Microsoft Ads (Bing Ads)

Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing Ads) is Microsoft's advertising platform that reaches millions of search users across Bing, Yahoo, and AOL networks. Connect your Microsoft Ads account to Coupler.io to automatically export campaign performance, keyword metrics, ad group data, and dozens of other report types to your favorite destination.

Why connect Microsoft Ads to Coupler.io?

• Automate reporting — Pull campaign, keyword, and ad performance data on a schedule without manual exports

• Multiple report types — Access 40+ predefined reports including performance, conversion, audience, and product ads data

• Flexible destinations — Send data to Google Sheets, Excel, BigQuery, Looker Studio, or AI destinations like Claude and ChatGPT

• Combine data — Use Join and Append transformations to merge Microsoft Ads data with other sources for unified analysis

Prerequisites

• An active Microsoft Ads account with campaigns running

• Access to manage or view the account (Admin or Standard user role)

• A destination ready to receive data (Google Sheets, BigQuery, Looker Studio, etc.)

Quick start

We recommend starting with the Campaign performance report to test the connection. It pulls impressions, clicks, spend, and conversion data by campaign — perfect for getting familiar with how Coupler.io structures Microsoft Ads data.

How to connect

1

Sign in to Coupler.io and create a new data flow. Click Add source, search for "Microsoft Ads," and select it.

2

Click "Connect account" and authorize Coupler.io. You'll be redirected to Microsoft's sign-in page. Log in with your Microsoft account credentials and approve permissions. Coupler.io requests access to read your advertising data only — we cannot modify campaigns or spend.

3

Select the ad accounts you want to import data from. If you manage multiple Microsoft Ads accounts, check the ones you want to include in this data flow.

4

Choose a report type. Pick from 40+ options like Campaign performance, Keyword performance, Ad performance, Search query performance, and more. Each report type has different metrics and dimensions available.

5

Set the report period. Select a preset (Today, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 90 days, etc.) or use "Custom" and pick specific start and end dates.

6

Configure data split (optional). If you want to break down results by time period, choose Summary (default), Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly. This is helpful for trend analysis in dashboards.

7

Add advanced filters (optional). Narrow your report by campaign, ad group, device type, network, or other dimensions to focus on specific segments.

8

Add a destination. Click Add destination, choose where you want the data (Google Sheets, BigQuery, Looker Studio, Claude, ChatGPT, etc.), and configure it.

9

Run the data flow. Click Run to perform a manual test. Once it completes successfully, your data is ready to view in the destination.

Available reports

Microsoft Ads offers 40+ report types. Here are the most commonly used:

Report	Best for	Key dimensions	Typical metrics
Campaign performance	Overall campaign health	Campaign, network, device	Impressions, clicks, spend, conversions, CTR, avg CPC
Keyword performance	Keyword-level optimization	Keyword, match type, campaign	Impressions, clicks, conversions, quality score, avg position
Ad performance	Ad copy testing	Ad title, ad type, ad group	Clicks, impressions, CTR, conversions
Ad group performance	Ad group management	Ad group, campaign, device	Impressions, clicks, spend, conversions
Search query performance	Understanding user intent	Search query, keyword, campaign	Impressions, clicks, conversions, revenue
Conversion performance	Conversion tracking	Conversion name, campaign	Conversions, cost per conversion, conversion rate
Geographic performance	Location-based insights	Country, state, city, location intent	Impressions, clicks, conversions, spend
Asset performance	Asset library optimization	Asset ID, asset type, campaign	Impressions, asset impressions, clicks
Audience performance	Audience segment analysis	Audience name, campaign	Impressions, clicks, avg CPC, conversions
Account performance	Multi-account overview	Account name, network	Total impressions, clicks, spend, conversions

For a complete list of all 40+ report types, visit the data overview.

Microsoft Ads (Bing Ads) data overview

Microsoft Ads reports contain performance data across your campaigns, keywords, ads, audiences, and more. Each report type returns different dimensions (grouping fields) and metrics (numeric values).

Report categories

Category	Reports	Use case
Campaign & structure	Campaign performance, Ad group performance, Account performance	Monitor overall account health and campaign performance
Keywords & search	Keyword performance, Search query performance, Negative keyword conflict	Analyze keyword ROI and user search intent
Ads & creatives	Ad performance, Ad extension detail, Dynamic text ads, Asset performance	Test ad copy and track creative performance
Conversions	Conversion performance, Goals and funnels, Call detail	Measure conversion sources and funnel flow
Audiences	Audience performance, Age gender audience, Professional demographics	Understand demographic and audience segment performance
Shopping & products	Product dimension performance, Product partition performance, Product match count	Track product-level metrics in Shopping campaigns
Hotel & accommodation	Hotel dimension performance, Hotel group performance	Monitor hotel ad group and dimension performance
Advanced	DSA performance, Share of voice, Budget summary, Search campaign change history	Track Display Search Ads, market share, budgets, and changes

Campaign & structure metrics

Performance metrics

• Impressions — Number of times your ads appeared

• Clicks — Number of clicks on your ads

• Spend — Total cost of all clicks

• CTR — Click-through rate (clicks ÷ impressions)

• Average CPC — Average cost per click

• Average position — Average ad position in results

Share metrics

• Impression share — Your impressions ÷ estimated total available impressions

• Absolute top impression share — Impressions at position 1 ÷ total available

• Top impression share — Impressions at positions 1–2 ÷ total available

• Click share — Your clicks ÷ estimated total clicks available

Impression loss metrics

• Impression lost to budget — Impressions lost due to low daily budget

• Impression lost to rank — Impressions lost due to low ad rank

Conversion metrics

Conversion data

• Conversions — Total tracked conversions

• Conversion rate — Conversions ÷ clicks

• Cost per conversion — Spend ÷ conversions

• Revenue — Total e-commerce or app revenue attributed to clicks

• Return on ad spend (ROAS) — Revenue ÷ spend

• Assists — Attributed assists (if multi-touch attribution is enabled)

Quality metrics

• Quality score — Microsoft's relevance score (1–10)

• Expected CTR — Predicted ad click rate

• Ad relevance — How relevant your ad is to the search query

• Landing page experience — Quality of your landing page

Keyword & search dimensions

Keyword level

• Keyword — The keyword text

• Match type — Broad, phrase, exact, or broad match modified

• Status — Enabled, paused, or removed

• Quality score — Microsoft's relevance score

• Bid — Current keyword bid

Search level

• Search query — Actual search term a user entered

• Query intent — Inferred intent (city, country, DMA, postal code)

• Top vs other — Whether ad appeared in top positions or side

• Device type — Mobile, desktop, or tablet

• Network — Bing, Yahoo, AOL, or search partners

Ad & creative dimensions

Ad structure

• Ad ID — Unique ad identifier

• Ad group — Ad group name and ID

• Campaign — Campaign name and ID

• Ad type — Expanded text ad, responsive search ad, product ad, etc.

• Status — Enabled or paused

Ad elements

• Title — Ad headline (Title part 1, 2, or 3 for responsive ads)

• Description — Ad description line

• Final URL — Destination URL

• Display URL — URL shown in ad

• Custom parameters — Tracking parameters

Performance by asset

• Asset ID — Unique asset identifier

• Asset type — Text, image, video, etc.

• Asset content — The actual text or asset content

• Asset impressions — Impressions this asset appeared in

Audience & demographic dimensions

Audience segments

• Audience name — Name of the audience list or segment

• Audience type — Remarketing list, in-market audience, similar audience, etc.

• Bid adjustment — Bid modifier applied to this audience

Demographics

• Age group — Age range (18–24, 25–34, 35–49, 50–64, 65+)

• Gender — Male, female, or unknown

• Professional demographics — Job function, company size, industry (B2B only)

Common metric combinations

Quick health check: Impressions, Clicks, Spend, CTR, Avg CPC

• Tells you volume, efficiency, and average cost

Conversion analysis: Conversions, Conversion Rate, Cost per Conversion, Revenue, ROAS

• Measures ROI and conversion efficiency

Quality optimization: Quality Score, Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, Landing Page Experience

• Identifies areas to improve ad and landing page quality

Share of voice: Impression Share, Absolute Top Impression Share, Click Share

• Shows your market position vs. competitors

Trend analysis: Any metric with Split by Period = Daily/Weekly/Monthly

• Reveals seasonal patterns and campaign momentum

Use cases by role

PPC Managers

Goal: Monitor campaign performance and optimize bids and budgets.

Reports to pull:

• Campaign performance — Review spend, conversions, ROAS by campaign daily or weekly

• Keyword performance — Identify high-performing and underperforming keywords; pause or increase bids on top performers

• Search query performance — Find new keyword opportunities and negative keywords from actual user searches

• Quality score trends — Track quality score changes over time to spot relevance issues early

Pro tip: Use Append to combine Microsoft Ads data with Google Ads data in a single dashboard for unified account oversight. Use Aggregate to roll up keyword metrics to the ad group level for faster reporting.

Analysts

Goal: Analyze performance trends, understand user behavior, and support strategic decisions.

Reports to pull:

• Search query performance — Understand search intent, seasonal trends, and user language

• Geographic performance — Identify high-performing regions and markets

• Audience performance — Test audience targeting strategies and segment performance

• Conversion performance — Analyze conversion sources and cost per conversion by campaign or audience

Pro tip: Use Split by Period (Daily/Weekly/Monthly) to create trend charts in Looker Studio. Export to BigQuery and use SQL to combine Microsoft Ads data with other business data for deeper insights.

Marketing Leaders

Goal: Track ROI, budget allocation, and overall campaign effectiveness.

Reports to pull:

• Account performance — High-level overview of total spend, conversions, and ROAS across all accounts

• Campaign performance with share statistics — See market position (impression share, top impression share) alongside ROI

• Conversion performance — Understand which campaigns and audiences drive the most conversions

• Budget summary — Verify daily budget spend and identify under-utilized budgets

Pro tip: Create a dashboard in Looker Studio or ChatGPT that auto-updates daily. Use Join to link campaign names from your internal planning sheet to Microsoft Ads data for budget variance analysis.

Platform-specific notes

• API latency: Microsoft Ads data can take 24–48 hours to fully process. Your report might not include today's data; schedule imports for early morning to capture the previous day's complete data.

• Holiday and weekend data: Microsoft may temporarily exclude data during holidays or weekends. If your report looks incomplete, wait a few hours and retry.

• Revenue metric behavior: The Revenue metric is exported as text by some report types. In Looker Studio, you may need to convert it to a number using a calculated field. See Microsoft Ads common issues for a workaround.

• Account access: You must be an Admin or Standard user on the Microsoft Ads account. Read-only users cannot authorize the connection.

• Multiple accounts: You can select multiple Microsoft Ads accounts in a single data flow and append data from all of them.

• Custom report fields: When creating a custom report, select both a Resource (e.g., Campaigns, Keywords, Ads) and relevant Dimensions and Metrics for that resource.

• Performance Max campaigns: If you run Performance Max campaigns, use the Campaign performance report to pull overall metrics, but note that detailed keyword and ad-level data is not available for Performance Max (Microsoft optimizes keywords internally).

Microsoft Ads (Bing Ads) common issues

Connection issues

"We could not connect your account" error during authorization

This error occurs when Microsoft's OAuth flow fails, usually due to account restrictions or permissions.

Steps to fix:

1. Verify you're signing in with a Microsoft account that has access to the Microsoft Ads account (not a Gmail or other email)

2. Confirm your Microsoft Ads account role is Admin or Standard — Read-only users cannot authorize OAuth connections

3. Check if two-factor authentication (2FA) is enabled on your Microsoft account; if so, complete the 2FA challenge during sign-in

4. Clear your browser cache and cookies, then try again

5. Use an incognito/private browser window to avoid cached credential conflicts

6. If the issue persists, contact support — it may be an account-level restriction on Microsoft's side

"Could not authenticate" after clicking Authorize

The Microsoft OAuth token may have expired or failed mid-flow.

Steps to fix:

1. Go back and click Disconnect, then Connect account again to start fresh

2. During sign-in, ensure you don't get logged out or encounter any verification prompts

3. If you have multiple Microsoft accounts, make sure you're signing in with the correct one

4. Wait 1–2 minutes after signing in and try again; the token may not have been issued yet

5. If the error repeats, it may indicate a temporary issue with Microsoft's API — wait 30 minutes and retry

No ad accounts appear in the account selector

The authorized account has no Microsoft Ads accounts linked to it.

Steps to fix:

1. Verify that the account you logged in with is associated with at least one active Microsoft Ads account

2. Log in to Microsoft Ads directly with the same account to confirm you have ad accounts there

3. If you see ad accounts in Microsoft Ads but not in Coupler.io, refresh the page and try connecting again

4. If the issue persists, contact Microsoft support to ensure the account is linked correctly

Missing data

Report shows no data or fewer rows than expected

This is often caused by report period settings or API latency.

Steps to fix:

1. Check the date range: Microsoft Ads may not have data for today or yesterday due to processing delays. Try selecting a date range from 2+ days ago

2. Verify campaigns were active: If you're reporting on old campaigns, confirm they were running during the selected period

3. Check for filters: Review your advanced filters — if you filtered by campaign, ad group, or keyword, you may have excluded active ads

4. Wait for data availability: Give Microsoft Ads 24–48 hours to fully process and report data. Run the import again the next morning

5. Test with a shorter period: Try a 7-day report instead of 90 days to isolate the issue

"Duplicated rows" in reports or unexpected duplicate data

Duplicate rows can occur when splitting data by period or when running multiple overlapping imports.

Steps to fix:

1. Check your Split data by period setting — if set to Daily/Weekly, you may see one row per period per dimension (not a duplicate, just granular)

2. Verify you're not running multiple data flows pulling the same report type and period to the same destination

3. If appending data from multiple accounts, ensure each account appears only once in your account selector

4. Clear and re-run the data flow to remove old duplicates from your destination

5. If the issue persists after these steps, contact support with your data flow ID

Data is missing for specific keywords, campaigns, or ads

Microsoft Ads only reports on keywords and ads that received at least one impression during the period.

Steps to fix:

1. Confirm the campaign or keyword was active during your selected report period

2. Verify it received impressions in Microsoft Ads directly — paused keywords or ads with zero impressions won't appear in reports

3. Check your advanced filters — you may have accidentally filtered out the keyword or campaign

4. For new keywords (added today), wait 24–48 hours for data to appear

5. If a campaign was running but still missing, it may be a Microsoft API issue — contact support

Permission errors

"Permission denied" or "Unauthorized access" error

Your Microsoft Ads account role may not have enough permissions.

Steps to fix:

1. Confirm your role in Microsoft Ads is Admin or Standard — log into Microsoft Ads and check Account settings > Users

2. If you're a Read-only user, ask your account Admin to upgrade your role

3. If you just gained new permissions, sign out of Microsoft Ads and Coupler.io completely, wait 5 minutes, and sign back in

4. Disconnect the Coupler.io connection, wait 1 minute, and reconnect with your Admin account

"Account access denied" when selecting multiple accounts

You don't have access to all the accounts you're trying to select.

Steps to fix:

1. Deselect accounts you don't have Admin/Standard access to

2. Ask account Admins to grant you access to those accounts, then disconnect and reconnect Coupler.io

3. If you're unsure which accounts you can access, log into Microsoft Ads directly and check the account list

Data discrepancies

Revenue metric appears as text instead of a number in Looker Studio

Microsoft Ads exports revenue as text with formatting (commas, decimals), which Looker Studio detects as a string.

Steps to fix:

1. In Looker Studio, go to Data source > select the Microsoft Ads connection > click Edit

2. Find the Revenue field and change its type from Text to Number

3. Click Reconnect to apply the change

4. If the field still shows as text, create a calculated field: CAST(Revenue AS NUMBER) and use it in your charts instead

5. Alternatively, export to Google Sheets or BigQuery where revenue will be properly converted to numeric format

Metrics in Coupler.io don't match Microsoft Ads directly

Metric discrepancies can stem from report lag, filtering differences, or timezone issues.

Steps to fix:

1. Check the date range: Microsoft Ads displays finalized data 24–48 hours after the reporting period ends. If you're comparing today's data in Coupler.io to today's data in Microsoft Ads, they will differ

2. Verify report period: Ensure your Coupler.io report uses the exact same date range as the one you're viewing in Microsoft Ads

3. Check filters: If you applied advanced filters in Coupler.io (campaign, device, network, etc.), disable them to see unfiltered data

4. Account for timezone: Microsoft Ads may use a different timezone than Coupler.io. Align both to the same timezone in settings

5. Try a different report type: Pull Account performance report for a top-level view to confirm total spend and conversions match

6. If discrepancies persist, contact support with screenshots of both sources

Search query data is missing or incomplete

Microsoft Ads limits search query visibility based on privacy and minimum threshold rules.

Steps to fix:

1. Verify the search query triggered at least 10 clicks (Microsoft's threshold for reporting)

2. Check if you have search query exclusions or negative keywords that might be filtering results

3. Ensure you're reporting on a date range where the query had traffic

4. If using a custom report with Search query as a dimension, add at least one metric (Clicks, Impressions, Conversions) to see results

5. For aggregated trends, use the Search query performance report (pre-built) instead of a custom report

Rate limits

"Memory limit exceeded" or "Request timeout" errors

Your report is too large for Microsoft's API to process in a single request.

Steps to fix:

1. Reduce the date range: Instead of 90 days, try 30 days or 7 days

2. Use Split by Period: Set Split data by period to Daily or Weekly instead of Summary — this breaks the large report into smaller chunks

3. Add filters: Use advanced filters to limit the report to specific campaigns, ad groups, or devices

4. Remove unnecessary fields: If using a custom report, include only the dimensions and metrics you need

5. Increase frequency: Instead of one monthly import, run weekly imports and append them together

6. If none of these work, contact support — your account may be exceptionally large

Data flow is slow or takes a long time to run

Large reports or API throttling can cause slowdowns.

Steps to fix:

1. Check Microsoft's service status: Visit Microsoft Ads service health and confirm no outages are occurring

2. Reduce report scope: Use advanced filters or smaller date ranges

3. Split by period: Enable Split data by period to break the report into chunks

4. Schedule off-peak times: Run imports during early morning or late evening to avoid congestion

5. Avoid overlapping runs: If you have multiple data flows running, space them out by 15–30 minutes

6. Contact support if a simple 7-day report is consistently slow — it may indicate an account-level API issue

Microsoft Ads (Bing Ads) FAQ

How long does it take for Microsoft Ads data to be available for import?

Microsoft Ads processes data with a 24–48 hour delay. If you ran a campaign yesterday, the data will be partially available today and fully available tomorrow. For the most reliable data, always import from 2+ days ago. This is why we recommend scheduling imports for early morning (7–8 AM) — by then, yesterday's data is complete.

Can I import data from multiple Microsoft Ads accounts at once?

Yes. When you authorize Coupler.io, you'll see a list of all Microsoft Ads accounts linked to your Microsoft account. Select the ones you want to include in your data flow. The data from all selected accounts will be combined (appended) into your destination with an "Account name" column to distinguish them.

What's the difference between a "Predefined" report and a "Custom" report?

Predefined reports (Campaign performance, Keyword performance, etc.) are pre-built by Microsoft with commonly used metric and dimension combinations. They're faster and more reliable. Custom reports let you choose any metric and dimension combination, but they take longer to run and can hit memory limits on large accounts. Start with predefined reports; only use custom if you need an unusual combination.

Why does my data show "no conversions" even though I'm tracking conversions in Microsoft Ads?

You likely haven't set up conversion tracking in the report. When pulling a report, ensure you select Conversions or Conversion rate as a metric. If you're pulling a custom report, make sure you selected a conversion metric from the metrics list. Also verify that your conversion tracking is active in Microsoft Ads and has recorded at least one conversion in your selected date range.

Can I use Coupler.io to modify campaigns or budgets?

No. Coupler.io reads data from Microsoft Ads only — it cannot change campaigns, budgets, bids, or any settings. You must manage those directly in Microsoft Ads. Coupler.io is for reporting and data analysis only.

What metrics should I use to measure campaign ROI?

Use Return on ad spend (ROAS) if you have e-commerce revenue tracking, or Cost per conversion + Conversion rate if you're tracking leads or other conversions. For a quick sanity check, compare Spend to Revenue or Conversions. If you want to compare across campaigns, use ROAS (revenue ÷ spend) or Cost per conversion (spend ÷ conversions) rather than absolute revenue or conversion counts.