Microsoft Advertising UET tag and conversion goals

This guide is built from Microsoft Advertising Help on Microsoft Learn, mainly Everything you need to know about setting up UET, How do I create a conversion goal? and conversion goals and goal types, plus the pages linked below. Account setup, importing from Google Ads and consent mode in Europe are in our Microsoft Advertising guide; remarketing lists built on the tag are in our guide to Microsoft Ads audiences.

What the UET tag unlocks

Microsoft's What is UET page calls it "the key that unlocks powerful Microsoft Advertising features". The tag "records what customers do on your website and sends that information to Microsoft Advertising", which feeds:

• Conversion tracking: counting purchases, leads and other goals, with their value.
• Audience targeting: remarketing, in-market audiences and dynamic remarketing.
• Automated bidding: Maximize conversions, Target CPA and Enhanced CPC.

The same page notes that UET data can also measure ads on Microsoft's affiliated platforms, such as LinkedIn Ads, when you enable that measurement; LinkedIn's side is in our LinkedIn Insight Tag guide. A UET tag can also validate your domain for a Microsoft Merchant Center store (see our Microsoft shopping campaigns guide).

Creating the tag

In Microsoft Advertising, open Conversions in the left menu and select UET tag, then Create:

1. Enter a name and, optionally, a description such as the site's URL.
2. Select the website's industry. Microsoft applies privacy filtering to healthcare traffic: with HealthWellness, events "may not be eligible for use in audience targeting", and Microsoft suggests separate tags for healthcare and non-healthcare pages if you need audiences for the latter.
3. Leave or clear the Microsoft Clarity checkbox (Microsoft's heatmap and session recording tool; see our guide to heatmaps and session recordings).
4. Optionally share the tag with manager accounts, then save and copy, download or email the tracking code.

One tag for the whole site is usually enough, as one tag can serve many goals and audiences. The tag table also shows its ID, status, and how many goals and audiences use it.

Installing it

Microsoft recommends adding the code "to every page of your website in the head or body section". There are three routes:

• Directly in your code: paste the tracking code in the head or before the closing body tag on every page, usually in the site template.
• A tag manager: Microsoft lists Google Tag Manager, Tealium, Ensighten, Signal, Qubit Opentag and Adobe's tag managers as tested.
• A website platform: BigCommerce, Shopify, WordPress.com and Wix have their own instructions.

For single-page applications, where content changes without a new page load, recent tag code includes enableAutoSpaTracking: true, which records each navigation as a page view. If your snippet lacks it, Microsoft says to get a new snippet from the interface. When a page loads, the request that matters goes to bat.bing.com; you can see it in the browser's network tab.

Google Tag Manager

Microsoft offers two ways to use GTM:

• Direct integration (Microsoft's recommendation): while creating the UET tag, choose Automatically add the tracking tag through Google Tag Manager, sign in with Google and pick the account and container. Microsoft adds the base UET tag for all pages and, unless you clear the option, copies your Google Analytics 4 event tags into matching UET tags. You still create conversion goals in Microsoft Advertising afterwards.
• The template: add a tag of type Microsoft Advertising Universal Event Tracking, track type UET config/page view, enter your UET tag ID and trigger it on All pages. Microsoft says you need "only one tag of this track type". Custom events and revenue get their own tags that read data layer variables.

If the tag is already hard-coded on the site, Microsoft recommends removing it before adding it through GTM, so it doesn't fire twice. Our Google Tag Manager basics guide covers containers, triggers and preview mode.

Tag status and UET Tag Helper

The UET tag table in Microsoft Advertising shows a tracking status:

• Unverified: no data received yet. "Verification can take up to 24 hours."
• Tag active: the tag is sending data.
• Tag inactive: nothing received in the last 24 hours; check the code is still on the site.

Microsoft points out the limits: a tag shows as active "as long as at least one UET event was logged" from any page, and the status doesn't show whether custom events or revenue arrive. For that it recommends the UET Tag Helper, a browser extension for Edge and Chrome. Turn it on, refresh the page and read the badge:

• No badge: no tag, a malformed tag, or a tag only on the conversion page.
• Green: working correctly.
• Yellow: working, but can be improved; click for details.
• Red: not working; the helper says what to fix.

The helper can also test a specific conversion goal: pick the goal, walk through your site and it reports which conversion events it recorded and any problems.

Conversion goal types

The tag only collects data; a conversion goal decides what counts. Microsoft's website goal types:

• Destination URL: a visit to a page, such as a thank-you page. Match by equals, begins with, contains or a regular expression; http(s) and www are ignored, and matching is case insensitive.
• Event: an action such as a download or form submission, reported by your code with an event action, category, label or value.
• Duration: a visit longer than a set time (1 second to just under 24 hours).
• Pages viewed per visit: more than a set number of pages in one session.

Outside the website there are mobile app install and offline conversion goals; product, store visit and in-store goals are not available to every account yet. Offline conversions are touched on in our Microsoft Advertising guide and, for Google, in our offline conversion import guide.

Creating a goal: the settings that matter

Go to Conversions > Conversion goals > Create, choose Business website, a goal category and a goal type, and give it a name (Microsoft notes a goal name can't be reused later). Then:

• Revenue: the same value for each conversion, a value that varies (sent by your tag, with a default if none arrives), or none.
• Count: All (every conversion after a click, common for sales) or Unique (one per click, common for leads).
• Conversion window: up to 90 days after a click, plus a separate view-through window for people who saw but didn't click the ad.
• Include in "Conversions": ticked goals count in the Conversions column and in automated bidding; unticked goals show only in "All conversions". Leave micro-goals such as page depth unticked.
• Scope: one account or all accounts under a manager.

Finally pick the UET tag for the goal. When you create a goal, Microsoft turns on auto-tagging of the Microsoft Click ID: your landing pages receive an msclkid parameter, which UET needs, so make sure redirects keep it.

Simplified (automatic) goals

Microsoft's simplified conversion goal setup detects events on your site, such as button clicks, purchases, checkouts and subscriptions, and suggests which to track, which Microsoft says "eliminates the need for selecting events manually". You enter the site URL, tick the goals you want, and the UET tag is upgraded to collect the extra activity. Some limits from the help page:

• It doesn't support variable revenue; that needs a manual goal.
• It doesn't cover app or offline goals.
• Auto-created goals can't have their type or details edited.
• It works only for sites in supported languages, and isn't available to every account yet.

The API reference adds that only event goals can be created automatically, and that all UET tags in the account must be upgraded to use simplified setup.

Custom events and variable revenue

Event goals need code. After the base tag, your page calls window.uetq.push('event', 'action', {...}) when the action happens, for example from a button's click handler, with values matching what you entered in the goal (custom events). To send the order value, add revenue_value and currency to the push on the confirmation page (variable revenue). For a destination URL goal the event action stays empty, as in 'event', ''. Values must come from the real order, not a fixed number. In GTM, the same values come from data layer variables.

Enhanced conversions and consent

In the GTM template, the base tag has an optional Send enhanced conversion values checkbox. Microsoft's page says "Entering at least an email address or phone number is mandatory" once you tick it, so the tag sends customer details such as the email address with the conversion. Each conversion goal also has an enhanced conversions setting. Google's version of the feature is in our enhanced conversions guide.

For visitors from the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, Microsoft asks for Consent Mode or the TCF on every UET tag "to avoid any negative impact on conversion attribution and remarketing segments". The settings, the default and the basic versus advanced setup are in the consent section of our Microsoft Advertising guide.

When conversions don't record

Microsoft's troubleshooter starts with two checks: has it been 24 hours since you set up the tag or goal, and what does the goal's tracking status say?

• Unverified or Tag inactive: the tag isn't on every page, isn't installed correctly, or is the wrong tag. Open the conversion page with the Tag Helper; a green badge with a different tag ID means the goal and the site use different tags.
• No recent conversions: check the goal's scope (the right account), the conversion window, that the goal isn't paused, and that you had enough clicks within the window to expect a conversion.

Also check for a duplicate tag (hard-coded and in GTM), a URL rule that doesn't match the real thank-you page, and redirects that drop msclkid.

How we set it up

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

• One UET tag per site, installed through the GTM template with consent mode, and no hard-coded copy.
• A destination URL goal on the real thank-you page for leads (Count: Unique) and an event goal with variable revenue for purchases (Count: All), both included in Conversions; scroll depth or time on site only as unticked secondary goals.
• We test every goal with the UET Tag Helper before switching a campaign to automated bidding.
• After a Google Ads import, we check that the imported campaigns point at goals that actually record, because the import doesn't bring the tag.

If you want help with Microsoft Advertising tracking, see our services.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I find my UET tag?

In Microsoft Advertising, under Conversions, select UET tag. The table lists each tag with its ID and status, and View tag shows the tracking code to copy, download or email.

How long does it take for a UET tag to be verified?

Microsoft says verification can take up to 24 hours. Until data arrives, the status shows Unverified.

Do I need a separate UET tag for each conversion goal?

No. One tag on every page of the site can serve many conversion goals and audiences; each goal is linked to the tag when you create it.

What is the difference between Conversions and All conversions?

Goals with Include in "Conversions" ticked count in the Conversions column and in automated bidding. All conversions includes every goal, ticked or not.

Does importing from Google Ads bring my conversion tracking?

Conversion goals are imported only in accounts with that pilot feature, and never the tag on your site. You still need a UET tag on your pages and conversion goals in Microsoft Advertising; see our Google Ads import guide.

For more on Microsoft Advertising, see our guides to Microsoft Ads bid strategies and Performance Max, and to the Pinterest tag.