A Comprehensive Glossary of Microsoft Advertising Terminology

Microsoft Advertising, formerly known as Bing Ads, has its own set of terms that are essential for creating and managing successful campaigns. This glossary breaks down the key terminology into themed sections, providing a clear reference for advertisers on the platform.

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Core Concepts & Account Structure

This section outlines the foundational elements of a Microsoft Advertising account.

Term	Definition
Account	The highest level of organization in Microsoft Advertising. An account contains all of your campaigns, ad groups, and billing information.
Campaign	A set of ad groups that share a budget, targeting settings, and other configurations. Campaigns are used to organize your advertising efforts around specific business goals or product categories.
Ad Group	A container within a campaign that holds one or more ads and a corresponding set of keywords. It allows you to tailor your ad copy to a specific theme of keywords.
Keyword	Words or phrases you select to trigger your ads on the Microsoft Search Network. When users search for these terms, your ad may appear.
Ad	The advertisement that is shown to potential customers. Microsoft Advertising supports various ad formats, including text ads, product ads, and audience ads.
Final URL	The specific landing page URL on your website that users are directed to after clicking your ad.
Display URL	The URL that is shown in your ad. It gives users an idea of where they will land after clicking and is often a simplified version of your Final URL.
Microsoft Advertising Network	The collection of search sites, apps, and websites where your ads can appear. This includes owned and operated sites like Bing and AOL, as well as syndicated search partner sites.

Bidding & Budgeting

Effectively managing your advertising spend is fundamental to achieving a positive return.

Term	Definition
Bid	The maximum price you are willing to pay per click (CPC) on your ad.
Bid Strategy	The method for managing your bids. This can be done manually or through automated strategies that optimize for goals like clicks, conversions, or target impression share.
Cost-Per-Click (CPC)	The bidding model where you pay each time a user clicks on your ad.
Enhanced CPC	An automated bidding strategy that adjusts your bids in real-time to increase the likelihood of a conversion. It can raise or lower your bid based on how likely the click is to convert.
Cost-Per-Mille (CPM)	A bidding model where you pay for every one thousand impressions (views) of your ad, primarily used for display advertising.
Cost-Per-Action (CPA)	A bidding strategy where you pay for a specified action, such as a sale or a form submission. You set a target CPA, and Microsoft Advertising's algorithm works to achieve it.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)	A target-based bidding strategy that automatically sets your bids to help you get the most conversion value for your budget, aiming for a specific return on your ad spend.
Budget	The amount of money you allocate to a campaign over a specific period. You can set a daily budget or a shared budget across multiple campaigns.
Shared Budget	A single daily budget that can be applied to multiple campaigns within the same account, allowing Microsoft Advertising to automatically allocate funds to the best-performing campaigns.

Ad Formats & Extensions

These terms refer to the types of ads you can create and the additional information you can append to them to increase visibility and engagement.

Term	Definition
Responsive Search Ads (RSAs)	The standard ad type for search campaigns. You provide multiple headlines and descriptions, and Microsoft Advertising’s AI mixes and matches them to create the most effective ad combination for different search queries.
Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs)	Ads that automatically use content from your website to create and target ads. Instead of keywords, they use your website content to match your ads with relevant search queries.
Shopping Ads	Product-focused ads that display an image, title, price, and store name. They are generated from the product data feed you upload to the Microsoft Merchant Center.
Audience Ads	Native ads that appear on the Microsoft Audience Network, which includes sites like MSN, Microsoft Edge, and Outlook.com. They are visually rich and blend in with the surrounding content.
Ad Extensions	Additional pieces of information that expand your ad to make it more useful and engaging. Using extensions typically improves ad rank and click-through rate.
Sitelink Extensions	Extensions that add extra links to your ad, directing users to specific pages on your website, such as a “Contact Us” or “Products” page.
Action Extensions	Extensions that add a clear call-to-action button (e.g., “Sign Up,” “Download Now”) directly into your ad copy.
Image Extensions	Allow you to add visual elements to your text ads by displaying a relevant image alongside your ad copy.
Review Extensions	Add a positive review or award from a reputable third-party source to your ad.

Targeting & Audiences

Reaching the most relevant audience is crucial for campaign success.

Term	Definition
Keyword Match Types	Controls how closely a user’s search query must match your keyword to trigger your ad. The types are Broad, Phrase, and Exact match.
Negative Keywords	Words or phrases that you add to your campaign or ad group to prevent your ad from showing when those terms are part of a user’s search query.
Search Term Report	A report that shows the actual search queries that triggered your ads. It is useful for discovering new keywords and identifying irrelevant searches for negative keywords.
Audience Targeting	The method of showing your ads to specific groups of people based on their demographics, location, online behavior, or previous engagement with your business.
Remarketing	A powerful feature that allows you to target users who have previously visited your website or used your app.
Similar Audiences	An AI-powered feature that identifies and targets new users who have similar characteristics to the people in your existing remarketing lists, helping you find new customers.
LinkedIn Profile Targeting	A unique targeting feature that allows you to reach users based on their company, job function, and industry information from their LinkedIn profiles.
Location Targeting	A setting that allows you to show your ads to users in specific geographic areas, such as countries, states/provinces, cities, or postal codes.

Metrics & Performance Measurement

These are the key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns.

Term	Definition
Impressions	The number of times your ad has been displayed on the search results page or across the Microsoft Advertising Network.
Clicks	The number of times users have clicked on your ad.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)	The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click (Clicks ÷ Impressions = CTR). It’s a key indicator of your ad’s relevance.
Average CPC (Avg. CPC)	The average amount you have paid for a single click. It’s calculated by dividing the total cost of your clicks by the total number of clicks.
Conversion	A specific action a user takes after clicking your ad that you have defined as valuable, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or calling your business.
Conversion Rate	The rate at which ad clicks lead to conversions, calculated as a percentage (Conversions ÷ Clicks = Conversion Rate).
Cost per Acquisition (CPA)	The average cost of acquiring one conversion, calculated by dividing the total ad spend by the number of conversions.
Quality Score	A diagnostic score from 1-10 that estimates the quality and relevance of your keywords, ad copy, and landing pages. A higher Quality Score can lead to better ad positions and lower costs.
Ad Rank	A value that determines your ad’s position on the search results page. It is influenced by your bid, Quality Score, and the expected impact of ad extensions.
Impression Share	The percentage of times your ads were shown out of the total number of searches for which they were eligible to show. It indicates how much of the available ad traffic you are capturing.