | No bid | 0.10 | Exact | 0.10 |
| No bid | No bid | 0.10 | Phrase | 0.10 |
| 0.10 | 0.30 | 0.20 | Exact | 0.10 |
| 0.10 | 0.30 | 0.20 | Phrase | 0.30 |
| 0.20 | No bid | No bid | Exact | 0.20 |
| 0.20 | No bid | No bid | Phrase | None. Would not participate in auction. |
For Search and Content campaigns, take a look at the keywords you've created for your ad group. Are they all closely related? Do you want to add any others? Are you using a mix of match types? Consider using the Ad Insight Service to get ideas for additional keywords you might want to include in this ad group, and for suggested starting bids. For more information, see Budget and Bid Opportunities. You should create a keyword for each match type that you want to bid on. For example, to bid on exact-match and phrase-match for the keyword car, you must create two Keyword objects. Keep in mind that you cannot change a keyword's match type from one match-type bid to another match-type bid. For example, you cannot update a keyword from exact match to phrase match. Instead, you must add a new keyword that specifies a bid amount for the new match type. Optionally you may delete the original keyword if you do not want to bid on its match type.
You can also use negative keywords to prevent you ads from being served if the user's search query contains one of your negative keywords. For more information about negative keywords, see Negative Keywords.
Keyword Normalization
A keyword is considered a duplicate if it is the same as another keyword, but its punctuation varies. This is called keyword normalization, a process where extraneous characters like punctuation marks and accents are removed from keywords and customer queries. Keywords are normalized when you add them to an ad group to avoid duplicates of keywords that normalize into the same form. Microsoft Advertising flags duplicate keywords so you can remove them. Removing the duplicate keywords will save you time while still giving you thorough keyword coverage. If one of your keywords is marked as a duplicate, there is no reason to manage both of them. You can remove either the duplicate or the original keyword without impacting your campaign.
For example, let's say you add bike-repair as one of your keywords, and then also add bike repair. Your second entry (bike repair) would be marked as a duplicate. When someone searches for bike-repair, Microsoft Advertising automatically removes the hyphen and displays ads for the search query bike repair, including yours, regardless of which variation you used (bike repair or bike-repair).
For a detailed list of normalized characters, see the Microsoft Advertising help topic About duplicate keywords.
Please also note the following validation rules.
- Normalization is not case sensitive; bike repair and Bike Repair are treated as the same phrase. You'll see that if you enter a keyword with a capital letter, the capital letter is simply changed to lower-case.
- Normalization does not treat singular and plural forms of words as duplicates. For example, bike and bikes would be separate keywords. If you want to use both the plural and singular form of a keyword, bid on each separately. Similarly, normalization does not impact spaces within or between words, or apostrophes that are a part of a name. For example, bikerepair is not a duplicate of bike repair.
- As you create your keywords, also be aware of the rules they must follow. Here's some more information: Microsoft Advertising policies.