Learning Lab Live:

Conversion Tracking
Step-by-step guide to
efficient and accurate
conversion tracking
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CONTENTS

Agenda At a glance

Mastering tracking tags: Set up

Why UET

Setting up your UET tag

Validate your clients UET tag setup

Consent mode and transparency consent framework

Business strategy with purpose-driven goals

Conversion goals

Automated bid strategies

Achieving success: optimization

Case Studies and best practices

5
AT A GLANCE

Setting you up
for success
Better Save time and Better
Unlock the potential of your search ads with our tracking maximize ad spend ROI
tracking and optimization solutions. We want to
ensure you are set up with precise tracking tags
to capture every click and conversion, giving
you unparalleled insights. Leveraging our Universal With Automated bid Make campaign
Event Tracking (UET) tags, strategies giving you control optimizations based
track the impact of your and flexible offerings to on the full impact of
Optimize your campaigns with sophisticated bid campaigns across your optimize campaign your search ads.
strategies resulting in best return of investment, online channels. performance.
capturing both online and offline conversions
for a complete view of your campaigns
performance.

Classified as Microsoft Confidential 6

Mastering Tracking
Tags - Set up

Why UET
Setting up your UET tag
Validate your clients UET tag setup
Consent mode and transparency consent framework

7
MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

Universal Event
Tracking

Universal Event Tracking (UET) is a powerful tool

that records what customers do on your
website after they click on your ad.

By creating one UET tag and placing it across

your website, Microsoft Advertising will collect
data so you can track conversion goals and
target audiences with remarketing lists.

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

Why UET is critical for advertisers

on Microsoft

Make the most of your More data fidelity Less work for you
Microsoft Advertising and signals in the future
investments with UET
and all the benefits it Providing as many intelligent For privacy landscape, and
enables for your signals as possible allows you with any of Microsoft’s
to get the best and most upcoming solutions,
business. informed picture of your Microsoft will ensure that
advertising, empowering you UET evolves accordingly to
to make the right decisions easily set you up for the
for your business. future.

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

The full menu of Conversion tracking Automated bidding Audience targeting

benefits unlocked
Online goals Maximize Conversions Remarketing
Opportunities Target CPA Dynamic Remarketing

with UET
E-commerce and Enhanced CPC Similar Audiences
engagement goals Target ROAS Custom
Hotel Ads Combination Lists
conversion tracking Smart Remarketing

Campaign performance Cookieproof for the future

Ad performance MSCLKID for conversion

Broad matching tracking
Integrated with Privacy
Search partner network
Sandbox for targeting
Smart pricing
New analytics
and targeting

*We recommend sitewide tagging of JavaScript UET. No iFrames.

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 MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

When setting up your

UET tag
1 2
These actions can help you Use JavaScript Use sitewide
track conversions more UET tag. tagging.
accurately, improve your ad
performance and prepare
Providing as many intelligent Add the UET tag to all your
your website for important
signals as possible allows you webpages and domains,
new ad features. to get the best and most especially the pages where
informed picture of your conversion actions are
advertising, empowering you to happening (e.g. purchase
make the right decisions for confirmation page load)
your business.

*We recommend sitewide tagging of JavaScript UET. No iFrames.

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

Everything you Create a UET tag Add the tag to your website

need to know Create a UET tag in

Microsoft Advertising
Add the tracking code to
every page of your website
about setting platform

up UET

Verify your tag is working and Modify your tag to enable

troubleshoot issues additional features

Ensure your UET tag is working Unlock additional features

properly on any given webpage that brings value to your
with our UET tag helper or our UET business (such as custom
dashboard on Microsoft events)
Advertising Platform

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

Create a UET tag Create a UET tag in Microsoft Advertising, then add the UET tag
tracking to every page of your website. Learn more from on our
UET tag guide.

1 From the navigation menu on the left, hover

over Conversions and select UET tag.

2 Select Create UET tag and then

enter a name.
• Optional: Enter a description that helps you identify the
UET tag in the future. This could relate to the purpose the
tag will serve or to the name or URL of your website.
• Optional: Clear the Enable Microsoft Clarity checkbox.
Learn more about UET and Clarity integration.

3 Select Save.

4 In the View UET tag tracking code box, select

either Copy, Download, or Email, and then close
the View UET tag tracking code box.

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

Add the tag to Three ways you can add the UET tag tracking code to your website, either
directly or through a tag manager or via a website platform
your website

Add UET code to your Add UET using a Add UET using website
website directly tag manager platform

Paste the UET tag tracking code on UET works with all major tag management UET is designed to work with all major
every page of your website, either: systems: website platforms:
▪ before the closing head tag: • Google Tag Manager • BigCommerce
"</head>") • Qubit Opentag • Shopify
▪ or body section (before the closing • Tealium
• Ensighten • [Link]
body tag: "</body>"
• Signal • Wix
• Adobe Dynamic Tag Manager
• Adobe Experience Platform

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

Modify your tag to enable The instructions below assume that you have already
created a UET tag and added it to your website.
additional features
Custom events Custom e-commerce events Variable revenue
Example: “download now” button on one of your Example: “add to cart” capturing total sales price You can custom specific revenue value to each of
webpages or revenue your conversion goal to track your return on
investment

Dynamic remarketing Multiple features Enhanced conversions

Example; retarget a user with the exact same Combine multiple features that brings value to Supplement existing conversion tracking by using
Surface laptop they were viewing earlier on your business (additional steps to combine) first-party data.
more info

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

Verify your tag is working UET Tag Helper is a browser extension used to
validate that both the Microsoft Advertising UET
and troubleshoot issues tag and the conversion goals are working properly
on any given webpage.

Set up UET Tag Helper Validate UET tags UET Dashboard

• Download the UET Tag Helper in • In Edge, go to a webpage that you want UET Dashboard, available for each of
Edge. to check, and then select the UET Tag your tags, enables you to test your tag,
• Select Get, and then Add extension. Helper icon. access an Overview of the UET tag,
By installing the UET Tag Helper, you • In UET Tag Helper, flip the toggle On, and UET Insights. It gives you deeper
agree to the Microsoft Service and then refresh the browser page. insights into your website visitors and
Agreement and Microsoft Privacy their actions. From the navigation menu
• Review the UET Tag Helper icon status.
Statement. on the left:
The color of the badge shows the
• Once installed, you will see the UET status, and the number in the badge • From Conversions choose UET tag.
Tag Helper icon in Edge. shows how many times there was a UET • Select the Test tab.
tag request from the webpage. • Enter the URL for your website.

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

Validate UET Tag Setup

Scenario:
A new UET implementation / Tag status shows as
“Unverified” in the UI.

1. Install UET Tag Helper and utilize the UET Dashboard.

2. For destination URL goals, on conversion page, look that “P”
parameter matches with what is defined in the conversion goal.
3. If it is a Custom Event, on conversion page, verify that
Action, Category, Label, and Value are the same in UET Tag Helper as it
is in the MSA UI and UET Instance/Page ID (mid) parameter in tag
helper is same as of page load event.
4. Verify that the Tag ID is the same.

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

Validate UET Tag Setup 1

Scenario:

Validating Custom Events using UET Tag Helper Browser Extension

1. Check event parameters required for the goal. Navigate to

Conversions >Conversion Goals >Select Conversion Goal
>Next>Next>Save and Next >Select Yes in radio buttons >Save and
Next >Manual Installation > Next.
2. If custom event is setup as soon as a page is loaded, then UET Tag helper
will detect it. If custom event is setup for a button click, clicking the
button will make UET tag helper detect the custom event. If custom
event is not detected, setup is incorrect.
3. Check event parameters like EventAction, Event Category etc are
received and match against the conversion goal settings from step 2.
Revenue value and currency will also reflect in custom events if
implemented.

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

UET Dashboard
Help Documentation : UET Dashboard

1. Check event parameters 2. In the grid, you can see all the events 3. To test your tag, select "Test your
required for the goal. Navigate received by that UET tag. Events columns tag" tab. Then provide the website URL
to Conversions >UET Tag >All equals to event_action for custom events or you have implemented tag on and hit
Tags > Select UET Tag. page load for base tag firing. "Open website URL" button

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

UET Microsoft Advertising requires advertisers using our Universal

Event Tag (UET) to provide user consent signals where data privacy
UET and User laws require consent as a lawful basis for processing personal data
and/or for activating the UET tag. Advertisers can do this by
Consent implementing on their websites either:
• Consent Mode for UET
or
• the IAB's Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF)

This ensures that Microsoft Advertising will only collect and process end users'
data through UET in line with their wishes, i.e., when they have given their
consent. This also ensures compliance with the applicable terms of service,
regulations and industry best practices.

If you implement Consent Mode for UET or the TCF, you will maintain accurate
conversion tracking, retargeting, and other essential campaign features.

Note: If you are using the UET - Clarity integration, you must set the consent
setting for Clarity separately. Learn more about Clarity cookie consent.

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

How consent Consent Mode is set via a property in UET called ad_storage.
The possible values for ad_storage are:
mode works

If ad_storage = ‘granted’ If ad_storage = 'denied’

• Cookies pertaining to advertising may be read • Write or read 1st party cookies (advertiser domain) — no ads cookies are written
and written in the 1st party (advertiser domain) or read by UET when the user is on that advertiser website.
or 3rd party context ([Link]).
• Write 3rd party cookies ([Link] domain) — no ads cookies are written by UET
when the user is on that advertiser website.
• Read 3rd party cookies ([Link] domain) — Microsoft 3rd party cookies are not
read for advertising purposes; Microsoft 3rd party cookies are read for fraud and
spam purposes, only.

More details on Setting up UET for Consent Mode and if you are using Google
Tag Manager refer to consent mode with Google Tag Manager

Note: ad_storage will be denied by default in European Economic

Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK) and Switzerland (CH)

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MASTERING TRACKING TAGS - SET UP

Transparency and The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has finalized v2.0 of
its Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF). Microsoft
Consent Framework integrates with IAB TCF v2.0 so that you may pass consent
signals directly or via a consent management platform (CMP)
(TCF) for UET to Microsoft Advertising.

How it works

Microsoft Advertising can read Consent management platforms (CMPs) Your associated UET tags
and interpret the TCF v2.0 that create TCF v2.0 strings based on user adjust their behavior based
transparency and consent (TC) choices can send consent signals to on the contents of the TC
string for UET tags. Microsoft Advertising. string.

More details with set up and code TCF and FAQ

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Power Your Business Strategy
With Purpose-driven Goals

Conversion goals
Offline conversion
API conversion
Automated bid strategies
Case study and best practices

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Goal categories for organizing your

conversion goal objectives
Conversion type Sales categories Leads categories Other categories
Use goal categories to
Website Purchase Submit lead form Contact segment your goals and
Add to cart Book appointment Page view their performance metrics
in a way that is
Being checkout Sign-up Other meaningful to your
Subscribe Request quote business. Goal categories
don't affect
Get directions performance—they are
Outbound click here to help keep your
conversion goals
Mobile app install Download organized
Offline Purchase Submit lead form Contact
Add to cart Book appointment Page view
Begin checkout Sign-up Store visit
Subscribe Request quote Other
Get directions
Outbound click

More information can be found on our help page

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Conversion goals and Conversion goals allow you to specify

which actions to count as conversions,
goal types as recorded by UET

Goal type Conversion goal Example

UET tag on your website
Confirmation page after purchase, Thank you page after can track multiple types of
Website Destination URL: Count user visits to specific webpages as conversions.
lead generation conversions. Once the UET
tag tracking code is added
Event: Count every time someone completes a specific action--such as
to your website, Microsoft
signing up for a newsletter or downloading a document--as a conversion.
Advertising can log page
Duration: Count every time someone stays on a website for longer than a 10 minutes or longer spent on a blog or playing a game on the visits and any custom
certain amount of time as a conversion. webpage. events (such as document
Pages viewed per visit: Count every time someone visits more than a downloads, signups for a
5 pages viewed on a support site or product catalog. newsletter, etc.).
specified number of pages on your website as a conversion.
Product: Count every time a product is purchased via an ad click. An ad click leads to an online purchase of a specific product.
Mobile app Mobile app install: Count every time someone installs your app as a
Installation of your app on Android devices.
install conversion. To learn more, see Track mobile app installs as conversions.
Offline conversion: Track when your ad leads to a conversion outside of
Offline A search ad leads to an over-the-phone purchase.
your website. To learn more, see Tracking offline conversions.
Store visits: Count every time a user visits a store as a conversion. A search ad leads to a store visit.
In-store transactions: Count every time a transaction occurs in your store. A search ad leads to an in-store purchase.

More information can be found on our help page

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Creating a conversion To track actions people, take on your website

after they click on your ad
goal
• From the navigation menu on the left, hover over Conversions and select Conversion goals.
• Select Create.
• Choose the type of conversion you want to track: Website, Mobile app install, or Offline.
• Select Next.
• Choose a goal category from the dropdown menu and then choose a goal type.
• Enter a name for your goal in the Goal name box. When naming your goal, use a descriptive name that makes sense to you. (For example, "Checkout page".)
Please note that after you choose a name for your conversion goal, the same name may not be used again in the future.
• Fill in the appropriate values for your selected goal type.
• If you want to add a monetary value for each conversion, select one of the following from the Revenue, dropdown menu:
• Each conversion action has the same value, and then enter the amount and select the currency (if available). This is a static revenue value that doesn't change.
• Conversion action value may vary (for instance, by purchase price), and then enter the default amount and select the default currency (if available) to be used when
no value is received for a conversion. The revenue value will change based on the customization you make to the UET tag tracking code that you add to your website.
To learn more, see How to report variable revenue with UET. This option is only available for destination URL and event conversion goals.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Creating a conversion To track actions people, take on your website

after they click on your ad
goal (cont.)
• Fine-tune your conversion goal with Advanced settings:
• Set the Scope of this goal to all accounts or a specific account.
• Change how you Count your conversions. Learn more.
• Enter a Conversion window to track up to 90 days in the past.
• Set a View-through conversion window to track conversions that occur in this period of time after a customer views
(but doesn't click) your ad. Learn more about view-through conversions.
• Check or clear the Include in "Conversions" checkbox depending on whether or not you want to track all conversions.
Learn more about "Conversions" versus "All conversions".
• Select Next.
• Select the UET tag that you want to associate with this conversion goal (not applicable to offline conversions).
• Choose an answer for Do you have this UET tag installed on your website?
• Select Save and next.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Why am I not recording conversions

or tracked revenue?
Follow this troubleshooter:

Has it been more than 24 hours since you set up What is your conversion goal's tracking status?
this UET tag or this conversion goal? From the navigation menu on the left, hover over Conversions and select Conversion goals.
It can take up to 24 hours for Microsoft Advertising to receive and check the Tracking status column for this conversion goal.
data from a new UET tag or conversion goal. Wait until 24 • Tracking status is "Unverified" or "Tag inactive": Follow the steps in next section of this article.
hours have passed and check again. • Tracking status is "No recent conversions": Follow the steps in this section of the article.

Have you added the UET tag to your website's code?

No Your UET tag must be inserted into the code of each page of your website for conversion tracking to work.
For instructions, refer to the "Add the tag to your website" section of this article.
Yes There are three likely scenarios:
You didn't add the UET tag to every page of your website.
You didn't add the UET tag correctly.
You added the wrong UET tag.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

With simplified setup of conversion goals, you can select events

of interest, automatically detect those events on your website,
and suggest which ones to track as conversions.

This eliminates the need for selecting events manually and

simplifies your workflow since you will not need to use code
for any configuration. Button clicks, page visits, purchases,
checkouts, and subscriptions can all be detected.

To use simplified setup of conversion goals, you only need to

set up a UET tag on your website, and review and accept the
automatically detected events that you'd like to track as
conversions.

Learn more about setting up a UET tag.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Getting started with offline Better tracking.

conversion import
You can track the impact of your campaigns
for both online and offline channels.

Import offline conversions to better measure

what happens after your ad was clicked Easy importing.
All you need are the time, date, Microsoft
Click ID, and conversion goal name to get
started.

Better ROI.
You can optimize your campaigns based on
the full online and offline impact of your
search ads.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Getting started– create

a new offline goal
Assign a category to your conversion goal as
a means of segmenting conversion goals
and their performance metrics.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Getting started– Select your revenue value, conversion counting and

conversion window.
create a new offline goal Offline conversion goals can be set up on any single
account level or ‘across all accounts’.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Add offline Import and schedule your offline conversions anytime

by going to the offline conversions page.
conversions later

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Use the Excel import template

GMT offset

Microsoft Click ID Conversion Name Conversion Time Conversion Value Conversion Currency

Same as the The date and (Optional) Non-negative, (Optional) The currency
The msclkid
conversion goal time that the 0 to 999999999999 with in which the conversion
led to the conversion
(case insensitive) conversion occurred 3 decimal fields value is provided

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Getting started– TimeZone information is required and can

be entered in two places:
use the Excel import template
01 Enter GMT offset in the TimeZone file which
applies to all conversions in the file.

Format Examples (Time zone values from this list) 02 Add a TimeZone to the conversion
time (GMT or TimeZone ID).
MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss aa "08/14/2012 [Link] PM"
If TimeZone exists in both places,
MMM dd,yyyy hh:mm:ss aa "Aug 14, 2012 [Link] PM" conversion time will be used.
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss "08/14/2012 [Link]"

yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss "2012-08-14 [Link]"

yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss "2012-08-14T[Link]"
Only support conversions occurred
yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss+z "2012-08-14 [Link]+0500"
within the past 90 days.
yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss+z "2012-08-14T[Link]-0100"

yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss zzzz "2012-08-14 [Link] EasternTimeUSCanada" File limitations - Max 100K rows per
upload and less than 200MB file size.
yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss zzzz "2012-08-14T[Link] EasternTimeUSCanada"

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Review status and Review the status of the upload and

apply changes.
apply changes

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Resolve any Review any import errors in Excel.

The download links will be available for 180 days after
upload errors initial upload.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Update and delete offline Download the Excel and CSV templates for
updating and deleting offline conversions, then
conversions schedule the upload at a frequency.

You can also delete or edit the value of an already

recorded conversion with the Restate or Retract feature.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Enhanced conversions for For offline conversions, you can upload or import
conversion data into Microsoft using first-party
offline conversions customer data from your website lead forms. If the
data that’s uploaded via offline conversions isn’t
hashed, we’ll detect that it has not been hashed
and send an error.

HOW IT WORKS

01 02 03 04
User clicks on your ad User browses your site User fills in a form on your site When a lead converts, you upload
and arrives on your site. and reads about your and becomes a lead. Your the hashed lead information.
product/service. website sends Microsoft hashed Microsoft matches the hashed
lead information (e.g. email) information back to the ad that
that you specify. drove the lead.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Setting up an offline You can either create a new enhanced

conversion goal or update an existing
enhanced conversion goal conversion goal to be enhanced.

1 Create a conversion goal. Tools -> 6 To upload the offline

Conversion goals -> + Create conversions, download the import
template from Tools -> Offline
Conversions -> Uploads, and fill
2 Select 'Offline' as the kind of
the data according to the
conversions you'd like to track.
instructions on the template.
a) Follow the required hashing rules
3 Select the goal category and goal for the email address/ phone
type according to your preferences. number and add the hashed
versions of the data into the last
Set your goal settings according two columns of the template.
4 Learn more.
to your preferences .
b) Upload the filled file to the
Uploads page to track
5 Select 'Turn on enhanced conversions' and conversions.
select the associated privacy checkbox,
select 'Next' and you've completed
creating the conversion goal.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Offline Conversions
via API instead of UI
• Support C#, Java, PHP and Python Conversion API
• SDKs are available for all supported languages
• Require development effort from customer side
Designed to collect server-to-server (s2s) conversions
from various data sources, including web, app, offline
conversions and in-store purchases.

Timeline: pilot to begin May 2025

Requires preapproval process

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Automated bidding designed

to meet your goals

Maintain Flexible Real-Time and Exclusively Focused

Control Offerings Data Driven on Your Success

You set your budget, Select different goals for Advanced technologies, All decisions and
select the bid strategy, different campaigns – whether always improving. optimizations help you
and set targets. you want to hit an impression achieve your advertising
share, cost per acquisition Optimized to the user at goals and performance
(CPA), return on ad spend the auction level. targets.
(ROAS) target, or volume of
clicks or conversions.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH
PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Key auction Location Device

signals
for automated Bid modifiers Language

bidding
Search query Time of day

Operating system Ad copy

Web browser Day of week

*Universal Event Tracking (UET) conversion tracking data signals are

also considered in Automated bidding optimizations, if available. If
not available, auction-time signals depicted here are used to
determine conversion likelihood.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Automated Bidding
strategy choices
Enhance CPC (default) Maximize Clicks Target Impression Share
Automatically increases or Helps you get as many clicks Control ad placement and
decreases your bid based on as possible. impression share.
the predicted clicks and
conversions

Target CPA Target ROAS Maximize Conversions Maximize Conversion Value

Helps you get as many Helps you gain as much Helps you get as many Maximize the total
conversions as possible for conversion value/revenue as conversions as possible. conversion value within your
the given CPA target. possible for given ROAS budget or ROAS target.
target.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Recommended if using manual,

Selecting the optimal automated

in-house/technology provider bidding

Eligible with Portfolio Bid Strategies

bid strategy Eligible with Seasonality Adjustments

Conversion
data

Universal Event Tracking (UET) Tag

Yes and/or offline conversions No

Conversion
Conversion Enhanced Enhanced Target
value (Revenue Maximize Clicks
goal CPC CPC Impression Share
goal)
Maximize Maximize clicks as Optimizing Maximize
Target Maximize Target Maximize conversions as much as possible performance as impression share
CPA Conversions ROAS conversion value much as possible given the budget much as possible as much as
within your budget within your budget possible given
Maximize Maximize Maximize Maximize the while keeping while keeping the impression
conversions as conversions as conversion value total conversion average CPC below average CPC below share target and
much as possible much as as much as value within stated bids. stated bids. budget.
given the CPA possible given possible given your budget.
target and budget. the budget. the ROAS target
and budget.

Note: for even greater control, you can use maximum cost per click (CPC) for Maximize conversions,
Maximize clicks, Target CPA, or Target ROAS.

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POWER YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH PURPOSE-DRIVEN GOALS

Bidding strategy compatibility details

Bidding type Conversion tracking Campaign compatibility Compatible with third-party or in-house bidding Markets*

Yes, complements
Enhanced CPC (default for Search) Recommended but not required Search, shopping, audience
third-party /in-house bidding

Maximize Clicks Not required Search, shopping

Maximize Conversions Required (UET and/or Offline) Search, audience, PMax

Maximize Conversion Value Required (UET and/or Offline) Search, shopping , PMax No, bids are exclusively managed by Microsoft Global
Advertising

Target CPA Required (UET and/or Offline) Search, audience

Required along with the revenue

Target ROAS Search, shopping
parameter in UET or offline goals

Target Impression Share Recommended but not required Search

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Set a maximum CPC To set a maximum CPC, your campaign must use one of the follow bid
strategy types:

(cost per click) Maximize conversions, Maximize clicks, Target CPA, or Target ROAS. If your
campaign uses one of these bid strategies, follow these steps:

1 From the navigation menu on the left, hover

over Campaigns and select Settings > Settings.

2 In the table, select the name of the campaign

you want to edit.

3 In your campaign settings, under Bid strategy, select the

checkbox next to I want to set a maximum CPC.

4 Set the maximum CPC amount you want to apply.

5 Select Save.

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Pandora Boosted Mother’s Day Sales and ROAS with

Microsoft In-Platform Automated Bidding
The results
“Microsoft in-platform bidding has allowed us to The switch to Microsoft Advertising in-platform Auction
significantly increase both traffic and revenue across Time Bidding delivered remarkable results for the
our core markets for the Mother’s Day period. We Pandora team in key markets worldwide. Compared to
have seen in platform bidding being much more the previous year, the 2024 Mother’s Day period saw
reactive to conversion uplifts and demand in-market, significant increases in shopping revenue, spend, and
which is of great value for us during such a key sales other key metrics in the United States, UK, Canada,
period. We are excited to test more new Microsoft Germany, and more.
products now that we have adopted in platform
bidding, unlocking great potential.”
- Andrea Mancchini
Global Paid Search Specialist Pandora 900%
Increase in shopping
133%
Increase in shopping
revenue YoY spend YoY
(Germany) (USA)

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Duration of learning period and elements contributing

to the learning process
Scenario Learning period Incremental optimization
The learning period is applicable only
to new campaigns or bid strategies A new campaign/ Initial learning period is 1–2 weeks, however higher Not applicable
(initial 1–2 weeks). After this phase, portfolio has been conversions can contribute to a shorter learning period
incremental optimization such as newly created and lower conversion contribute to longer learning period.
or a campaign/
adjustments to bids, targets, Our platform usually needs 1–2 weeks to optimize for your
portfolio has been
or budgets won't initiate a new campaign. Avoid changing budgets or conversion goals
moved to a new
learning period although ongoing during this period, as this may cause the learning period to
bid strategy.
optimization will continue. The degree prolong. We recommend not evaluating the bid strategy's
of learning is influenced by factors performance based on these 2 weeks.
like change magnitude, conversion A campaign/ Not applicable Incremental optimization is 2 weeks + conversion
numbers, and any conversion delays, portfolio has delay, however higher conversions can contribute
added/removed to a shorter learning period and lower conversion
potentially leading
a main conversion contribute to longer learning period.
to a brief adjustment period.
goal.
Let your campaign run for 2–4 weeks and then
start evaluating the bid strategy's performance.
Note: Changes are not recommended during the initial learning Keep conversion delay in mind while evaluating
period after starting a new campaign or bid strategy. performance and refer to our best practices.

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Things to know
01 02 03
Any conversion goal-related change, such as If you don't or can't upload offline Conversion delay is the number of days
changing the goal definition, creating a new conversions daily, we recommend between a click and a conversion. As this can
goal, or making a goal main/non-main, can not using Target CPA. For best results, vary for each click, we loosely define it as the
be considered a tangible change that can upload offline conversions within two number of days it takes for 90% of the
impact auto bidding optimization. days of the conversion. conversions to materialize.

04 05
As auto bidding involves machine learning To optimize well, a portfolio needs at least 30
models, all suggestions shared are general conversions in the last 30 days. This total can
guidance and not hard rules unless specified come from one or multiple campaigns within
otherwise. There are always likely to be the portfolio.
some exceptions based on specific
nuanced scenarios.

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General best practices—all automated bidding

Best Practice Pro Tip
Experiment first Use the Campaign Experiments function to test a bid strategy and compare the performance benefits.
Ramp up slowly Test a few low-risk campaigns at first. Allow at least one-two week for system learning before making any adjustments.

While they can limit the optimization potential when used, these can be used to address fluctuation anomalies (spending spikes or
Determine if Max CPCs are needed or not certain large CPCs, for example). If you decide to use, these should be set much higher than current average CPC and ideally not
changed frequently.

Consider performance grain Targets are set and measured at a campaign/portfolio level, not an ad group/any traffic slice level.
Avoid capping your budgets Hitting your budget caps should be avoided; it is better to use targets to control spend
Analyze the right key performance indicators (KPIs) Focus your performance analysis on the KPIs which are intended to be optimized by the automated bidding strategy you selected.
per strategy For example, do not hone in on ROAS if you are using eCPC.
Focus your performance analyses on 1–2-week Since daily fluctuations are possible, performance should be evaluated based on 1–2-week averages or longer; especially in
intervals vs. daily consideration of conversion delays.
Escalate when needed to Microsoft Advertising Due to data retention policies, Microsoft’s engineering teams will not be able to analyze older periods. The optimal time for
Support sooner than later actionable analysis is 2-4 weeks from the date of your concern.
Assess if and how you want Google Ads bids to be imported. These can be imported one-time or recurring. If you are importing,
Confirm Google Import settings if using
review the bids and targets carefully as your Microsoft Advertising performance can differ.

Learning period refers to the initial learning period when a new strategy is adopted during which time the target may not be met.
Consider learning periods in your evaluation This is 1-2 weeks plus 2 conversion cycles for most campaigns except when conversion volume is very low. If it is taking longer
than that, please escalate to Microsoft Advertising Support.

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Conversion-based Automated
Bidding Best Practices
Best Practice Pro Tip
Validate conversion tracking and Universal Event Check all conversion goal settings to ensure campaigns are tracking correctly before switching to a conversion-based strategy.
Tracking (UET) setup UET tag helper is an easy tool to validate your UET tag is also setup correctly.

Implement UET consent mode Ensure implementation of consent mode in case you are using UET tag

Consider the average delay between clicks and conversions while evaluating the performance. Longer the delay, longer the
Consider conversion delays in your evaluation
window needed to evaluate.

Upload offline conversions daily Uploading your offline conversions daily is best for optimal bidding. This can be done easily via scheduled recurring imports.

Set targets which are informed by recent performance Use your campaigns’ average CPA/ROAS performance over the prior 30-days to set the initial targets.
Focus on maximizing your conversion volume While there is no minimum requirement, campaigns with less than 30 conversions per month are less likely to meet the targets.
When it comes to conversion volume, more is better for bidding.
Avoid switching a strategy to a brand-new Conversion goal changes is a top reason for unexpected spend drops. Ensure that a new conversion goal is created as a non-main
conversion goal goal first and allow it to gather conversion volume before using it for bidding.

Avoid changes during the initial learning period Changes during the initial learning period can prolong the learning period. Avoid making updates unless it is absolutely necessary.

For brand new campaigns or new accounts with no conversion history, it is recommended to accumulate conversion history (See
Collect data for brand new campaigns prior to switch
#6 above) using ECPC prior to switching to TCPA/TROAS.

Consider using Seasonality Adjustments Inform TCPA and TROAS of any expected change to CVR (e.g. due to a promotional event) using Seasonality Adjustment tool.

Changes to conversion goals will impact automated bidding, see more here: Automated bidding and conversion [Link]
Ensure conversion goal stability
([Link])

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Portfolio Bid Strategy Best Practices

Best Practice Pro Tip

Ensure there is ample conversion volume at While there is no minimum requirement, portfolio bid strategies with less than 30 conversions per month are less likely to meet
portfolio level targets. When it comes to conversion volume, more is better for bidding.

Ensure that the shared budget does not

Portfolio campaigns always have a shared budget. If using a separate shared budget for other campaigns, ensure that there is no
include a mix of individual and portfolio
overlap with portfolio campaigns.
campaigns

Evaluate performance at the portfolio level Evaluate your KPIs at the portfolio level as individual campaign performance can vary.

Account for enough budget to cover all

The shared budget should be large enough to cover all the spend that was happening while campaigns had individual budgets.
campaigns

Be aware that campaign level warnings are at The warning surfaced in the Campaigns grid help you indicate campaigns that might not bring much value to the portfolio.
a campaign level, not portfolio level They don’t, however, indicate that full portfolio is not functioning properly.

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Thank You!