Audience targeting in Microsoft Advertising

This guide is built from Microsoft Advertising Help, starting with its page What are my options for audiences? and the pages linked in each section below. It covers the audience types Microsoft offers, the two targeting settings, bid adjustments, minimum list sizes and the rules for attaching audiences to campaigns and ad groups. How the platform itself works (networks, account structure, the UET tag) is in our Microsoft Advertising basics guide, and what happens to Google Ads audiences when you copy campaigns over is in importing Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Advertising.

The audience types at a glance

In Microsoft Advertising an audience is a list of people you attach to a campaign or ad group, either to raise or lower bids for them, to show ads only to them, or to exclude them. Microsoft's options page splits the types by whose data builds the list. Your own data builds remarketing lists, dynamic remarketing lists, customer match lists and custom audiences, which reach existing customers. Microsoft's data builds in-market audiences, custom segments, similar audiences and impression-based remarketing lists. LinkedIn's data builds profile targeting.

The UET column follows Microsoft's rule that some audience types need data from your website, collected by the Universal Event Tracking tag; its audience targeting overview points back to the options table for which ones. Most types work in Search, Audience, Performance Max, Shopping and Lodging campaigns. The exceptions on the options page: custom segments are for Audience campaigns only, LinkedIn profile targeting is not listed for Performance Max in that table (its own page says Performance Max access is still rolling out), and dynamic remarketing lists are not listed for Lodging. Some types, such as similar audiences, combined lists and custom segments, carry the note that not every account has them yet.

One more rule from the same page: you cannot download audience lists from the Audience Library, because Microsoft says they may include sensitive user data.

Remarketing lists

A remarketing list collects people who visited your site, based on rules you write. Microsoft's remarketing page lists two requirements: a JavaScript UET tag on every page of the site, and the ability to edit your website code. You create the list under Tools > Audiences, choose the UET tag, and pick who to add:

• Visitor of a page, using URL or referral URL rules.
• Visitor of a page who also visited another page.
• Visitor of a page who did not visit another page, for example product viewers who never reached the thank-you page.
• Custom events, matched on the event's category, action, label or value.

Each list can have up to 100 rule groups with up to 100 rules each. The logic is easy to get backwards: with "Match every rule group", a group counts when any of its rules is met; with "Match any rule group", a group counts only when all of its rules are met. Microsoft's page works through both cases with examples.

You also set a membership duration (how far back to look) and the sharing scope: the current account, or all accounts under the manager account. Microsoft notes that sharing can't be changed once set. People join the list whether or not they came from an ad, and Microsoft says a list takes up to 48 hours to build. The tag records activity from the day it was installed, so a new list can fill with past visitors as long as the data covers the membership duration.

Microsoft also sets limits on what you may build: no lists, retargeting or profiling of users under 13 (or the local age requirement), all retargeting must comply with the law on sensitive data such as health, sexual orientation or financial status, and in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland the UET tag needs consent mode or the TCF. The consent side is in our Microsoft basics guide, and the same ideas on Google and Meta are in our remarketing guide.

Customer match

Customer match uses email addresses your customers have shared with you to reach them again through search and Audience ads, or to exclude them. The file rules from Microsoft's help page:

• A .csv file with the header "Email" and one address per cell.
• At least 300 active email users if the list is used for targeting across the Microsoft Advertising Network.
• Up to 4 million entries per upload; more than that takes several files.
• Addresses hashed with SHA-256. Microsoft recommends hashing before upload; if you upload plain text, the data is encrypted on your computer before it is sent.

You also accept the customer match terms during setup, and the list is ready to attach to campaigns 48 hours after upload. Third-party data can't be used. If your data sits with a supported data management provider, Microsoft points you to custom audiences instead; the help page names partners such as LiveRamp, Salesforce, Tealium and Zapier. Customer match is also not allowed for sensitive content categories. For the Google side of the same feature, see our Google Ads Customer Match guide.

In-market audiences, custom segments and similar audiences

These three are built by Microsoft and aim at people who have not been to your site.

In-market audiences

In-market audiences are curated lists of customers who have shown purchase intent signals within a particular category, from searches and clicks on Bing and page views on Microsoft services. They need no UET tag, show an estimated list size when you pick them, and work with all campaign types, but Microsoft says they are only supported on sites owned and operated by Bing, AOL, and Yahoo, not on syndicated search partners. Search ads and Audience ads have different sets of categories. Microsoft's advice for judging them is to run one campaign without audience targeting and the same campaign with in-market audiences attached.

Custom segments

Custom segments let you define your own intent category: you name it and add keywords your ideal customer would search for, and Microsoft finds people who have shown interest in them. The keywords go through editorial review, the segment doesn't populate until at least one keyword is approved, and it takes two to three days to build after you add it to an ad group. Custom segments attach to ad groups only, not campaigns, and the options page lists them for Audience campaigns only.

Similar audiences

Similar audiences are generated by Microsoft from your remarketing lists. They appear in the Audiences table as "Similar to [name of remarketing list]". The source list needs active associations and at least 300 users, the similar audience needs at least 300 users on the network before it can be attached, it takes up to seven days to build, and it has to stay associated with an active campaign to stay active.

LinkedIn profile targeting

Microsoft says it is the only advertising platform (other than LinkedIn) that targets by LinkedIn profile data. LinkedIn profile targeting works on three fields: company, industry and job function. It is available for Search, Dynamic Search ad, Shopping, Audience and Performance Max campaigns (Performance Max uses audience signals and is not yet in every account). You set it in the campaign or ad group targets, or on the Demographics tab, with a bid adjustment for each target.

Two details matter when you plan with it. Company lists have to be added by hand in the platform, since importing from files or other platforms is not supported, and one ad group or campaign can target at most 1,000 companies. And it does not narrow who sees your ads: Microsoft describes it as working like "bid only". Targeting a company raises or lowers your bid for its employees; everyone else can still see the ad. That is different from targeting on LinkedIn itself, which we cover in LinkedIn Ads targeting.

Combined lists

Combined lists join existing lists with "Any of these audiences" (OR), "Each of these audiences" (AND) and "None of these audiences" (NOT), so you attach one audience instead of several associations and exclusions. Microsoft's lead-generation example is past site visitors NOT people who already filed their taxes. A combined list needs at least 300 members. Remarketing, dynamic remarketing, customer match and custom audience lists can be combined with each other; a similar audience only in a single OR with one other similar audience; in-market audiences, LinkedIn profile targeting and other combined lists can't be used.

Bid only vs Target and bid

Every audience association uses one of two targeting settings. From Microsoft's page on associating audiences:

• Bid only: Ads in this ad group or campaign can show to everyone but the bid adjustment will apply to people included in the audience.
• Target and bid: This setting limits your ads to people in your selected audiences.

The catch is that the setting belongs to the ad group or campaign, not to each list. You cannot have one list on Target and bid and another on Bid only in the same ad group or campaign, and Microsoft says that Whichever setting you've selected most recently overrides the earlier ones for all audience types there. So adding an in-market audience on Target and bid to an ad group that already observes a remarketing list on Bid only quietly limits that ad group to the audiences. Per Microsoft's targeting setting page, the setting can't be changed in bulk from the Audience table, only one ad group or campaign at a time through Create association, or in bulk with Microsoft Advertising Editor.

Bid adjustments and overlapping audiences

New targeting associations start at a 15% bid adjustment by default, and the range is -90% to +900%. Microsoft's optimization page adds two limits: it won't apply any bid boosts until the associated audience has at least 300 users, and bid adjustments don't apply to excluded audiences. The same page shows the two other common uses: a separate campaign with ads written for one audience, and a campaign with broad match keywords you would not normally bid on, set to Target and bid for that audience only.

When one person is in several of your audiences, the options page says only the audience with the highest bid adjustment is attributed; audience adjustments are not added together, and you are charged once. Adjustments of different kinds behave differently: the remarketing FAQ says bids set for device, ad schedule, location and demographics get multiplied when the ad is shown.

Campaign or ad group, targeting and exclusions

Microsoft suggests ad group associations when audiences and bids differ between ad groups, or when you want to test one audience in one ad group first, and campaign associations when every ad group uses the same audience and bid. The rules that trip people up:

• A campaign can't have targeting associations at both campaign and ad group level; you remove one level before adding the other.
• Exclusions are allowed at both levels, whether or not targeting is set.
• The same audience can't be targeted and excluded at the same level, but one targeted at campaign level can be excluded in a single ad group.
• Campaign-level associations are not available for Audience ads, and custom segments attach to ad groups only. Where Audience ads appear and how to limit it is in our Microsoft Audience Network guide.
• Audiences created at manager account level can be shared across accounts but still have to be attached to campaigns or ad groups by hand.

Per account, the options page allows 1,000 audiences per type (counting lists shared into the account; custom audiences are capped only at manager level, 5,000 per type), 20,000,000 associations, and 1,000 in-market audience exclusions.

Minimum sizes and build times

The 300 floor also applies to bid boosts on any audience. If a remarketing list shows no impressions, Microsoft's checklist starts with the basics: is the UET tag active, do the rules ever evaluate to true, is the membership duration long enough to reach 300 users, and is the association itself active on an active ad group or campaign. List sizes in reports lag about a day behind.

How we set up audiences in Microsoft Ads

This part is our own practice, not Microsoft's guidance:

• On search campaigns we start every audience on Bid only, with a small adjustment, so we can see how each list performs before it changes reach.
• We move to Target and bid in a separate campaign or ad group, never inside one that already observes lists, because the setting flips for every list there.
• We add a converters list as an exclusion (or a lower bid) on prospecting campaigns, and build "visited but did not convert" lists for remarketing.
• For B2B accounts we add LinkedIn company, industry or job function targets as bid adjustments on top of keywords, knowing they won't narrow reach.
• We check list sizes against the 300 floor before reading any results, and lengthen membership durations for small sites.

If you want help setting up Microsoft Advertising for your business, see our services.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Bid only and Target and bid in Microsoft Ads?

Bid only lets ads show to everyone and applies your bid adjustment to people in the audience. Target and bid shows ads only to people in the selected audiences. The setting applies to every audience in the ad group or campaign, and the most recent choice overrides earlier ones.

How many users does a Microsoft Ads audience need?

Microsoft won't apply bid boosts until an audience has at least 300 users. Remarketing lists need 300 before remarketing applies, customer match lists need 300 active email users for network targeting, and similar audiences and combined lists also need 300.

Do in-market audiences need the UET tag?

No. In-market audiences, custom segments, customer match and LinkedIn profile targeting don't need UET. Remarketing lists, dynamic remarketing lists and the similar audiences built from them do.

Does LinkedIn profile targeting limit who sees my ads?

No. Microsoft says it works like "bid only": targeting a company, industry or job function changes your bid for those people, but everyone else can still see the ad. You can target up to 1,000 companies per ad group or campaign.

What bid adjustment range can I use for audiences?

From -90% to +900%. New targeting associations start at 15% by default. If someone is in several of your audiences, only the one with the highest adjustment applies and you are charged once.