Connect your Microsoft Advertising account to ILLIXIS for retargeting across Bing, MSN, Outlook, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and other Microsoft partner properties. ILLIXIS creates Remarketing Lists using the Bing Ads Campaign Management API v13, translates your audience filter rules into PageVisitorsRule targeting, and manages OAuth tokens with automatic refresh. Microsoft Ads reaches a higher-income, older demographic than Google Ads at 30-50% lower cost-per-click, with no minimum spend requirement.
Location: Settings > Integrations > Microsoft Ads (connection) and Advertising > Audiences (sync + performance)
The Microsoft Ads integration pushes your ILLIXIS retargeting audiences to Microsoft Advertising as Remarketing Lists. Each audience becomes a rule-based list that targets website visitors matching your filter criteria -- pages they visited, URL keywords they triggered, or general site visits. These lists can then be used in Search, Shopping, and Audience campaigns across the entire Microsoft Advertising network.
Unlike the Meta or Snapchat integrations (which upload hashed email lists), Microsoft Ads audiences are built from website visitor behavior tracked by a UET Tag (Universal Event Tracking). ILLIXIS translates your audience filter rules into Microsoft's StringRuleItem format and creates PageVisitorsRule-based Remarketing Lists via the Bing Ads SDK. This means your audiences grow automatically as new visitors match the rules -- no manual list uploads required.
Microsoft Advertising is the second-largest search ad platform after Google, reaching approximately 12% of US search traffic through Bing and its partner network. The platform offers several advantages for smaller advertisers: no minimum spend, lower competition (which translates to lower CPCs), and access to LinkedIn profile data for professional targeting overlays. For brands already running Google Ads, Microsoft Ads provides incremental reach to an audience that skews older and wealthier.
| Requirement | Description |
|-------------|-------------|
| Microsoft Advertising Account | Sign up at ads.microsoft.com -- free to create |
| Customer ID + Account ID | Retrieved automatically during connection. Customer ID is the parent entity; Account ID is the specific ad account. |
| UET Tag Installed | A Universal Event Tracking tag must be active on your website to track visitors for remarketing |
| Admin or Standard Access | Your Microsoft account must have admin or standard user permissions on the ad account |
| ILLIXIS Audience | At least one retargeting audience defined in Advertising |
| Requirement | Description |
|-------------|-------------|
| Conversion Tracking | Import conversions through UET goals for bid optimization |
| LinkedIn Profile Targeting | Available automatically for accounts with LinkedIn integration enabled in Microsoft Ads |
Your synced audiences can reach users across the full Microsoft Advertising network:
| Property | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| Bing | Microsoft's search engine, approximately 12% of US search market share |
| MSN | News and lifestyle portal with 100M+ monthly users |
| Outlook.com | Webmail with 400M+ active users |
| Yahoo | Search results powered by Bing in the US |
| DuckDuckGo | Privacy-focused search engine (ads served through Bing) |
| AOL | Portal and search |
| Microsoft Edge | New tab page and address bar suggestions |
| Windows Search | Start menu and Cortana search results |
This combined network reaches users that Google Ads does not. Bing users tend to be older (35+), with higher household income, and are more likely to use desktop devices. If your product or service targets professionals, homeowners, or higher-income demographics, Microsoft Ads may outperform Google on a cost-per-conversion basis.
If you are already running Google Ads, Microsoft Ads complements it rather than replacing it. Key differences:
| Factor | Google Ads | Microsoft Ads |
|--------|-----------|--------------|
| Search market share | ~88% US | ~12% US (Bing + partners) |
| Average CPC | Higher (more competition) | 30-50% lower than Google for similar keywords |
| Minimum spend | No minimum, but competitive bids required | No minimum spend -- start with any budget |
| Demographics | Broad, skews younger | Older (35+), higher household income |
| Professional targeting | Not available natively | LinkedIn profile targeting (job title, company, industry) |
| Audience source | GA4 audiences (indirect) | UET Tag (direct website behavior) |
| Competition | High -- millions of advertisers | Lower -- fewer advertisers, better ad positions |
| Import from Google | N/A | Can import Google Ads campaigns directly |
Go to Settings > Integrations. Scroll to the Advertising section and find the Microsoft Ads card. Click Connect.
ILLIXIS redirects you to Microsoft's sign-in page (login.microsoftonline.com). Sign in with the Microsoft account that has access to your Microsoft Advertising account.
Microsoft asks you to grant ILLIXIS the ads.manage scope, which covers read and write access to your Microsoft Advertising campaigns, audiences, and UET tags. The offline_access scope is also requested to enable refresh tokens.
Click Accept to authorize.
After authorization, ILLIXIS redirects you to the account selection page. You will see a list of available Customer/Account pairs retrieved from the Microsoft Ads API:
Select the account you want to connect to this ILLIXIS workspace.
If the automatic account list is empty (this can happen if the Bing Ads SDK is not available in the current environment), you can enter your Customer ID and Account ID manually. Find them in Microsoft Ads under Tools > Accounts Summary.
If you have UET tags configured in your Microsoft Ads account, they appear in a dropdown on the account selection page. Select the UET tag installed on the website you want to track.
The UET tag is required for website-behavior-based remarketing. Without it, you can still create audiences, but they will not populate with visitor data from Microsoft's tracking.
Click Save. ILLIXIS stores the connection with your selected Customer ID, Account ID, and UET Tag ID. You are redirected to the Integrations page with Microsoft Ads showing as connected.
Disconnecting clears your OAuth tokens and marks the connection as inactive. Existing Remarketing Lists in Microsoft Ads remain but stop receiving updates from ILLIXIS.
Microsoft Advertising uses a two-level hierarchy:
```
Customer (parent)
|-- Account A (campaigns, audiences, budgets)
|-- Account B (separate campaigns, audiences, budgets)
```
Most small businesses have one Customer with one Account. Agencies or large companies may have one Customer with multiple Accounts. ILLIXIS connects to a single Account at a time per workspace.
The UET tag is Microsoft's equivalent of the Meta Pixel or Google's Global Site Tag. It is a JavaScript snippet installed on your website that tracks page visits, conversions, and custom events.
Without a UET tag, Microsoft cannot track who visits your website. Remarketing Lists created by ILLIXIS use PageVisitorsRule targeting, which depends on UET data to determine which visitors match the audience rules. No UET tag means the audience remains at zero members.
After installation, UET tracks all page views automatically. Conversion events require additional configuration in Microsoft Ads (setting up Goals based on URL patterns or custom events).
Install the UET Tag Helper browser extension from Microsoft. Visit your website and the extension shows whether the tag is firing correctly.
When you sync an audience to Microsoft Ads, ILLIXIS:
The Remarketing List is rule-based -- Microsoft automatically adds and removes visitors as they match or fall outside the membership window. You do not need to upload user lists manually.
ILLIXIS audience rules are translated to Microsoft format:
| ILLIXIS Rule | Microsoft Format | Logic |
|-------------|-----------------|-------|
| page_path_keywords: ['seo', 'content'] | Two StringRuleItems with Operator: Contains | OR between keywords |
| page_path_contains: '/blog/marketing' | Single StringRuleItem with Operator: Contains | Exact substring match |
| page_path_regex: '.*pricing.*' | Simplified to Contains: pricing | Regex not supported natively; reduced to contains |
| No rules specified | All site visitors | Default audience |
Rule items are grouped into RuleItemGroups (AND between groups, OR within groups). For most ILLIXIS audiences, a single group with OR logic across keywords is used.
From the Audience Dashboard:
From the Audience Detail Page:
| Status | Meaning |
|--------|---------|
| Not Synced | Audience has not been pushed to Microsoft Ads |
| Syncing | Sync in progress (background task running) |
| Synced | Remarketing List created and active in Microsoft Ads |
| Error | Sync failed -- check error message and retry |
| Field | Value |
|-------|-------|
| Remarketing List Name | "[ILLIXIS] Your Audience Name" (max 128 characters) |
| Description | Your audience description (max 1,024 characters) |
| Scope | Account-level |
| Membership Duration | 1-180 days (default 30, configurable per audience) |
| Rule Type | PageVisitorsRule based on URL matching |
| UET Tag | Linked to your selected UET tag |
If you re-sync an audience that already has a Microsoft Audience ID stored, ILLIXIS first checks whether the Remarketing List still exists in Microsoft Ads. If it does, ILLIXIS updates the estimated size from Microsoft's data. If the list was deleted in Microsoft Ads, ILLIXIS creates a new one.
The service also supports updating the name, description, and membership duration of existing Remarketing Lists.
After syncing audiences, you create campaigns in Microsoft Ads targeting those Remarketing Lists. ILLIXIS handles audience creation; campaign setup is done in the Microsoft Ads interface.
Target your remarketing audiences with text ads on Bing search results. When a past visitor searches for terms related to your business, your ad appears with a higher bid adjustment.
Best for: Capturing high-intent return visitors who are actively searching.
Setup:
If you have a product feed in Microsoft Merchant Center, target your remarketing audiences with Shopping ads. Product listing ads appear on Bing search results with images, prices, and store names.
Best for: E-commerce retargeting to visitors who viewed product pages.
Microsoft's Audience Network serves native ads across MSN, Outlook, and partner sites. Target your remarketing lists with image and feed-based ads in editorial placements.
Best for: Brand awareness and re-engagement across Microsoft properties.
| Format | Where It Shows | Spec |
|--------|---------------|------|
| Expanded Text Ads | Bing Search results | 3 headlines (30 chars each), 2 descriptions (90 chars each) |
| Responsive Search Ads | Bing Search results | Up to 15 headlines + 4 descriptions; Microsoft optimizes combinations |
| Product Ads (Shopping) | Bing Search results | Auto-generated from Merchant Center feed |
| Audience Ads (Native) | MSN, Outlook, partner sites | Image + headline + description; native editorial placements |
| Targeting Type | Description |
|----------------|-------------|
| Remarketing Lists | Your ILLIXIS audiences synced as PageVisitorsRule-based lists |
| In-Market Audiences | Microsoft's pre-built audiences of users actively researching specific categories |
| LinkedIn Profile Targeting | Target by company, industry, or job function (unique to Microsoft Ads) |
| Custom Audiences | Customer match lists uploaded directly to Microsoft Ads |
| Similar Audiences | Lookalikes built by Microsoft from your Remarketing Lists |
| Demographics | Age, gender, household income, location |
This is Microsoft Ads' most distinctive feature. Because Microsoft owns LinkedIn, you can layer LinkedIn professional data onto any campaign:
LinkedIn targeting is available as a bid modifier or exclusion on any Search or Audience campaign. This makes Microsoft Ads uniquely effective for B2B marketing -- no other search platform offers professional targeting at the keyword level.
Microsoft Advertising uses OAuth 2.0 with Azure AD v2.0 endpoints.
| Token Type | Validity | Behavior |
|------------|----------|----------|
| Access token | ~1 hour | Used for all API calls. Refreshed automatically. |
| Refresh token | ~90 days | Stored securely. Used to obtain new access tokens. |
ILLIXIS checks token validity before every API call using a 5-minute buffer:
| Scenario | What Happens |
|----------|--------------|
| Token valid (> 5 min remaining) | Request proceeds normally |
| Token expired or about to expire | ILLIXIS sends refresh token to Microsoft's token endpoint, receives new access + refresh tokens, updates stored credentials, retries the request |
| Refresh token fails | Connection marked as unauthorized; reconnection required |
| AuthenticationTokenExpired error | Same as expired -- triggers refresh and retry |
login.microsoftonline.com/common/oauth2/v2.0/tokenThis happens transparently. You do not need to manually refresh tokens.
Reconnection is needed if:
To reconnect:
| Process | Schedule | Description |
|---------|----------|-------------|
| Token Refresh | Automatic on expiry | Access tokens refresh transparently before each API call |
| Audience Sync | On-demand | Click "Sync to Microsoft" from audience detail or dashboard |
| Audience Verification | On re-sync | Checks if existing Remarketing List still exists before creating a duplicate |
| Size Updates | With each sync | Estimated audience size (search size and audience network size) updated on verification |
Cause: No active, authorized MicrosoftAdsConnection exists for your workspace.
Fix:
Cause: The refresh token is no longer valid. This happens after ~90 days of inactivity, a password change, or if you revoked ILLIXIS access from your Microsoft account.
Fix:
Cause: The connection was created but the account selection step was not completed. The Customer ID or Account ID is still set to "pending."
Fix:
Cause: The selected account may have been removed from your Microsoft Advertising profile, or the IDs were entered incorrectly during manual entry.
Fix:
Cause: New Remarketing Lists take 24-48 hours to populate with visitor data. The list only grows as visitors matching the rules are tracked by your UET tag.
Fix:
Cause: Transient API failure or network timeout during the background sync task.
Fix:
Q: Is there a minimum ad spend for Microsoft Ads?
No. Microsoft Ads has no minimum spend requirement, making it accessible for small businesses and budget testing. You can start with as little as $1/day. This is a significant difference from platforms like Snapchat ($5/day minimum) or LinkedIn ($10/day minimum).
Q: How does the lower CPC compare to Google Ads?
On average, Microsoft Ads CPCs are 30-50% lower than Google Ads for equivalent keywords. The exact savings depend on your industry and competition level. Lower competition on Bing means less bidding pressure, especially in B2B verticals where Microsoft's LinkedIn targeting adds unique value.
Q: Can I import my Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Ads?
Yes. Microsoft Ads has a built-in "Import from Google Ads" feature in the Microsoft Ads interface. This copies your campaign structure, keywords, and ads. After import, you can layer your ILLIXIS Remarketing Lists as audience targeting on top of the imported campaigns.
Q: What is the minimum audience size for campaigns?
Microsoft Ads recommends at least 300 users in a Remarketing List before using it for targeting. Lists with fewer users may not deliver consistently. ILLIXIS displays the estimated size from Microsoft (both Search network size and Audience network size) on the audience detail page.
Q: Do I need a UET tag for every audience?
You need one UET tag per website. All Remarketing Lists for that website share the same UET tag. If you track multiple websites, each needs its own UET tag. Select the appropriate tag during ILLIXIS connection setup.
Q: How does LinkedIn targeting work with my ILLIXIS audiences?
LinkedIn targeting is applied as a layer on top of your remarketing audience in Microsoft Ads. For example, you could target visitors who read your pricing page (ILLIXIS audience) AND who work in the Financial Services industry (LinkedIn targeting). This combination is set up in Microsoft Ads when creating the campaign -- ILLIXIS handles the audience, Microsoft Ads handles the LinkedIn overlay.
Q: What happens to my Remarketing Lists if I disconnect Microsoft Ads from ILLIXIS?
Existing Remarketing Lists remain in your Microsoft Ads account and continue to collect visitors via UET. They stop receiving rule updates from ILLIXIS, but active rules continue working. You can still use them in campaigns.
Q: Does ILLIXIS create campaigns in Microsoft Ads automatically?
ILLIXIS creates and manages Remarketing Lists (audiences). Campaign creation, ad copy, budgets, and bid strategies are configured in the Microsoft Ads interface at ads.microsoft.com. The integration focuses on getting your audience targeting into Microsoft Ads, not automating campaign management.
Q: How does this compare to the Google Ads integration?
The Google Ads integration routes audiences through GA4, creates campaigns directly, and pulls back performance metrics. The Microsoft Ads integration creates Remarketing Lists directly (no GA4 intermediary) but does not create campaigns programmatically. Both integrations use OAuth 2.0 with automatic token refresh.
What This Does
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