Tag: Microsoft Advertising

Get More From Microsoft Advertising With AI Signals
When I see Microsoft Advertising campaigns struggle to scale, the issue is often not the platform itself. It is usually that the account is being treated as a copy of a strategy built somewhere else.

Importing campaigns can get me live quickly, but it is only the beginning. Real performance comes when I add human judgment, Microsoft-specific structure, clean measurement, business-specific controls, and enough creative assets to help AI understand what I am actually selling.

The strongest accounts I see have a shared pattern: import is the starting point, visual creative opens more demand, and AI works best when I give it the right structure, signals, measurement, and guardrails.

Here is how I approach Microsoft Advertising when I want more than a simple campaign import.

Note: I’m a Microsoft employee, and I have written this as objectively as possible. I have also included community-sourced hidden gems where they help highlight useful features.

1. I start with import, but I do not stop there

Import is useful because it removes friction. It can bring over campaign structure, assets, and settings from Google, Meta, or Pinterest so I can launch faster. The mistake is assuming that a successful import means the Microsoft Advertising strategy is finished.

Imported campaigns often preserve yesterday’s assumptions. I still need to make Microsoft-specific decisions about budget, bidding, audiences, creative, measurement, reporting, and AI-powered opportunities.

Decide whether sync helps or holds the account back

One of the first choices I review is whether future changes from the source platform should keep syncing into Microsoft Advertising. If I only want to mirror another platform, automatic sync can reduce maintenance. If I want to build a Microsoft-specific strategy, automatic sync can quietly overwrite the optimizations I make after launch.

To see the full list of import settings, I go to Manual import > Advanced settings. From there, I review which settings should stay, which should change, and which Microsoft-specific opportunities were never part of the original structure.

Review budgets, bids, currency, and Microsoft-only options

Imported budgets may not match the opportunity or efficiency available in Microsoft Advertising, especially when I can consolidate campaigns and use ad-group-level controls instead.

Imported bids can also carry assumptions from another platform. I want Microsoft Advertising to have room to optimize for its own auction dynamics, audiences, and conversion data.

A PPC expert highlights LinkedIn Profile Targeting as a Microsoft Advertising hidden gem, especially for B2B campaigns that need to reach senior decision influencers.

Review Microsoft-specific settings after import

Import cannot choose Microsoft-specific opportunities for me. After launch, I review the settings that can materially change performance.
- LinkedIn profile targeting: I can bid up or down, observe performance, and use LinkedIn profile data as a Performance Max audience signal across Company, Industry, Job Function, and Seniority.
- Ad-group-level scheduling and location targeting: I can override campaign-level schedules and location targets at the ad group level, including whether ads serve in the user’s time zone or the account’s time zone.
- Impression-based remarketing: I can target, exclude, or adjust bids based on someone seeing my ad. It does not require an existing email list or pixel, and members can remain on the list for up to 30 days after a single impression.
- Multimedia ads: These visual-heavy ads have their own auction, can appear on the same SERP as my text ad, and may also serve in Copilot.
- Cross-account portfolio bidding: If I need to launch a new account for the same brand, I can let it benefit from conversion data in an existing account.
- Microsoft Clarity: I can use this free behavioral analytics tool to understand how people and AI engage with my site, where landing pages create friction, and which grounding queries may connect AI systems to my content.
- Creative and editorial considerations: Microsoft has stricter advertising policies than many platforms, but it also allows useful capabilities such as exclamation points in headlines and disclaimers of up to 500 characters that do not take up ad space. If I enable disclaimers, my ads will only serve when the disclaimers can appear alongside them.
2. I build the signal foundation before optimizing

Account-level settings can look overly technical, but I treat them as the foundation for AI performance. They determine whether automation learns from clean data or from messy, misleading signals. Settings such as business attributes also help me communicate why customers should choose the business.

Verify conversion tracking and attribution before changing bids

Even the best bidding strategy cannot make up for incomplete conversion data. Before I blame bids, keywords, audiences, or creative, I verify that conversion and attribution data are flowing correctly.
- Microsoft Click ID (MSCLID): This helps connect ad clicks to conversion activity.
- View-through conversions: These help me understand the role visual creative plays before a conversion happens.
- Simplified conversion setup: This enables intelligent conversion action creation.
Without verified tracking, it is easy to diagnose the wrong problem. What looks like a bidding issue may actually be incomplete or inconsistent conversion data.

If the organization relies heavily on UTM parameters, I also validate how auto-tagging and manual tagging interact. My goal is clean reporting, not duplicated parameters or attribution confusion caused by mislabeling.

Treat creative inputs as signals

When enabled, Microsoft Advertising can use images from landing pages to create more relevant ad experiences. If the site has strong, brand-safe, well-maintained imagery, this can improve creative coverage without forcing me to manually build every variation for every campaign type.

AI-optimized creative works best when the site already gives it good material. If the pages include images I would not want in ads, or if the imagery is sparse, text-heavy, or poorly matched to the offer, I upload the assets I want the system to use. Auto-retrieved images reduce friction, but they do not replace creative strategy.

Use account-level negatives carefully

Account-level negatives can eliminate unwanted traffic patterns across the account. Microsoft supports phrase and exact match negatives. If I need to remove a root problem, phrase match is often the better option. If I need to block a specific search term, exact match may work better. Neither negative match type accounts for close variants.

I only use account-level negatives for terms I am confident should not serve anywhere in the account. More nuanced exclusions belong at the campaign or ad group level.

3. I use structure and controls to help AI perform

Microsoft Advertising gives me useful controls, but my goal is not to micromanage every lever. I want to give AI cleaner inputs, stronger guardrails, and fewer structural problems to solve.

Microsoft reports a 20% reduction in low-quality Search Partner Network impressions, crediting earlier invalid activity detection, stronger quality signals, and tougher enforcement.

Concentrate signals instead of fragmenting them

Ad-group-level location and ad schedule settings can reduce the need to create duplicate campaigns or split budgets across multiple accounts.

I have seen advertisers create separate campaigns only to support different geographies or schedules. In many cases, I can manage those settings at the ad group level, simplify the structure, and concentrate conversion volume.

That matters because automated bidding usually performs better with stronger, more consistent signals. When possible, I aim for at least 30 conversions in 30 days. That level of signal gives automated bidding a better chance to make stable decisions than a fragmented structure with thin conversion volume.

Use scheduling, location, and disclaimers as guardrails

I always review location targeting. Microsoft Advertising supports geographic targets, radius targeting, and exclusions, but city-, county-, metro-, or DMA-level strategies may be more practical than forcing ZIP codes.

If Microsoft does not support a specific location target, it defaults to the next-highest level, such as ZIP code to city or city to DMA. If I need narrow targeting, I look closely at exclusions.

Avoid unnecessary learning volatility

Large bid or budget changes can create volatility while the system adjusts. As a general rule, I try to keep bid or budget changes below 15% over a 14-day period when I want to avoid unnecessary learning disruption. Larger changes may still be necessary, but I make them intentionally.

Seasonality adjustments help when I expect a temporary conversion rate change because of a sale, event, promotion, or other short-term spike. Data exclusions help when conversion tracking breaks or reports misleading data that I do not want automated bidding to learn from. These tools are not bidding hacks. They protect automation from learning the wrong lesson.

Use conversion value rules whenever possible

The cleanest way I can communicate value to the bidding algorithm is through conversion value rules grounded in accurate conversion tracking. These rules let me create if/then logic for devices, audiences, and locations, then add a monetary amount or multiply conversion value.

Microsoft supports bid adjustments across audiences, devices, demographics, locations, and time. Multiple adjustments can compound. If a user qualifies for several categories at once, the bid may become more aggressive than I intended.

Before I add another layer, I ask whether I truly want to spend more to reach that audience, in that location, on that device, at that time. If I want the algorithm to understand value, meaningful conversion values and conversion value rules are usually stronger signals. If values are not reliable, CPA-oriented bidding with carefully chosen adjustments can still work.

Microsoft Advertising reports network-level gains, with indexed conversion rates up 45% and indexed cost per conversion down 1.5%, tied to cleaner traffic quality.

4. I use audiences, inventory, and creative to shape demand

Microsoft’s differentiated audiences, inventory, and creative formats can help me generate and shape new demand instead of only capturing demand that already exists.

Use LinkedIn profile targeting intentionally

LinkedIn profile targeting is still one of the most distinctive audience capabilities in Microsoft Advertising. I can apply bid adjustments based on company, industry, job function, and seniority.

Multiple targets within the same LinkedIn profile category act as “or” statements, while targeting across categories narrows the signal. A company target plus a seniority target is more restrictive than two company targets. That can be powerful when intentional and expensive when accidental because bid adjustments compound.

For B2B advertisers, this can be especially useful, but it is not limited to enterprise brands. Any business selling to specific professional audiences can use these signals to prioritize valuable traffic.

For example, if I am trying to reach someone traveling for work with local experiences or travel gear, I might bid up on a “Business development” job function in an industry with a conference happening in the next two to three weeks.

Build audiences from exposure, not just site visits

Traditional remarketing depends on someone visiting my website. Impression-based remarketing gives me another option: building audiences from people who have been exposed to my advertising.

A prospect may not click the first time they see the brand, especially in formats such as Audience ads, Premium Streaming, or Multimedia ads. Impression-based remarketing lets me continue the conversation later instead of treating the first exposure as a failed interaction. An impression can become the starting point for an audience strategy.

Reevaluate search partners and exclusions

Many advertisers disable search partners because they assume the inventory behaves like display network expansion on other platforms. I do not start with that assumption. Search partner inventory is still search inventory, and Microsoft provides publisher visibility, so I can evaluate it directly.

Recent Microsoft studies have shown a 45% improvement in conversion rates and a 20% reduction in low-quality impressions tied specifically to Search Partner inventory, independent of advertiser optimization.

If specific publishers are not performing, I use the available controls. I can manage unlimited exclusion lists at the MCC account level, and each list can exclude up to 2,500 URLs. If I need to protect a campaign’s ability to target a placement, such as when Performance Max and Audience ads run together, I exclude domains surgically instead of cutting off useful inventory.

A PPC strategist highlights a practical Microsoft Advertising tactic: run multimedia ads separately from branded search to expand visibility without self-competition.

Use Multimedia ads to expand SERP presence

Multimedia ads participate in their own auction and can appear in prominent visual placements on the search results page. A traditional search ad and a Multimedia ad can both appear for the same brand, increasing my presence on the SERP.

I can enable Multimedia ads at the campaign level and then use ad-group-level decisions to direct budget toward or away from the format.

They matter because they can amplify visual presence, serve as ads in Copilot, and qualify for impression-based remarketing. Their value is not limited to direct-click performance. They can connect search visibility, visual storytelling, and remarketing strategy.

Use Audience ads to expand reach

I use Audience ads, including display, native, and video, as a controlled way to expand reach, support full-funnel strategy, and build remarketing inputs that inform other parts of the account.

Audience ads support audience strategies, placement preferences, content category controls, and creative preview before launch. For organizations that require legal, brand, product, or executive approval, preview capability can make review much easier.

Use creative and editorial details to reduce friction

Microsoft Advertising has editorial policies I need to understand instead of assuming every platform evaluates ads the same way. Claims such as “best,” “number one,” or other superiority language need clear landing page support.

Microsoft Advertising also allows some emphasis I might not expect, such as one exclamation point in headlines, but that flexibility does not remove the need for substantiated claims and clean final URLs.

Editorial issues are often misdiagnosed as platform friction. In many cases, the issue is one specific asset rather than the entire ad. Final URL problems are more fundamental and can prevent an ad from serving at all.

Extensions and visual assets can help brands communicate more value before users reach the landing page, especially in competitive categories where plain text may not provide enough differentiation.

5. I treat PMax, AI Max, and Copilot as AI opportunities with guardrails

I find Microsoft’s approach to AI most useful when I view it as augmentation rather than replacement. Human-centered AI should help me scale thoughtfully while preserving consent, transparency, and trust.

A marketer highlights how Microsoft Clarity surfaces real user friction, from mobile testing gaps to visitors tapping images they mistake for links, offering useful context for ad and landing page optimization.

Know what Performance Max is designed to enable

Performance Max can be powerful, but it requires a different mindset from traditional campaign structures. Asset groups are not ad groups. There is no asset-group-level equivalent to ad-group negatives, and I cannot force one asset group to take priority over another.

Performance Max is built for AI-driven allocation. If strict control is the priority, traditional Search, Shopping, and Audience campaigns may provide clearer governance. When I want to influence Performance Max, I focus on the inputs that matter most.
- Strong audience signals: I include impression-based remarketing and LinkedIn profile targeting, which are unique to Microsoft.
- Relevant creative: Copilot can pull creative from the landing page and adapt existing creative with tonal shifts, rewrites, or formatting improvements.
- Thoughtful search themes: I avoid duplicating exact match keywords as search themes because exact match keywords take priority in the auction.
- Meaningful conversion tracking: I make sure conversion tracking and conversion values are accurate because Performance Max needs conversions to perform effectively.
- Clear landing pages: The landing page must communicate the offer clearly. If it does not, the algorithm may struggle to match the right queries, and people may struggle to do business with me.
If I run the same search theme as an exact match keyword, there is a strong chance the exact match keyword will serve instead of the Performance Max campaign. I prefer to use search themes as testing grounds rather than duplicates.

Performance Max website URL reporting gives me URL-level visibility into spend, clicks, impressions, and conversions. That gives me more to work with than impression-only reporting and can make automated campaign testing easier to justify.

Separate campaigns when budget separation matters

If budget separation matters, I create distinct campaigns instead of forcing multiple business objectives into one Performance Max campaign. Microsoft’s capacity of 300 Performance Max campaigns, compared with Google’s 100, can be useful when budget priorities genuinely need separation.

For example, if I have two equally important products with drastically different tROAS goals, I would not want them to share budgets because I cannot specify which asset group or product should take priority. Separate campaigns with distinct budgets and tROAS goals are usually a cleaner fit.

My rule is simple: if related assets and audiences can share a budget, I consolidate Performance Max campaigns to strengthen conversion volume. If budget separation matters, I build that control at the campaign level instead of trying to force it through asset groups.

Evaluate AI Max and Copilot for new opportunities

AI Max now addresses many of the use cases that once made Dynamic Search ads valuable. If my goal is to let Microsoft AI better match queries, creative, and landing pages, AI Max may be the better place to test.

That does not mean I abandon existing high-performing campaigns. It means I stay intentional about whether I am investing in legacy dynamic functionality or AI-powered capabilities built on Microsoft’s latest technology.

Ads can appear in relevant Copilot experiences when Microsoft determines there is clear commercial intent and the ad may help the user. Ads have served in Copilot since 2024. The goal is not to force ads into AI answers. It is to preserve a useful experience for the user.

A glowing Google search bar cuts through streams of digital data, capturing the fast-moving world of search, shopping visibility, and SEO innovation.

Copilot is not a separate campaign type I manually opt into. Performance Max, AI Max, exact, phrase, and broad match search campaigns, Multimedia ads, and Shopping ads are all eligible to serve in Copilot. Performance Max and AI Max have the easiest time serving there because they can adapt to AI-driven experiences.

Use generative AI as a creative workflow and diagnostic tool

Copilot can help me brainstorm, rewrite, refine, and adapt creative across Performance Max, responsive search ads, Multimedia ads, Audience ads, and other campaign types. It does not replace the marketer. It reduces friction between strategy and iteration.

Ad Studio can generate new creative assets and make adjustments such as background modifications, seasonal refinements, location-specific tailoring, and additional aspect ratios. I see its best use as accelerating iteration once the creative strategy is already clear.

AI-generated assets can also help me diagnose how clearly the site communicates. If the outputs accurately represent the business, the site is probably sending clearer signals. If they repeatedly miss the mark, the landing pages, messaging, or content structure may be confusing both AI systems and people. The Performance Max campaign generator can be a useful diagnostic shortcut for the same reason.

6. I use reporting and Clarity before blaming the auction

No amount of AI, bidding nuance, or audience strategy can compensate for poor measurement. Microsoft Advertising provides strong reporting visibility, and I use it before making media-only decisions.

Use transparent reporting to make better decisions

Microsoft provides visibility into every search term that generates a click as part of its transparency approach. I use that visibility to understand what is really happening behind performance changes.
- Genuinely wasteful: There may be no business case for targeting that search.
- An AI-driven match: The query may look questionable until I examine the customer journey with behavioral analytics.
- A landing page issue disguised as a traffic problem: Before I add a negative keyword, I evaluate post-click behavior to see whether the landing page or conversion tracking is the real issue.
Use Microsoft Clarity before making campaign changes

Microsoft Clarity answers one of the most important questions in campaign diagnostics: what happens after the click? It can show whether users engage with the page, get confused, abandon forms, run into technical issues, or complete actions that are not being tracked correctly.

I want Clarity in the diagnostic process before I make major campaign changes.
- If people arrive and get stuck, the issue may be the landing page experience.
- If they complete the desired action but conversions do not appear in Microsoft Advertising, the issue may be tracking.
- If they arrive and immediately disengage, the issue may be creative alignment, traffic quality, or the offer itself.
Clarity can also help me understand how AI systems interact with my content, including the grounding queries that led AI systems to cite the domain and recommendations for improving citation opportunities.

If AI systems cite the domain as relevant, that can validate the content strategy. If they do not, or if the queries reveal mismatches, that may point to gaps in how the content communicates value.

I apply Microsoft-specific optimizations deliberately

I can import existing campaign structures and assets while still taking advantage of Microsoft-specific capabilities. AI can play a central role, act as an occasional assist, or be used selectively, but scaling becomes harder without some level of AI adoption.

Testing Microsoft Advertising does not require a massive investment. It does require getting the fundamentals right: conversion tracking, bid-to-budget ratios, and creative that reflects the channel’s visual nature.

When I get those fundamentals right, Microsoft Advertising gives me search term transparency, GDPR-compliant impression-based audiences, and opportunities to reach people across the surfaces where they work, live, and play.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
July 7, 2026
Microsoft PMax Experiments: Smarter Testing Arrives

I’m seeing Microsoft bring experimentation into Performance Max campaigns, giving advertisers a more practical way to test campaign changes and measure incremental impact without disrupting live performance.

What’s new: Microsoft is adding two Performance Max experiment types designed to help advertisers understand whether their campaigns are truly driving better results.

Uplift experiments help me measure the incremental impact of Performance Max campaigns by comparing results against a control group.

Upgrade experiments give me a way to compare an existing campaign with an upgraded Performance Max version before I fully roll out the change.

For eligible accounts, both experiment types are available under Campaigns > Experiments.

Why I care: Until now, Microsoft Ads experiments were limited to Search campaigns. Bringing testing into Performance Max gives advertisers a safer path to validate changes, improve performance, and make more data-driven decisions before committing budget.

Between the lines: As Microsoft expands experimentation, it has also renamed its existing experiment offering to Search optimization experiments. That distinction helps separate traditional Search testing from the new Performance Max testing capabilities.

I see this as part of Microsoft’s broader push to give advertisers more advanced optimization tools across automated campaign formats.

The bottom line: Microsoft is closing an important gap in its Performance Max offering. With dedicated uplift and upgrade experiments, advertisers can test with more confidence and get a clearer view of the real impact of automated campaigns.

First spotted: The help docs were spotted by PPC News Feed founder Hana Kobzová.

Dig deeper: Microsoft’s help docs include details on the Uplift experiment for Performance Max and the Upgrade experiment for Performance Max.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

July 3, 2026
Yahoo Scout: Inside Yahoo’s Bold AI Search Comeback

I’m looking at Yahoo! Scout as Yahoo’s most direct return to search and web discovery in years. The new AI-based answer engine is available at scout.yahoo.com, and Yahoo is also weaving it through its major properties, including Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Search. I think of it as a Yahoo-branded AI companion built to help people move through those familiar Yahoo experiences with more context and guidance.

What Yahoo Scout is. To me, Yahoo Scout is Yahoo’s version of an AI search engine and assistant, similar in broad idea to Google’s AI Mode or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but with Yahoo’s own personality layered in. Yahoo told me it wanted Scout to feel fun, approachable and easy for people of all ages to understand.

When I first visited Yahoo Scout, the experience felt intentionally warm. The home page includes a search box, a playful slogan and an animated icon above it. Beneath the search box, Yahoo offers suggested searches that can be filtered by topics such as news, finance, sports, shopping and travel. On the left side, I could also see previous queries, making it easier to return to earlier searches and continue where I left off.

The home page also rotates through playful visual treatments. In one version I saw a cowboy hat, while other versions included a crystal ball, a gold medal, a walking cartoon brain and more.

Yahoo Scout’s advantage. The Yahoo Search team gave me early access to try Yahoo Scout. While the interface will feel familiar to anyone who has used other AI answer engines, the Yahoo-specific pieces are what stood out most to me.

Yahoo’s biggest advantage is its existing reach. The company already has a large audience across Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Search. Yahoo told me it has more than 500 million user profiles, stores signals such as queries, usage and intent, has more than one billion entities in its knowledge graph and processes 18 trillion consumer events and signals across its properties. That gives Yahoo a lot of context it can use to personalize AI search and better categorize queries.

Yahoo also told me it is the second-largest email company and the third-largest search engine.

Because Scout is connected to Yahoo’s own properties, it can bring Yahoo Finance widgets, financial data, tables, citations, weather results, news results and other rich content directly into answers.

“Search is fundamentally changing, and our team has been inspired to use our decades of experience and extremely rare assets to create something uniquely useful for Yahoo’s hundreds of millions of monthly users,” said Jim Lanzone, CEO of Yahoo. “This beta launch is just the starting point. From search to our industry-leading verticals, Yahoo Scout will help our users accomplish their goals online faster and better than ever before.”

Sending traffic to publishers. Jim Lanzone told me Scout is closely tied to Yahoo’s original mission of being a trusted guide to the internet. Because of that, Yahoo says it designed Scout with the open web in mind, including ways to send traffic downstream to content creators and publishers.

In Yahoo Scout responses, I saw large blue highlights over portions of the answer text. When I hovered over those highlights, I could click through to the source. Each response also includes a visible “featured source” area, along with tables, imagery, related news articles and other source-driven elements meant to make publisher links more prominent.

Lanzone told me early AI answer engines have not done enough to send traffic back to the sources behind their answers. Yahoo wants Scout to be an example of how that relationship can work better. Since there is not enough licensing revenue for every publisher to make deals with AI companies, Yahoo is leaning into the historical search model: give users answers, but also send meaningful traffic to the sites that produced the underlying content.

CTR expectations. I asked Yahoo what click-through rate it expects from Yahoo Scout to publishers. The honest answer was that it does not know yet. Yahoo expects to learn from real user data after launch and then iterate to improve downstream clicks.

Yahoo expects queries in Scout to be longer than queries in Yahoo Search. It also expects ad loads to be lighter, and the team hopes click-through rates will be higher than the industry average.

Yahoo also told me it plans to build a way for publishers to see impression and click data in the future. I see that as something like a Yahoo Webmaster Tools-style reporting experience, though crawling and indexing data would still be tied to Microsoft Bing because Bing powers the underlying search index.

Yahoo Scout across Yahoo properties. I expect Scout to show up throughout Yahoo’s ecosystem. Yahoo Search will use Scout-powered AI summaries. Yahoo News will provide article highlights and may include daily digest audio summaries. Yahoo Finance will add an Analyze button powered by Scout. Yahoo Mail will summarize emails and extract action items, such as adding events to a calendar.

Examples of Yahoo Scout in action. Yahoo Scout is not perfect, but for something Yahoo says was built in about six months, I came away impressed.

When I asked Yahoo Scout for help understanding how SEO works, it returned a useful response with citations throughout the summary. SEO is complex, and not everyone would agree with every part of the answer, but the citation structure made the experience more transparent.

I then asked it for sources I could use to find more content on the topic. There were clearly missed opportunities to link out more often, and I shared that feedback with Yahoo. The team agreed there was room to improve.

When I followed up by asking how I could navigate to the sources it had mentioned, Scout did provide links at that point. I also saw citation previews appear when hovering over linked highlights.

I tried several other types of searches as well. For entertainment queries, Scout pulled in news articles with larger graphics and clickable card-style formats. For finance queries, Yahoo brought in Yahoo Finance, though I was not able to generate stock charts during my own testing, even though I saw that capability in a demo. It may still have been in progress at the time.

For weather, I tested Scout on a Sunday morning as a major snowstorm was touching down in New York. I was able to get a Yahoo Weather chart, along with practical tips on how to stay warm.

For sports, I asked about Super Bowl predictions. As a lifelong Jets fan, I also asked whether the Jets had any chance of winning the Super Bowl in the next 10 years. The answer was not especially encouraging, but I was glad to see a chart embedded directly in the response.

For shopping, Scout gave me advice on how to dress for the weather. That is where Yahoo’s commerce strategy becomes more visible.

Ads and commissions. Yahoo Scout will show ads at the bottom of some responses. Commerce-related queries will also be monetized through affiliate commissions, which is already a common revenue model across the web.

Yahoo told me the ads are still powered by Microsoft Advertising, but Yahoo controls how those ads appear inside the Scout experience.

Those ads will be charged on a CPC basis, not on an impression basis like some other AI engines have announced. I also saw product results labeled with “Yahoo may earn commission from these links.”

How Yahoo Scout came together. Yahoo has been hinting for about three years that it wanted to return to the search game. In 2009, Yahoo made a deal with Microsoft to have Microsoft power Yahoo Search, which effectively ended Yahoo’s work on its own search technology. Since then, Yahoo has outsourced search technology until this new Scout effort.

About six months ago, Yahoo acquired Eric Feng’s company to lead consumer search at Yahoo. Feng co-founded the online video platform Mojiti, which Hulu acquired in 2007. He then became Hulu’s founding CTO and head of product. Before that, he worked in Microsoft Research on search-related problems.

“Yahoo’s deep knowledge base, 30 years in the making, allows us to deliver guidance that our users can trust and easily understand, and will become even more personalized over the coming months,” said Eric Feng, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Yahoo Research Group, the creators of Yahoo Scout. “Yahoo Scout now powers a new generation of intelligence experiences across Yahoo, seamlessly integrated into the products people use every day.”

Lanzone, who also has a long history in search from his years as CEO of Ask.com, told me Feng has been instrumental in building Yahoo Scout over the past six months. Yahoo says this first public release is only the beginning, and more iterations and improvements are expected.

Anthropic and Claude. Yahoo Scout is not built on Yahoo’s own LLM. Yahoo partnered with Anthropic and uses Claude as Scout’s primary foundational AI model. Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees including Daniela Amodei and Dario Amodei, has become one of the leading AI companies. Amazon announced an investment of up to $4 billion in September 2023, Google committed $2 billion the following month, and as of November 2025 Anthropic had an estimated value of $350 billion.

Even though Scout uses Anthropic’s foundational AI models, Yahoo has customized the experience and combined it with proprietary Yahoo data. Running the same searches directly on Anthropic’s tools would not produce the same Yahoo Scout experience.

“When you’re serving hundreds of millions of users, you need AI that can do more than retrieve information – it has to reason, synthesize, and explain. Yahoo is building toward a more personalized, trustworthy kind of search, and Claude’s ability to deliver that quality of guidance at scale is at the heart of Yahoo Scout,” said Ami Vora, Head of Product at Anthropic.

Microsoft Bing. Microsoft Bing data is also part of Yahoo Scout. Bing provides the underlying search index, but Yahoo says the responses, ranking and overall experience are Yahoo’s. Yahoo wrote that Scout builds on its long-standing Microsoft relationship by using Microsoft Bing’s grounding API, combining that API with Yahoo’s trusted data and content ecosystem so answers are informed by authoritative sources across the open web.

Yahoo is also joining Microsoft’s Publisher Content Marketplace pilot. Microsoft says that marketplace can help support publisher revenue, and Yahoo described the move as “reflecting a shared commitment to expanding publisher reach, connecting original work with new audiences, and supporting sustainable revenue opportunities for publishers.”

Hallucinations. I asked Yahoo about hallucinations, and the company told me it has added many guardrails to reduce them as much as possible. Yahoo says its entity graph, news content and other Yahoo-specific data help ground the answers. The team believes Scout’s hallucination rate should be “very low” compared with other AI engines.

Yahoo Scout blends AI search with commerce, surfacing winter parka recommendations, affiliate shopping cards and trusted weather sources in one answer-style interface.

Agents. Many AI engines are moving toward agentic experiences that can complete tasks for users. Google, OpenAI and Microsoft are all investing heavily in this area.

Yahoo Scout already includes some agent-like elements, especially inside Yahoo Mail, where it can help add calendar events, support smart compose features and surface action items. Yahoo says more is coming on that front.

Why I care. Search is changing quickly, and I find it exciting to see Yahoo step back into the space in a meaningful way. As someone who has followed search for more than 20 years, I appreciate seeing Yahoo try to make search feel fresh again.

Seeing people such as Jim Lanzone, Eric Feng and Brian Provost work on AI search at Yahoo makes this feel like more than just another answer engine launch. I’m interested to see what Yahoo does next.

Yahoo Scout is available in beta for U.S. users at Scout.Yahoo.com and in the Yahoo Search app on iOS and Android.

For more about Yahoo Scout, see this help document.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

July 3, 2026
Medical PPC Ads: My Guide to Safer, Stronger Results

PPC advertising for medical and mental health services comes with more restrictions than many other industries, but I still see it as one of the most effective ways to keep a steady flow of new patients and clients coming into a practice.

Whether I am managing campaigns for a client, promoting my own practice, or building a campaign from scratch, I focus on the same fundamentals: the right keywords, compliant messaging, clear landing pages, and lead-quality tracking.

Choosing keywords for medical and mental health advertising

When I choose keywords for medical or mental health advertising, I start by thinking about how real patients search. In most cases, their searches fall into three main groups.

First, some people search by symptoms or treatment options. They may not know which professional they need yet, so they search for phrases like “treatment options for depression” or “why does my ankle hurt when I run.” I do not ignore these searches, because they can still turn into new patients or clients.

Second, people often search for what they think the service is called. They may use simplified or incorrect terms, such as “therapist to manage bipolar medications” or “foot pain doctor.” These searches still show intent, even if the language is not medically precise.

Third, some searchers use the correct term because they already know what they need and are ready to contact a professional. They may search for “psychiatrist” or “endodontist near me.” Even then, I watch for confusion between similar roles, such as therapist, psychologist, and counselor.

Most of my budget usually goes toward the second and third groups, where searchers are closer to taking action and starting treatment.

If I have a larger budget, I may also test broader symptom-based or informational searches that could convert later. These can work, but I treat them carefully because informational searchers may or may not be ready to book.

I also rely heavily on negative keywords. They help me block searches for services the practice does not provide, which protects the budget and improves lead quality.

Dig deeper: A guide to Google Ads for regulated and sensitive categories

Staying compliant with ad copy

With medical and mental health ad copy, I have to be careful. I need the ad to make it clear that help is available, but I cannot write in a way that feels too direct, too personal, or too aggressive.

I expect some trial and error. An ad rejection does not automatically mean an account is in trouble. It usually means the ad was not approved, so I adjust the wording or request a manual review when appropriate.

Blunt language is often where problems happen. Instead of making strong claims, I test softer, more compliant language that still communicates the value of the service.

To stand out from competitors, I focus on practical benefits such as accepted insurance, payment options, specialized treatments, or distinctions like being family-owned, local, award-winning, certified, or licensed.

I avoid terms like “cure” and other language that implies guaranteed results. Google and Meta both have ad policies that restrict how medical, mental health, and wellness services can be promoted.

When an ad gets rejected, I rewrite it so it still explains the value of the practice without crossing policy lines.

For some psychiatrists, doctors, and other medical service providers, Google Ads may also require a LegitScript.com listing, especially for addiction treatment services.

Google Ads support or its documentation will explain whether that requirement applies to a specific practice.

Building effective landing pages

When I build landing or service pages, I start with the information the front office already gives to patients. That is often the clearest and most useful material available.

I pull details from pamphlets, office materials, and common intake conversations. Then I highlight key points such as accepted insurance, cash payment options, payment plans, financing, and specialized treatments.

I also answer the questions patients regularly ask in person or over the phone. A strong landing page should keep improving as new questions come up.

Those questions might include whether the practice works with children, accepts Medicare, offers phone or virtual sessions, or provides a specific treatment.

I make the next step obvious. That may mean booking an appointment, scheduling an initial consultation, requesting a free phone consultation, filling out a form or questionnaire, submitting a contact request, or calling with questions.

I avoid vague forms and generic phone numbers with no instructions. Instead, I explain the process clearly from pre-treatment to treatment to post-treatment.

I also like to include a FAQ section that answers questions such as “what is the process?” and “how does treatment work?” The more uncertainty I remove, the easier it is for a patient or client to take action.

Choosing the best campaign types

For medical and mental health services, I usually build the strategy around Search campaigns.

Automated or audience-based campaign types, including Performance Max and Demand Gen, can run into privacy and targeting limits. Depending on the service, the ads may not be approved.

Remarketing is typically restricted for the same reason. Video campaigns may be possible, but targeting limits often make them better suited for local branding than direct response.

Search campaigns work well because people are actively looking for answers, treatment, or a specific type of provider. They are typing in the exact services they need.

Many providers also use directories like Psychology Today or ZocDoc for lead generation. I still like supplementing those channels with Google or Microsoft Search campaigns because they send traffic directly to the practice’s own site and give more control over patient or client flow.

My usual approach is to target very specific terms for people who are ready to hire a professional, then test broader symptom or research-related terms when the budget allows.

Meta Ads can also be useful, but privacy laws limit targeting. I also have to be careful with ad copy, images, and landing pages so the campaign stays compliant.

I review Meta’s ad policies before launching campaigns to reduce avoidable disapprovals. Meta can support larger budgets, but for most medical and mental health marketing, Google Search remains the most reliable starting point.

Dig deeper: How to prevent Meta Ads restrictions on health and wellness campaigns

Tracking lead quality

With any online advertising, and especially with medical and mental health services, I need to know more than how many leads came in. I need to know which leads became real patients or clients.

A simple CRM, whether generic or built for the industry, can track incoming leads and show which ones converted.

Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Meta Ads all offer built-in CRM connections. I can also use a tool like Zapier to connect systems without needing a programmer.

Beyond website form submissions, I also track inbound calls generated by marketing campaigns. Phone calls often represent high-intent leads, so leaving them out can distort ROI.

Call tracking tools such as CallTrackingMetrics, CallRail, and WhatConverts can integrate with CRMs and major ad platforms to measure lead quality.

They also offer call recording and are HIPAA-compliant, which matters when tracking performance in healthcare-related campaigns.

Keeping medical and mental health ads effective

To keep medical and mental health ads effective, I focus on four things: targeting the right searches, writing compliant ads, improving landing pages, and tracking lead quality.

When those pieces work together, I can build campaigns that attract the right patients and clients more consistently.

A steady, well-structured approach is what helps a practice maintain or expand its patient flow without creating unnecessary compliance risk.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

July 3, 2026
Enhance Your B2B Ads: Microsoft Adds LinkedIn Job Seniority Targeting
I recently discovered some exciting news from Microsoft Ads that could be a game-changer for advertisers like myself. They’ve expanded their LinkedIn targeting capabilities to include job seniority filters. This allows me to target audiences with more precision in both Search and Audience campaigns.

This new feature means that I can now target users based on their job seniority, a wonderful addition for those of us focusing on B2B marketing. Thanks to LinkedIn data, I can reach audiences at various levels of seniority.

What’s the scoop? According to Navah Hopkins, Microsoft Advertising has added job seniority targeting to its LinkedIn Profile targeting, allowing me to utilize it within Search and Audience campaigns.

This update provides me the ability to choose from 10 different seniority levels, ranging from CXO to Volunteer. This flexibility is available at both the campaign and ad group levels, making it easier to segment my audiences effectively.

Why is this vital for us? In the world of B2B marketing, it’s often challenging to separate decision-makers from operational staff in search campaigns. With this new job seniority targeting, I can better align my messaging and bidding strategies with the right audience segments, ultimately improving my campaign performance.

Understanding who is interacting with my ads is crucial, especially in organizations with long sales cycles or multiple stakeholders. It’s not just about conversions; it’s about knowing who is behind them.

A closer look: Unlike other platforms, Microsoft’s integration with LinkedIn provides a unique perspective of professional identity that allows me to better understand user interactions.

Not only can I apply these filters directly within my campaign settings, but I can also utilize them in observation mode to gather insights without limiting my reach.

How do I benefit?

Customize messaging by seniority: I can create targeted ad groups for different audience levels, like executives or individual contributors, tailoring my messaging to each group’s expectations.

An executive-focused strategy might highlight business growth, while campaigns targeting practitioners could focus on efficiency gains.

Analyze conversions by seniority: Observation mode helps me assess conversion performance across different seniority levels, answering questions crucial to my strategy:

Where are my conversions coming from? Are they decision-makers or influencers? Is my budget effectively spent? Which seniority levels bring in high-quality leads?

Enhance audience testing: This feature offers an extra layer of reporting, helping me make informed optimization and expansion decisions. If I’m importing from other platforms, this insight is invaluable for discovering performance patterns unique to Microsoft Ads.

Availability: This powerful tool is now accessible in select markets across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions, including countries like the United States, Canada, Brazil, and more.
- Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, and others.
- EMEA: Egypt, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.
- APAC: Australia, India, Japan, among others.
The takeaway: Microsoft Ads continues to leverage its LinkedIn integration as a standout feature in B2B advertising. By aligning search intent with professional profiles, I gain deeper insights into not just what my audiences search for, but who the searchers are.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
June 16, 2026
Unlocking Ad Success: When Not to Increase ROAS Budgets

I find myself often pondering the dilemma faced by many in paid media: when more budget isn’t the answer to achieving greater revenue. It’s important to understand when increasing your paid search efforts will genuinely add value versus when it may simply lead to higher expenses without meaningful gains.

Imagine this: a campaign that ticks all the boxes. From outstanding cost per acquisition to an impressive return on ad spend, everything shines. The quality of leads is satisfactory, and the average order value is spot on. Then, you receive that common request: “Double the budget to double the impact!” Before jumping in, let’s take a step back.

Scaling budgets can indeed drive performance, but only if there’s room for the budget to be effective. If I’ve already maximized the campaign’s potential, adding more funds might only mean higher costs which might not translate into significant revenue increases.

There are optimal times for budget increases, but first, understanding when to refrain from spending more is crucial.

(Disclosure: I’m with Microsoft Ads, so while I’ll provide some insights from there, my aim is to keep this guidance broader.)

Before increasing spend, it’s critical to assess whether the campaign can scale effectively without compromising efficiency.

Making significant changes to budget or targets can initiate a learning period, especially in platforms like Microsoft Advertising where changes beyond 15% might cause volatility. This means potential short-term disruptions before stabilizing performance.

To avoid unsettling successful campaigns, I recommend an incremental approach to budget increases, coupled with clear communication that growth will be gradual.

Lastly, it’s imperative to ensure that your high ROAS truly reflects real business value. Verify your conversion tracking, lead quality alignment, and profitability signals before committing to increased investment.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

June 2, 2026
Understanding Query vs. Conversion Intent for Better Results

I’ve noticed that what users type into search engines isn’t always a reflection of what they truly want. This drove me to explore how aligning intent signals, behavior, and branding can significantly enhance performance.

As someone deeply involved in PPC, I’ve held onto syntax-oriented keyword strategies for a long time. This was because of the gap between ‘query intent’ and ‘conversion intent.’ For years, relying on keywords has been my way to show I understand my customers’ desires and to filter traffic through syntax-based signals.

With the shift towards more conversational queries and the rise of AI, understanding the difference between these two intents has become crucial to effectively meet user needs.

In this discussion, I’ll define query and conversion intent and share strategies to use them effectively. While these suggestions aren’t prescriptive, they provide a framework for analyzing your data and optimizing for your audience.

Disclosure: I’m a Microsoft employee, and some examples I’ll share are based on Microsoft tools, though the strategies are applicable across platforms.

Query intent refers to the underlying need driving the text input into a search function, whether it’s on a search engine, video platform, or within AI applications. Conversion intent, on the other hand, centers on the actual goals users aim to achieve, derived from their interactions and data points.

The confidence in understanding these intents varies, influenced by how explicit the text is and observed content consumption patterns. For instance, searching for ‘Microsoft ads login’ reveals a clear intent to log in, readily aligning with ads and content targeted at this action.

However, a query like ‘Microsoft ads’ is vaguer, prompting the need to draw insights from past engagement and search history to fulfill user expectations effectively.

A non-branded query such as ‘purple hair dye’ shows a distinct transactional intent. Users have a general idea of what they want but not necessarily the brand, which necessitates a strategy that’s both inclusive and targeted.

By understanding the core desires behind queries, such as ‘purple hair dye for long wavy hair,’ we can fine-tune our approach to align products or content that specifically meet user preferences and characteristics.

Combining close variants and recognizing interactions beyond SERPs, like social media and video content, helps us tap into insights that enhance brand recognition and audience engagement effectively.

Ultimately, aligning query and conversion intent needs careful planning and execution across both brand and performance marketing.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

May 5, 2026
Effortless Google PMax Campaign Import with Microsoft Updates
I’m thrilled to share that Microsoft is simplifying the process of expanding Google PMax campaigns into Microsoft, allowing us to enjoy greater visibility and control over our campaign performance.

Microsoft Advertising is launching several updates to make managing, measuring, and migrating Performance Max campaigns more straightforward, especially for those of us already familiar with Google Ads.

Driving the news. Microsoft now allows us to import Google PMax campaigns with new customer acquisition (NCA) goals, a feature that’s been part of Microsoft since earlier this year.

The update is live for all advertisers now, enabling us to transfer campaigns focused on first-time buyers more seamlessly, without having to start from scratch.

What’s new. Microsoft ensures that when we import Google PMax campaigns with NCA goals, they will be retained if they don’t already exist in our account. Our existing settings won’t be overwritten.

Regarding audience lists:
- Google website visitor segments transform into Microsoft remarketing lists.
- Google’s “all visitors” and “all converters” lists map to similar lists on Microsoft.
- For unsupported lists like Customer Match, we may need to use alternate options.
I’ve also noticed that Microsoft takes a cautious approach with “unknown” customers, categorizing them as existing customers to avoid inflating new customer conversion counts.

Why we care. This initiative could streamline cross-platform campaign expansion and reduce the hassle of rebuilding, making it simpler to test Microsoft’s PMax inventory. Plus, enhanced landing page reporting and search term insights offer a clearer picture of campaign performance, aiding our optimization and budget decisions.

More visibility for PMax. Microsoft is integrating landing page (Final URL) reporting for PMax campaigns, allowing us to review spend, clicks, impressions, conversion value, and ROAS by landing page.

We can also break this information down by campaign, asset group, and other dimensions.

Additionally, Microsoft stated that search term reporting will become more apparent by default, with more transparency updates such as auction insights and publisher URL metrics rolling out soon.

Other key updates:
- Seasonality adjustments now support portfolio bid strategies, aiding short-term promotions.
- Campaign name limits have increased, enabling up to 400 characters for easier management.
- Autogenerated assets are improving ad relevance and performance by filling in underused Responsive Search Ads.
- Merchant Center users can directly update store names and domains without needing support.
The bottom line. These updates simplify scaling across platforms, save time on campaign setups, and enhance our visibility into campaign performance, giving us greater control over efficiency and outcomes.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
April 16, 2026
Revamp Your Store Easily with Microsoft’s New Merchant Center Update

I’ve got some exciting news for those of us using Microsoft Advertising! Now, we can update our Merchant Center store names and domains without the hassle of submitting a support ticket. Everything is streamlined directly through the platform.

Why does this matter? As businesses grow or undergo rebranding, being able to quickly adjust names and URLs is crucial. Previously, I had to go through a cumbersome process, but now I have full control to make these changes seamlessly.

Here’s how it works:

When I want to change my store name, it goes through an editorial review. The best part? My ads continue to run under the old name, so there’s no downtime for my campaigns.

If I decide to switch my domain or URL, verification of the new domain is needed. Meanwhile, my ads still serve on the old domain, keeping my advertising efforts uninterrupted. Once approved, I’ll update product URLs to reflect the new domain.

Reusing store names or domains is perfectly fine as long as everything passes the editorial checks and domain verification. This provides me with flexibility while maintaining quality standards.

The bottom line? This update empowers me with more control over my store settings. It also ensures compliance by having robust checks like editorial reviews and domain verifications in place, safeguarding the quality of my ads.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

March 30, 2026