How to Launch Bing Ads: Step-by-Step Account Setup

Launching Bing Ads takes about 10 to 15 minutes for the account itself, plus 30 to 60 minutes to build your first campaign. You need a Microsoft account, a payment method, a landing page, and your keywords ready. Microsoft reviews new ads within 24 to 48 hours.

Bing Ads is the advertising platform now branded as Microsoft Advertising, and it places your ads across Bing search, Yahoo, and partner sites. The setup is less crowded than Google Ads, which is why many advertisers treat it as a second channel where competition and costs are lower. This guide walks through the whole process: creating the account, wiring up conversion tracking, building a campaign, and avoiding the errors that stall new advertisers.

In short:

• Account creation takes 10 to 15 minutes; a full first campaign adds 30 to 60 minutes.
• There is no minimum deposit for most accounts, but budget at least $100 to gather usable click data.
• Average CPCs on the Bing network often run 20 to 35 percent lower than Google Ads.
• Install the UET tag before you launch if you want conversion data from day one.
• Importing an existing Google Ads campaign can cut setup to minutes, but match types need review afterward.

What you need before you start

You need four things to open a bing ads account: a Microsoft account, a valid payment method, your business name and address, and a landing page that loads quickly on mobile. Everything else, keywords, ad copy, and budgets, can be prepared in parallel.

The Microsoft account is the same login you use for Outlook, Xbox, or Office. If you already have one, you skip a registration step. If you are setting this up for a client, decide now whether the account lives under their Microsoft login or yours, because ownership is painful to move later.

Before you touch the dashboard, have these ready:

• Your target keywords, grouped by theme so each ad group stays tight
• At least three ad variations so you can test headlines and descriptions
• Your daily budget figure and the maximum CPC you are willing to pay
• Access to your website's header code, for the tracking tag

A slow or broken landing page wastes every click you pay for. Check yours on a phone before you spend anything. The same discipline applies to organic pages, and the indexing problems that keep pages out of search results can quietly hurt your paid landing pages too: Sitemap Errors That Keep Pages Out of the Index.

Step 1: Create your Microsoft Advertising account

Sign in at the Microsoft Advertising signup page with your Microsoft account, then enter your business name, country, currency, and time zone. Currency and time zone cannot be changed after setup, so pick the ones your billing actually uses.

You will be asked whether to create a new account or link to an existing one. Agencies and freelancers managing multiple clients should create a manager account first, then add client accounts underneath it. That structure keeps billing and reporting separate and saves a migration later.

Once your details are in, add a payment method. Microsoft accepts major credit and debit cards. Some regions also support other payment options, and prepaid balances are available if you would rather not keep a card on file.

Step 2: Set up conversion tracking with the UET tag

The UET tag is Microsoft's Universal Event Tracking code, a small snippet that reports what visitors do after they click your ad. Install it before your campaign goes live, or you will launch blind and have no conversion data to optimize against.

You have two paths here. You can create the tag in the Conversions section of the Tools menu and paste it into your site's header, or you can connect Google Analytics goals if you already track conversions there. The second option is faster for most small advertisers. If you are starting from scratch on the search side, the account structure lessons in How to Create and Set Up a Google Ads Account (2026) apply here too, since both platforms organize campaigns the same way.

To add the tag manually:

1. Open Tools, then Conversions, then UET Tag.
2. Create a new tag and copy the tracking script.
3. Paste it into the head section of every page on your site.
4. Return to the dashboard and confirm the tag shows as active.
5. Create at least one conversion goal, such as a purchase, form submit, or signup.

Verification can take a few hours. If the tag still shows unverified after a day, check whether your site strips scripts or loads them asynchronously in a way that blocks the tag.

Step 3: Build your first campaign

Create a campaign, choose your objective, and set your daily budget. Microsoft will suggest a budget based on your keywords and location, but you can set it as low as $1 per day. Realistic campaigns usually need $10 to $50 per day to generate meaningful traffic.

Campaign settings you should decide deliberately:

• Campaign type: Search is the default and the right starting point for most advertisers.
• Location targeting: target the countries, regions, or cities you can actually serve.
• Language: match the language your landing page is written in.
• Ad schedule: leave it open at first, then narrow once you see when clicks convert.
• Networks: turn off the audience network initially so your budget goes to search.

Keep your first campaign small. One theme, one ad group, five to fifteen closely related keywords. Broad campaigns with hundreds of keywords in a single ad group make it impossible to tell what worked.

Step 4: Add keywords, ads, and negative keywords

Add keywords to your ad group, then write at least three ads so Microsoft can rotate them. Match types behave differently here than in Google, and this is where imports go wrong.

Write ad copy that matches the search intent of the keyword, not your brand slogan. A headline that repeats the query usually beats a clever one. If you want a repeatable process for writing ad and landing page copy that search engines and readers both accept, the approach in SEO Copywriting With AI: How to Write Content That Ranks translates directly to paid copy.

Negative keywords deserve real attention on day one. Add terms you never want to pay for: job seekers, freebie hunters, competitor brand names if you are not targeting them, and anything unrelated to what you sell. This is the single fastest way to stop wasting budget.

Step 5: Set bids, budget, and targeting

Set your daily budget and a bid strategy, then let the campaign run without constant adjustment for at least a week. Microsoft offers manual CPC, enhanced CPC, and automated strategies that optimize toward conversions. Automated strategies need conversion data to work, so start manual if your tracking is new.

Budget depends on your market, your margins, and how many clicks you need to judge performance. A local service business in a small city may see enough data on $10 per day. A competitive ecommerce category may need several times that before the numbers mean anything. There is no universal figure, and any guide that gives you one is guessing about your situation.

Two rules that hold regardless of budget:

• Never set a daily budget you would be uncomfortable spending in full every day.
• Let the campaign accumulate at least a few dozen clicks before you judge a keyword.

Step 6: Submit for review and go live

Submit your campaign and expect Microsoft's review to finish within 24 to 48 hours. Most ads clear faster. You will get an email when the campaign is approved, and you can check status in the dashboard at any time.

Rejections usually come from three causes: landing page content that does not match the ad, missing business information, or claims the platform cannot verify. Fix the specific issue and resubmit. Do not create a duplicate campaign to work around a rejection, because that compounds the problem.

Once live, resist the urge to change everything on day two. Give the campaign a week, then review search terms, pause anything irrelevant, and shift budget toward the ad groups that are producing conversions.

Common mistakes in a first Bing Ads setup

The most common mistake is launching without conversion tracking, which leaves you optimizing on guesses. The second is importing a Google Ads campaign and never reviewing match types or negative keywords, which lets broad match spend your budget on irrelevant searches.

Other problems that show up repeatedly:

• Setting currency and time zone wrong at signup, then living with it.
• Sending all traffic to the homepage instead of a page that matches the ad.
• Building one giant ad group where no keyword gets enough data.
• Ignoring the search terms report for the first month.

Each of these is cheap to fix before launch and expensive to fix after you have spent the budget.

Next step

Open a Microsoft account if you do not have one, sign in to the advertising dashboard, and create the account with your correct currency and time zone. Then install the UET tag before you build anything else, because tracking set up after launch means losing the first weeks of data. Start here: bing ads.

FAQ

How much does it cost to start advertising on Bing Ads? Bing Ads has no minimum deposit for most accounts, but start with at least $100 to gather enough click data to judge performance. You pay only when someone clicks. Average CPCs on the Bing network tend to run 20 to 35 percent lower than Google Ads in many industries. Daily budgets can be set as low as $1, though realistic campaigns need $10 to $50 per day for meaningful traffic.

How long does it take to set up a Bing Ads account? Basic account creation takes about 10 to 15 minutes, covering your Microsoft account login, business details, and payment method. Adding a first campaign with keywords, ads, and targeting usually takes another 30 to 60 minutes. Microsoft's review process for new ads typically completes within 24 to 48 hours.

What do I need before launching my first Bing Ads campaign? You need a Microsoft account, a valid payment method, your business name and address, and a landing page that loads quickly on mobile. Have your target keywords, at least three ad variations, and your daily budget ready before you start. If you plan to track conversions, install the UET tag on your site first.

Where can I find my Bing Ads account ID and tracking settings? Your account ID appears in the top right corner of the Microsoft Advertising dashboard under your account name. Conversion tracking and UET tag settings live in the Tools menu under Conversions and UET Tag. You can also import goals directly from Google Analytics if you already track them there.

Why should I import my Google Ads campaigns into Bing Ads? Importing saves hours of manual setup and carries over your keywords, ads, bids, and audience lists in one step. Microsoft Advertising lets you sync on a schedule, so changes in Google Ads flow into the account automatically. Review match types and negative keywords after import, since the two platforms handle some settings differently.