SEO Tools and Resources

Meta will soon begin factoring in how people interact with its generative AI tools to personalize the content and ads they see across Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms. More than 1 billion people use Meta AI monthly, according to their internal data. By turning AI chats and prompts into signals, Meta is making its recommendation engine more data-rich, potentially boosting ad relevance for brands and personalization for users. Why we care. By adding this new signal to it’s recommendations engine, this could reveal real-time interest and intent, making ad targeting sharper and potentially more effective. By tapping into these AI-driven signals, brands can rea…

Reels continue to surge as a go-to format for entertainment, education, and discovery. But Meta’s message to advertisers is clear: success requires native creative — not repurposed assets. Think 9:16 framing, platform-first audio, and rapid storytelling built for swipes, not scrolls. Brand advertiser takeaways (per Meta’s data): Show your brand early: Branding and messaging in the first 5 seconds makes ads 1.7x more likely to rank in the top purchase-intent tier. Use dynamic branding: Multiple brand appearances across scenes = 1.8x lift in top-tier purchase intent. Combine speech + music: Using both doubles the likelihood (2.0x) of landing in the top 20% fo…

Microsoft is bringing more transparency to its search advertising with a new feature that explains ad placement decisions directly in Bing results. Details: The feature appears as a dropdown option next to ad URLs in Bing search results Currently shows varying levels of detail depending on the user or region How it works. When users click the dropdown arrow next to a search ad’s URL, they can access a dialog box that explains why that particular advertisement was selected for display. Barry Schwartz reports seeing only a generic “Learn how your ads are chosen” message on Search Engine Roundtable. Others, like Digital Marketer, Khushal Bherwani, report …

Microsoft Advertising is starting 2026 with a broad set of updates aimed squarely at search-first marketers, with a focus on better controls, clearer insights, and easier campaign management across the platform. Driving the news. In its latest product roundup, Microsoft is rolling out new Performance Max capabilities, expanding audience targeting options, improving imports from Google, and automating more creative elements in search ads. The big picture. Performance Max continues to be the centerpiece. Microsoft is introducing a new customer acquisition goal in open beta, allowing advertisers to either prioritize net-new customers or exclusively target them within…

Microsoft Ads introduced two updates that could significantly improve campaign management and reporting for advertisers. The changes: Asset-level disapprovals: Ads will now be disapproved at the asset level—whether a single image, headline, or text line—allowing the rest of the ad to continue running. This reduces wasted spend and prevents entire campaigns from being paused due to a single issue. Conversion reporting transparency: Advertisers can now measure the average time it takes for 90% of conversions—online or offline—to be recorded after a click. This provides critical clarity for evaluating campaign performance and optimizing bidding strategies. Th…

Self-serve negative keyword lists are now live in Microsoft Advertising, according to Ads Liaison Navah Hopkins — giving advertisers long-requested control without submitting support tickets. What’s happening. Advertisers can now create and manage shared negative keyword lists directly in the UI. Lists support up to 5,000 negative keywords (one per line) and can be applied at either the campaign or account level. Match types function the same way in Performance Max as they do in traditional Search campaigns. Lists can also be edited, exported as CSV files, or removed from campaigns as needed. Microsoft notes that match type formatting requires brackets for ex…

Microsoft Advertising is rolling out multi-image ads for Shopping campaigns in Bing search results, giving ecommerce brands a richer way to showcase products and capture shopper attention before the click. What’s new. Advertisers can now display multiple product images within a single Shopping ad, letting shoppers preview different angles, styles or variations directly in search. The format is designed to make ads more visually engaging and informative, helping consumers compare options quickly without leaving the results page. How it works: Additional images are uploaded through the optional additional_image_link attribute in the product feed. Adverti…

Microsoft Advertising is rolling out Image Animation, a new Copilot-powered feature that automatically converts static images into short, dynamic video assets — giving advertisers a faster path into video without traditional production. How it works: Copilot transforms existing static images into scroll-stopping animated video formats. The tool extends the lifespan of strong image creatives by repurposing them for video placements across Microsoft’s global publisher network. The feature is now in global pilot (excluding mainland China) and accessible through Ads Studio’s video templates. Why we care. Video continues to dominate digital attention, wi…

Advertisers are currently unable to access the Microsoft Advertising console right now. Microsoft confirmed there is an issue and that its engineering team is working to resolve it. This is impacting the web user interface to manage your Microsoft Advertising campaigns. What Microsoft said. Navah Hopkins, the Microsoft Ads Liaison, posted: “Confirming Microsoft Advertising UI is down. Our engineering team is investigating this issue with priority and we apologize for the inconvenience this may be causing. We will share more as we receive more updates.” How to check the status. You can go to status.ads.microsoft.com to check the status of Microsoft Advertisin…

Microsoft Advertising will require advertisers to provide explicit user consent signals starting May 5. First communicated to advertisers a few weeks ago, this change ensures compliance with global privacy regulations while maintaining the ability to gather insights that optimize ad performance. Why we care. As data privacy concerns grow, businesses face increasing pressure to protect personal information. Microsoft’s enforcement of Consent Mode offers a way to balance privacy with performance, reinforcing trust while meeting regulatory requirements. What is Consent Mode? Consent Mode is a feature from Microsoft Advertising that respects user privacy preferen…

Did you know that duplicate content can hurt your visibility within AI Search? Fabrice Canel and Krishna Madhavan from Microsoft explained that with AI Search, having duplicate content makes it harder for the systems to understand signals which reduces “the likelihood that the correct version will be selected or summarized.” This is not too different from how duplicate content or very similar content can cause issues for ranking in traditional search. That is, because AI Search, on Bing and Google, are grounded by the same signals that are used in traditional search – having duplicate content can potentially cause confusion and blur intent signals. The issue with …

Microsoft Bing now supports the data-nosnippet HTML attribute. This gives brands and businesses more control over what content appears in search results and AI-generated answers, including in Copilot. Why we care. This gives you more control over how your content appears in Bing’s search results and AI answers. You can protect paywalled or experimental sections and shape how your brand is represented in AI summaries. How it works. The attribute lets webmasters mark sections of a page to exclude from snippets or AI summaries, without affecting indexing or ranking. Bing still crawls and ranks the page, but omits the marked content from previews. Use cases. You c…

Microsoft is testing a new version of Bing named Copilot Search, where it uses Copilot AI to provide a different style of search results. It looks different from the main Bing Search, it looks different from Copilot and it looks different from the Bing generative search experience. More details. The folks over at Windows Latests reported, “Microsoft is testing a new feature on Bing called “AI Search,” which replaces blue links with AI-summarized answers. Sources tell me it’s part of Microsoft’s efforts to bridge the gap between “traditional search” and “Copilot answers” to take on ChatGPT. However, the company does not plan to make “AI search” the default search mode.…

Microsoft has confirmed it uses schema markup to help its LLMs (large language models) understand your content. There has been a debate around if AI models and LLMs use schema or structured data, and at least Microsoft has confirmed they do. Source. Fabrice Canel from Microsoft’s Bing confirmed this while on stage at SMX Munich the other day. David wrote, “Fabrice Canel confirms that schema markup helps Microsoft’s LLMs understand your content in his excellent SMX – Search Marketing Expo in Munich presentation.” David Mihm posted on LinkedIn these details, which later Fabrice Canel confirmed in the comments area. Fabrice added, “Gen AIs value fresh content in…

Microsoft has released an upgrade to Copilot, bringing what it calls “the best of AI Search” to its AI engine – Copilot. Microsoft said its Copilot responses “will now include more prominent, clickable citations and the option to see aggregated sources.” Plus, Microsoft added a new dedicated search experiment within Copilot. Prominent citations. Microsoft said “Copilot’s responses will have more prominent citations to show you the publisher content that it was sourced from” in this new experience. The Copilot responses will not just give you a summary response but now also include “exactly where the information comes from, with relevant, clear, and clickable sources.…

Ahead of a slate of announcements coming next week, Microsoft Advertising says advertisers can now add up to 50 search themes to Performance Max campaigns — a significant increase from previous limits. Why we care. Search themes act as strategic signals that guide Performance Max toward the queries and intent patterns advertisers care most about. Increasing the cap gives marketers far more room to shape how automation interprets demand, especially for complex or multi-category businesses. Advertisers will also no longer have to collapse intent into a handful of themes or spin up multiple campaigns just to reflect different product lines or use cases. The big …

Microsoft Advertising rolled out asset-level editorial review, giving advertisers visibility into policy approvals for individual ad components — not just entire ads — and reducing delays caused by single non-compliant elements. What’s new. First announced in June, advertisers can now see headlines, descriptions, and images reviewed separately inside the Microsoft Advertising interface. If one asset violates policy, only that component is blocked, while compliant assets continue to serve. Why we care. This shift minimizes campaign disruption and speeds up approvals. Instead of rebuilding or resubmitting whole ads, advertisers can quickly identify and fix the e…

Microsoft is beginning to roll out its first agentic experiences within Copilot, it’s AI answer engine. Copilot Checkout allows shoppers to make purchases directly within Copilot without redirecting to external sites. This is done directly in the Copilot chat experience. Plus, a new feature called Brand Agents is rolling out for Shopify sites, allowing merchants to have an AI chat experience trained on their own product catalog. Microsoft said the AI responses will have your brand’s voice and be “built for fast, scalable adoption.” Copilot Checkout. Copilot Checkout is beginning to roll out in the U.S. on Copilot.com. Copilot Checkout enables conversational purcha…

Microsoft Advertising today launched the Publisher Content Marketplace (PCM), a system that lets publishers license premium content to AI products and get paid based on how that content is used. How it works. PCM creates a direct value exchange. Publishers set licensing and usage terms, while AI builders discover and license content for specific grounding scenarios. The marketplace also includes usage-based reporting, giving publishers visibility into how their content performs and where it creates the most value. Designed to scale. PCM is designed to avoid one-off licensing deals between individual publishers and AI providers. Participation is voluntary, ownershi…

Microsoft is tightening its advertising standards. The company announced that all third-party publishers must now implement Microsoft Clarity — its free behavioral analytics tool — to remain eligible for paid impressions and clicks in Microsoft Advertising. The details: What’s required: Publishers must install Microsoft Clarity and enable Consent Mode to track and analyze user interactions while complying with privacy standards. What it does: Clarity helps publishers and advertisers visualize user behavior — including clicks, scrolls, and engagement patterns — to make data-driven CRO (conversion rate optimization) decisions. What changes: Only ad traffic fr…

After a couple of months of testing, Microsoft has officially and formally announced the launch of Copilot Search in Bing. “Today we’re excited to introduce Copilot Search in Bing,” Microsoft announced on its Search blog. Microsoft explained Copilot Search in Bing as: “Copilot Search seamlessly blends the best of traditional and generative search together to help you find what you need – and meet you where you’re at in your discovery journey.” How to access it. You can access this new search experience: (1) Going to Bing.com and accessing it via the navigation bar. (2) Clicking on the suggested, related topics right under relevant answers in Bing. …

Microsoft Ads will soon roll out four major updates to Performance Max, significantly expanding your ability to target, measure, and optimize your campaigns. These updates will give advertisers more granular control over their automated campaigns while introducing LinkedIn’s professional targeting data — a unique advantage over competing platforms. What’s new. Here are the four new features: LinkedIn integration. Advertisers in six major markets (U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, France, and Germany) will be able to tap into LinkedIn’s professional targeting data, including company, industry, and job function signals. Reporting gets granular. Advertisers will b…

A new applied learning path from Microsoft Advertising is designed to help marketers get more value from Performance Max campaigns through hands-on, scenario-based training — not just theory. What’s happening. The new Performance Max learning path bundles three progressive courses that focus on real-world setup, optimization and troubleshooting. The structure is meant to let advertisers learn at their own pace while building practical skills they can immediately apply to live campaigns. Each course targets a different stage of expertise, from beginner fundamentals to advanced strategy and credentialing. What’s included: Course 1: Foundations Introduci…

Microsoft has rolled out multi-turn search globally within Bing search results. Microsoft will add a Copilot search box to the bottom of the Bing search results, as you scroll down the search results page, this feature will dynamically appear. What is multi-turn search. This is when a searcher goes from the Bing search results, types in a follow up query into the Copilot search box at the bottom of the search results. Here is a screenshot of this feature: Here is a video of it in action: What Microsoft said. Jordi Ribas, CVP, Head of Search at Microsoft, posted this news on X – he said, “After shipping in the US last year, multi-turn search in Bing i…

Microsoft is officially winding down its DSP, Microsoft Invest, and naming Amazon DSP as its preferred transition partner – a move that deepens ties between the two tech giants and reshapes Microsoft’s advertising strategy. Starting Feb. 28, 2026, Microsoft will sunset Microsoft Invest as it shifts focus to its core advertising products: Microsoft Advertising Platform, Monetize, and Curate. The company says the partnership with Amazon DSP will ensure advertisers experience a smooth transition and continue achieving performance goals. Why we care. Microsoft’s move to sunset its DSP and align with Amazon DSP means advertisers who use Microsoft Invest, will need to m…