What’s Happening With Your Microsoft Advertising’s Search Campaigns?

Presented at Friends of Search in March 2024.

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Microsoft's decision to make Audience Network expansion mandatory for all Search campaigns has caused problems for advertisers across the board. Many are seeing large chunks of their spend going towards the Audience Network with very little returns.

This talk will offer you 3 routes to take to get your Microsoft Advertising performance back on track and handle the Audience Network in a way that works best for you.

Transcript

1. WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH YOUR MICROSOFT ADVERTISING’S SEARCH CAMPAIGNS? SOPHIE LOGAN
2. 10 YEARS AGO I STARTED WORKING IN PPC.
3. 6 YEARS AGO I BROUGHT MY BEST FRIEND HOME.
4. AND 1 YEAR, 1 MONTH AND 18 DAYS AGO, I WAS FLABBERGASTED AT THIS MSFT BLOG POST…
5. “...MICROSOFT ADVERTISING WILL FULLY OPTIMIZE YOUR CAMPAIGNS ACROSS CHANNEL.” MICROSOFT ADVERTISING BLOG - 2ND FEBRUARY 2023
6. REACH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE WITH TEXT, IMAGE OR VIDEO ADS, AS THEY EXPLORE THE INTERNET AND MICROSOFT OWNED PROPERTIES.
7. Image Ad Text Ad Product Ad AUDIENCE ADS EXAMPLES
8. REACH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE WITH TEXT, IMAGE OR VIDEO ADS, AS THEY EXPLORE THE INTERNET AND MICROSOFT OWNER PROPERTIES.
10. COMPARED TO SOMEONE WHO HAD ONLY SEEN A SEARCH AD, SOMEONE WHO HAD SEEN AN AD ON BOTH NETWORKS WAS…
11. 2.6X MORE LIKELY TO VISIT THE BRANDS WEBSITE.
12. 6.6X MORE LIKELY TO GO ON TO CONVERT.
13. SAW 14% HIGHER CONVERSION RATES AT A 21% LOWER CPA.
14. “THE MAJOR TAKEAWAY HERE IS THAT SEARCH AND AUDIENCE SHOULD WORK TOGETHER AND NOT IN SILOES.” MICROSOFT ADVERTISING BLOG - 2ND FEBRUARY 2023
15. HOW HAS THIS IMPACTED US?
17. “...not investing any budget into the platform atm.” “The audience network spend keeps increasing, even though there’s no performance to match it.” “We’ve been shifting clients away from Microsoft as performance has just tanked this year.”
18. B2B SAAS BRAND WERE RUNNING A AUDIENCE CAMPAIGN SINCE NOVEMBER 2022 DATE RANGE: 22/02/23 - 22/10/23
19. 26.81% OF THE ACCOUNTS ENTIRE BUDGET WENT ON TO THE AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION.
20. CTR FOR ADS THROUGH AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION WAS 0.14%, WHILST CTR FOR ADS THROUGH THE AUDIENCE CAMPAIGN WAS 0.49%.
21. CPC FOR AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION WAS $2.49, WHILST CPC FOR THE AUDIENCE CAMPAIGN WAS $0.23.
22. ZERO CONVERSIONS.
23. ALL IS NOT LOST!
24. 1. OPTIMISE YOUR SEARCH CAMPAIGNS FOR AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION 2. OPT OUT OF AUDIENCE EXPANSION (YES THIS CAN ACTUALLY BE DONE) 3. OPT OUT OF AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION AND RUN AUDIENCE CAMPAIGNS
25. 1. OPTIMISE YOUR SEARCH CAMPAIGNS FOR AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION
26. IDEAL FOR: THOSE HAPPY WITH AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION BUT WANT TO HELP THIS EXPANSION BE MORE EFFECTIVE
27. FEED THE MACHINE WITH THE INFORMATION IT NEEDS TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS & OPTIMISE ADS SO THAT THEY CAN PERFORM BETTER IN SEARCH RESULTS AND AUDIENCE ADS ACROSS THE INTERNET
28. ADD IMAGE EXTENSIONS: - Great for Search results - Adds a visual element for when your Search ads are turned into Audience Ads
29. ADD IMAGE EXTENSIONS
30. ADD IMAGE EXTENSIONS
31. DOUBLE CHECK CONVERSION TRACKING - Time for an audit! - Make sure the system knows what it is that you want it to achieve
32. USE AN AUTOMATED BID STRATEGY - Review your existing settings - Educate the platform on what you want by pulling as many levers as possible
33. EXCLUDE POOR PERFORMING PLACEMENTS - Review your ‘Website URL’ Report Reports - Default Reports - Performance - Website URL (Publisher)
34. EXCLUDE POOR PERFORMING PLACEMENTS - Review your ‘Website URL’ Report Reports - Default Reports - Performance - Website URL (Publisher)
36. ADD IMAGE EXTENSIONS USE CONVERSION TRACKING USE AUTOMATED BID STRATEGIES EXCLUDE POOR PERFORMING URLS
37. 2. OPT OUT OF AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION COMPLETELY
38. YES THIS CAN BE DONE! (Although you won’t find much in terms of documentation on this process…)
39. IDEAL FOR: THOSE WHO DON’T WANT TO HAVE ANY PART IN THE AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION
40. ELIMINATE AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION
41. X
42. “HOW CAN I OPT OUT OF AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION WHEN THESE CHANGES ARE IMPLEMENTED ON 21ST FEBRUARY?”
43. USE PLACEMENT EXCLUSIONS.
44. ADD A -100% BID ADJUSTMENT.
45. IT’S NOT POSSIBLE.
48. WHY IT’S GOOD AND WHAT THE STUDIES SHOWED HOW TO OPTIMISE SEARCH CAMPAIGNS FOR AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION HOW TO EXCLUDE SPECIFIC PLACEMENTS
49. “I UNDERSTAND BUT STILL WANT OUT.” “I HAVE TRIED TO OPTIMISE TO HELP IMPROVE EFFICIENCY.” “I WANT A COMPLETE OPT OUT, NOT INDIVIDUAL PLACEMENT EXCLUSIONS.”
50. X
51. SPEAK TO YOUR ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVE CONTACT CUSTOMER SUPPORT - IDEALLY THROUGH LIVE CHAT KEEP TRYING
52. 3. OPT OUT OF AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION AND RUN AUDIENCE CAMPAIGNS
53. IDEAL FOR: THOSE WHO WANT TO KEEP THEIR SEARCH AND AUDIENCE NETWORK ACTIVITIES SEPARATE.
54. MAKE SURE THEIR SEARCH CAMPAIGNS ONLY APPEAR IN SEARCH RESULTS & MAKE THE MOST OF THE AUDIENCE NETWORK OPPORTUNITY (REACH OUTSIDE OF SEARCH RESULTS & CHEAP CLICKS)
55. STEP 1 - OPT OUT OF THE AUDIENCE NETWORK EXPANSION.
56. STEP 2 - CREATE A AUDIENCE CAMPAIGN.
57. MULTIMEDIA AD = RESPONSIVE DISPLAY AD.
58. DON’T RUSH YOUR AD CREATION.
60. UTILISE THE TARGETING OPTIONS
61. LOCATION, AGE AND GENDER AUDIENCES (REMARKETING, CUSTOMER MATCH, SIMILAR AUDIENCES…) LINKEDIN PROFILE TARGETING (COMPANY, INDUSTRY & JOB FUNCTION) YOU CAN ALSO ADD EXCLUSIONS
62. START SMALL - 5%.
63. OPT OUT OF AUDIENCE EXPANSION CREATE A AUDIENCE CAMPAIGN: - Multimedia ad = RDA - Use asset options thoroughly - Utilise targeting options - Start with a smaller budget
64. SUMMARY
65. YOUR 3 OPTIONS OPTIMISE YOUR SEARCH CAMPAIGNS. Prepare your Search campaigns for Audience Network expansion, to give them the best chance of positive performance. 01
66. YOUR 3 OPTIONS OPTIMISE YOUR SEARCH CAMPAIGNS. Prepare your Search campaigns for Audience Network expansion, to give them the best chance of positive performance. 01 OPT OUT COMPLETELY. Stop your Search campaigns from showing on the Audience Network by requesting a complete opt out via customer support. 02
67. YOUR 3 OPTIONS OPTIMISE YOUR SEARCH CAMPAIGNS, Prepare your Search campaigns for Audience Network expansion, to give them the best chance of positive performance. 01 OPT OUT COMPLETELY. Stop your Search campaigns from showing on the Audience Network by requesting a complete opt out via customer support. 02 OPT OUT & RUN AUDIENCE ADS CAMPAIGNS. Get the best of both worlds by having separate Search and Audience campaigns running at the same time. 03
68. LI: /SOPHIELOGAN X: @MARKETINGSOPH