Bing Ads

A Guide to URL Migration for Bing Enhanced Campaigns in Marin PPC Advertising Management Software

INTRODUCTION

In 2014, Bing Ads combined tablet and PC/laptop campaigns, while smartphone campaigns remained separate. Starting on March 23, 2015, Bing Ads will begin unifying device targets, essentially removing the option to target mobile vs. desktop/tablet.

In preparation for this change, Marin Software is offering to add the {device} ValueTrack parameter to Bing URLs on behalf of our clients in support of Bing Enhanced Campaigns (a.k.a. Unified Device Targeting).

TIMELINE FOR URL UPDATES

On February 11, 2015, you’ll see a Banner Alert in each Client Account that meets the qualification criteria.

The banner (shown in the screenshot below) will contain instructions for opting into this service. You’ll then be able to begin appending Bing’s device ValueTrack parameter to URLs.

 

Step 1: Syncing Accounts

The initial step of the transition requires syncing your Bing Ads publisher account to your corresponding Marin Client Account. If you have opted in, the syncing of accounts will occur between February 16, 2015 and March 8, 2015.

While the syncing of your account is in progress, any updates to the Bing campaigns, bids, keywords, creatives, etc. must be managed in the Marin Platform directly. Note that syncing errors may occur if updates are made outside of the Platform during this time.

Step 2: Marin will tag Bing URLs

The second step for Marin’s service to tag Bing URLs with the {device} ValueTrack parameter. This process will begin on March 9, 2015.

Step 3: Client reviews and posts URLs

The final step requires action on your part. You will be notified once we upload the URLs in the Held status for review. After you have reviewed and approved the updated URLs, you are free to post the updated objects to Bing via the Platform’s Activity Log.

Items updated by this automated process can be found in the Activity Log by filtering for User = ec.migration@marinsoftware.

ACCOUNT CHANGES INCLUDED IN THIS TRANSITION SERVICE

The Bing URL Builder settings and the Bing keyword, creative, and product group URLs will be updated to reflect the device parameter syntax used in URL Builder for the Google publisher. (Note: Sitelink URLs are not part of this service, so you are responsible for adding the device tracking value to your own Sitelink URLs.)

How will my URLs look after the update?

The examples shown below represent the most common URL structures; however, your Bing URL structure may vary based on your tracking needs.

Non-redirect examples

Before:

http://www.domain.com/shop?mkwid=a1b2c3d4&pcrid={AdId}

After:

http://www.domain.com/shop?mkwid=a1b2c3d4&pcrid={AdId}&pdv={device}

 

Before:

http://www.domain.com/shop?mkwid=a1b2c3d4&pcrid={AdId}

After:

http://www.domain.com/shop?mkwid=a1b2c3d4|d{device}&pcrid={AdId}

 

Redirect Examples

Before:

http://tracker.marinsm.com/rd?cid=zyx1234&mkwid=a1b2c3d4&pcrid={AdId}&pkw={keyword}&pmt={matchtype}&lp=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.domain.com%2Fshop

After:

http://tracker.marinsm.com/rd?cid=zyx1234&mkwid=a1b2c3d4&pcrid={AdId}&pkw={keyword}&pmt={matchtype}&device={device}&lp=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.domain.com%2Fshop

 

Before:

http://tracker.marinsm.com/rd?cid=zyx1234&mkwid=a1b2c3d4&pcrid={AdId}&pkw={keyword}&pmt={matchtype}&lp=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.domain.com%2Fshop

After:

http://tracker.marinsm.com/rd?cid=zyx1234&mkwid=a1b2c3d4_d{device}&pcrid={AdId}&pkw={keyword}&pmt={matchtype}&lp=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.domain.com%2Fshop

 

WHICH ACCOUNTS ARE QUALIFIED FOR THE TRANSITION SERVICE?

You are eligible for the transition service if you meet the following criteria:

• Your MCA is linked to one or more Bing publisher accounts (required).
• Bing Spend: If the Bing publisher account has spend over the last 90 days

WHICH ACCOUNTS ARE NOT QUALIFIED FOR THE TRANSITION SERVICE?

If you meet any of the following criteria, you are not qualified for the transition service at this time:

• Your MCA is not linked to any Bing publisher accounts.
• MCA does not have any Bing spend over the last 90 days.
• Google’s URL Builder is not configured for Device tracking.
• Invalid Bing credentials.
• Bing keywords already contain {device}.

What if I want to opt out of the transition service?

If you do not want your Bing URLs like Google Adwords Help to be updated just now, you don’t need to take any action. This is an opt-in only service.

If your are not opting in during the offered service window (February 10, 2015 – February 22, 2015), you’ll need to make these updates yourself. Instructions for self-service URL updates can be found here.

 

What if I have multiple accounts?

• If you have multiple Bing publisher accounts linked to a single MCA, you should only opt-in if you’d like all Bing publisher accounts to be updated.
• Each Marin Client Account must be opted in individually* by clicking on the link in the Banner Alert displayed in each account. This allows customers with multiple Marin Client Accounts to opt-in to a subset of accounts, rather than all accounts.

* Your MCAs must be opted in individually unless you are told otherwise by a Marin Services Representative.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Bing – Frequently Asked Questions about Bing Enhanced Campaigns
• Bing – A Guide to Bing Enhanced Campaigns

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• FAQ: http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/device-targeting-faq-answers
• Latest blog post: http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/blogpost/129509/bing-ads-blog/changes-to-targeting-mobile-devices-coming-to-bing-ads-in-march-2015

Bing – A Guide to Bing Enhanced Campaigns

Introduction

In September 2014, Bing Ads combined tablet and PC/laptop campaigns, while smartphone campaigns remained separate. Starting on March 23rd 2015, Bing Ads will combine device targets, essentially removing the option to target mobile vs. desktop/tablet.

PLATFORM SUPPORT FOR BING ENHANCED CAMPAIGNS

The Marin Platform will continue to display device targets for the time being, however that setting will default to All Devices once pushed to Bing. Additionally, the web traffic Platform will continue to offer the ability to:

• Create and manage mobile-preferred ads.
• Set campaign-level mobile and tablet bid adjustments via single, multi, and bulk edit.
• View the bid adjustment value and device preference in respective grid views.
• Gain valuable insights via campaign performance broken down by device in the Devices sub-tabs.

PLATFORM IMPACT

Following are explanations of how this feature will change the Platform:

• General
  The merging of device targets impacts accounts that have separate campaigns set up to split Desktop+Tablet vs. Smartphone targeting (e.g. one campaign for Desktop+Tablet and one campaign for Smartphone. For these campaigns, we recommend that you review your campaigns and make necessary adjustments to avoid campaigns competing with each other.

• Bidding
  There is no impact on keyword-level calculated bids. Support for mobile bid adjustment recommendations will be available in a future release.

• Reporting
  If you’d like to report revenue and conversions by device, your URLs will need to be re-tagged to add the {device} ValueTrack parameter. If your URLs have not already been re-tagged, please read our Support Center article on how to perform this change.

If you would like to report revenue and conversions by device, then URLs will need to be re-tagged to add the {device} ValueTrack parameter. Because Smartphone and Desktop+Tablet are still available as device target options, it is recommended to re-tag URLs only if you wish to break out Tablet from Desktop.

 

Useful links

• Bing’s FAQ’s on Enhanced Campaigns: http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/device-targeting-faq
• A blog post on the March 2015 changes: http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/blogpost/129509/bing-a…
• Frequently Asked Questions about Bing Enhanced Campaigns

Bing – Frequently Asked Questions about Bing Enhanced Campaigns

Introduction

We’ve had a number of questions about the Bing Enhanced Campaigns feature, so we’ve collected some of these up and created the FAQ below.

For more information about Bing Enhanced Campaigns, please read our Help article.

How will I know if a campaign has transitioned to Enhanced Campaigns?

Bing began transitioning advertisers to Enhanced Campaigns beginning March 23rd 2015, and the transition should be completed within a two week window of this date.

What bid modifiers are available and what are the ranges?

Advertisers will be able to maintain control of their tablet and mobile targeting with tablet bid modifiers (-20 to +300 percent), and mobile bid modifiers (-100 and +300 percent). Both of these bid modifiers are available in the platform today.

What steps do I need to take to migrate my campaigns?

If you have campaigns that target mobile only, you will need to pause them and combine with the desktop+smartphone counterpart campaign to prevent double serving. Please refer to Bing’s best practices for combining campaigns: http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/device-targeting-faq-answers#prepbestpractices

Do I need to re-tag my URLs in order to see data in device tabs in the platform?

Cost data (impressions, clicks, publisher cost, etc.) is available by default for all Bing accounts. In order to report on revenue and conversion data broken down by device in the Device tabs, you will need to add {device} to your URLs. Please contact your Platform representative for recommendations and details, or read our Support Center article on how to tag URLs.

 

Do I need to re-tag my URLs in order to see data in device tabs in the platform if I use the Platform Tracker solution?

If you use Marin Tracker, we can automatically infer the device type from user clicks and conversions (IDS) so you may not need to retag URLs. Please consult with your account team.

How should I think about creating new campaigns?

We recommend that you keep this transition in mind when creating new mobile specific campaigns. As such, we suggest creating campaigns targeting all 3 device types, and using bid modifiers to optimize.

What does this mean for new client onboardings?

For new client onboardings, we suggest that if URLs are being retagged, {device} and {if[not]mobile} query parameters be inserted to avoid future re-tagging.

ing – No Bing Conversions are Appearing in the Platform

What is the issue?

Despite having revenue tracking fully set up, and having had verified conversion actions, the platform still reports zero conversions for Bing creatives. The problem occurs when using creative-level revenue tracking.

What causes the issue?

This issue is commonly caused by the following reasons:

1. The revenue tracking parameters inserted into your Destination URLs to track conversions are incorrect or mis-typed.
2. You have no tracking on the Bing creative URLs.
3. A problem at the publisher’s end, despite you properly inserting either {param1} or the Destination URL field (depending on your implementation).

If either of the above reasons applies, conversions will not be attributed properly, and the count within the platform will remain at zero.

How to diagnose the issue

In order to check whether or not your tracking parameters are causing the issue, navigate to the Creatives tab.

Then look at the Destination URLs column. Look at each of the URLs and double-check that you’re using the correct tracking parameters for Bing.

It’s possible that you may be missing opportunities to increase traffic using Google’s tracking parameters instead, or the parameters have been entered incorrectly. You can find out more about Bing’s tracking parameters in this article: Platform URL Parameters.

How to fix the issue

To fix the issue 1:

1. First you’ll need to alter your URL Builder settings so that the correct parameters are inserted. Go to the Admin section, then click the Revenue tab, then finally choose URL Builder from the left menu. Here you’ll be able to correct your tracking parameters.
2. Next you should re-download all of the affected creatives via bulk sheet by using the Create report link above the grid in the Creatives tab.
3. Finally, re-upload your bulk sheet making sure that you include the creative_id column. This will trigger the URL Builder which will correct all of the tracking parameters.

Once all of your revenue tracking parameters have been corrected and the creatives re-trafficked, you should start to see conversions tracking normally for Bing.

To fix the issue 2:

Bing defaults to use creative-level tracking, so you need to take either step:

1. Update all Bing creative URLs with tracking parameters with “keyword” and “matchtype” included
   • Make sure that the Tracking IDs setting is set to parse out the correct “keyword” and “matchtype” values in the URL.
     • You can read more information on this in the following article: How to Set Up Individual Tracking Parameters (Tracking IDs)
2. Update Bing creative URLs to {param1} in order to use keyword-level tracking
   • Go to the Creatives tab to view those Bing creative URLs that have the wrong destination URL (or is missing one completely), and update these to have a Destination URL of {param1}.
     • You can read more information on this in the following article: Setting up {param1} for Keyword-Level URL Tracking
   • Make sure that all Bing keywords have a URL with tracking parameters. Go to the Keywords tab to view those Bing keywords missing tracking parameters (i.e. missing “mkwid” tracking parameter) in the Destination URL, and reload a landing page to all those keywords via bulk upload, in which URL builder will tag on the tracking parameters.
     • You can read more information on how to tag URLs with tracking via bulk upload in the following article: How to Tag URLs via Bulk Upload

To fix the issue 3:

The Platform synced its Destination URL column with Bing Ads’ Placeholder {param1} column. That means if there is any value within the Destination URL column (at the keyword level of the Bing Ads center), this will override the Param 1 column and will not sync with the Platform.

So what you need to do is:

1. Log into your Bing Ads account, and remove all values under the Destination URL column for keywords.
2. Make sure that the correct URL with tracking is put under the Param 1 column.

You can read more information on this in the following article: Using Bing’s Destination URL Field

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Bing – Setting Up {param1} for Keyword-Level URL Tracking

Introduction

 

Important note: This article only applies if you are not currently using Bing’s Destination URL field at the keyword level. 

By default, Bing serves creative URLs on the Bing Search Engine Results Page. Therefore if you wish to have the keyword URLs serve instead (switching from creative-level tracking to keyword-level tracking), you will need to:

• Set creative destination URLs to {param1} in order to tell AdCenter Bing Ads to call upon the keyword level URL.
• Make sure all Bing keyword URLs have a URL with tracking parameters

Without the use of {param1} on creative URLs, Bing will only find and serve the creative URL while ignoring the keyword URL. This can cause issues such as:

• Loading Unattributed revenue, where revenue is only attributed to creatives and is missing for keywords. This can happen if creative URLs are missing specific tracking parameters ({keyword} and {matchtype}) that would tell the system which keyword to assign the revenue

No revenue coming through at all. This can occur if you have tracking on your Bing keyword URLs, but have not updated the Bing creative URLs to: {param1}. Instead there is a regular URL on Bing creatives that do not contain tracking. Since Bing will default to serving the Bing creative URL, this URL with no tracking will get served, and therefore no revenue will be recorded from paid search.

How to Set Up Keyword URL Tracking

There are three methods to setting Bing creatives to {param1}, Single Edit, Multi Edit and Bulk Edit.

How to identify and set Bing creatives to {param1}

1. Single Edit: Clicking into the creatives to go to the settings page and manually setting Destination URL to {param1}
2. Multi Edit: Filter to show only Bing creatives, select all creatives you want to edit and click the Edit button (‘pencil’ icon) above the grid. Select the Creative Edit option from the drop-down menu and set the Dest. URL box to {param1} and click save.Note that having the “super-select” option enabled will result in the Creative Edit option to not show. A workaround is to increase the amount of rows shown, super-select all creatives then deselect a single creative.
3. Bulk Edit: Download a Bing creative report with Account, Campaign, Group and Destination URL columns. Filter on Destination URL for Doesn’t contain {param1} and create the report. Once opened in Excel, set all URL’s to {param1} and upload the report back to the platform.
   • When you edit/add Bing creatives through bulk upload sheets in the platform, the supported method of setting the Destination URL to {param1} is to upload {param1} into the Destination URL column.

If using redirects, the Destination URL column will still need to be used to upload {param1} for creatives and not the normal Click Through URL column.

If any of the variations below is inserted into the creative Destination URL, the platform will assume the user was attempting to set the creative destination URL to {param1}:

Value	Issue
{param 1}	extra spaces will be ignored
param1	“{}” will be imputed if omitted
http://{param1}	http:// will be ignored
{PARAM1}	case will be ignored

Additional Information

• Using a capital “P” for the parameter name, as in {Param1}, will cause an issue at the moment. Changing it to {param1} should resolve the issue for now.

Bing – Using Bing’s Destination URL Field

Introduction

Important note: This article only applies if you are not currently using Bing’s Destination URL field at the keyword level. See our Support Center article for more info on how to switch to using this field. 

Bing has added a Destination URL field for keywords that is supported in the Platform, but optional. This article applies if you are not using the keyword-level Destination URL field.

• In Bing’s UI, the keyword Dest. URL field has been renamed {param1}. The functionality of this field is unchanged and it remains a valid field for keyword-level destination URLs.
• Bing added a new field: Destination URL. This field, if populated, overrides {param1}.
• This new Destination URL field will also override the ad destination URL.

Using the Destination URL field with the platform

If you are not yet using the keyword-level Destination URL field in the application, the following apply:

• URLs entered in the new Destination URL field will not appear in the app and cannot be edited in the app.
• If both the Destination URL field and the {param1} field contain values, Bing will serve ads with the Destination URL values, ignoring values in the {param1} field.
• There is currently no data migration option for clients using {param1}

As a result, clients will be unable to manage their Bing keywords from within the platform, and tracking parameters added by the platform’s URL Builder will not be served when the new Destination URL field is used. All edits made in the platform will continue to be pushed to {param1}.

For example, imagine you’ve added a Destination URL in Bing Ads interface for Keyword1 with a value of example.com/tennis, while Keyword2 is still using the {param1} field with a value of example.com/soccer.

 

 

In this case, the following would be true:

• Keyword1: Ads direct to www.example.com/tennis because new Destination URL field is populated.
• Keyword2: Ads continue to direct to www.example.com/soccer.

Additional information about the Destination URL field

If you continue to use the platform to create and manage your keywords and keyword destination URLs, you will not be affected. If you use the Bing Ads interface or desktop tool as part of your workflow, we recommend the following:

1. Ensure that keyword URLs are entered via the {param1} field and not in the Destination URL field.
2. Ensure that all new Destination URL fields are blank.

These will ensure that the correct URL is served with your ads and that the platform can continue to provide you with industry-leading campaign management.

 

Platform Support for the Bing Keyword Destination URL Field

Introduction

Historically, Bing users have needed to use {param1} values in order to set keyword-level destination URLs.

As of March 2015, you now have the option of using the dedicated Destination URL field instead. Note that {param1} values will still be sent to the publisher in just the same way, so there is no need to make the switch unless you are unhappy with your current setup.

The Bing Destination URL field is currently an opt-in only feature.

How to opt in

In order to start using the Bing Destination URL field, you will need to speak with your Platform Representative to have it activated for your account.

Important notes

Below are some handy tips about the Bing Destination URL field.

• Once this feature is activated for your account, the URL Builder and Autocorrect (if enabled) will run on the new Destination URL field rather than {param1} as before.
• This feature is completely optional, and no functionality will change by not opting-in. Please speak with your Platform Rep if you’re unsure about whether to make the switch.

Bing – Bulk Uploading Keywords to Bing Fails

What is the issue?

When uploading Bing keywords through the platform by bulk sheet, the operation may fail and provide the following error message:

Operation failed with error: Error: java.lang.NullPointerException

What causes the issue?

This problem is most likely caused by one or more of the keywords in the bulk sheet containing an extra space. Even just one double space is enough to cause the entire bulk sheet to fail.

How to diagnose and fix the issue

To check whether or not the problem is caused by a double space, follow these simple steps:

1. Open the bulk sheet in Microsoft Excel.
2. Use the Find function to search for two spaces.
3. If any results are returned, you can remove one of the spaces in each instance.
4. Re-upload the bulk sheet and the operation should complete successfully.

If the above process does not solve your problem, or you don’t find any double spaces, please get in touch with our Support Services department.

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ow to Add Device ValueTrack Parameter to Bing URLs

Introduction

Beginning on March 23, 2015, Bing Ads will begin unifying device targets, essentially removing the option to target mobile vs. desktop/tablet.

The {device} ValueTrack parameter should be added to Bing URLs in support of Bing Enhanced Campaigns (a.k.a. Unified Device Targeting).

Below are the step-by step instructions for updating your Bing URLs with this dynamic value.

Which Marin Client Accounts do not need to be updated?

If your revenue integration method is Publisher Tracking and/or you have no tracking parameters set in the URL Builder, then you do not need to update your Bing URLs.

In addition, if the URL Builder is set to Use Same Settings for All Publishers and the dynamic insertion value of [device] or {device} is present (as shown in the image below), then you may not need to update your Bing URLs.

Updating your Bing URLs

Step 1: Hard Sync Bing Publisher Account

In order to ensure that your account is fully synced in Marin, a manual sync must be performed before updating URLs.

To run a manual sync, click on the Manage Accounts button from the Channels tab. Then follow the steps outlined in the diagram below.

1a. Select your Bing Publisher Account
1b. Select Linked from the drop-down
1c. Super-select all linked-in Campaigns
1d. Click on Sync
1e. (Repeat Steps 1a-1d for each Bing account)
1f. Click on the Finish button or close the overlay

Note: Depending on the size of your Bing account, manual syncs may take hours or days. Please consider this when determining when to begin the syncing process.

While the syncing of your account is in progress, any updates to the Bing campaigns, bids, keywords, creatives, etc. must be managed in the Marin Platform directly. Syncing errors may occur if updates are made outside of the Platform during this time.

Step 2: Copy structure from Google URL builder to Bing URL builder

In order to remain aligned with the tracking structure required for your integration method, the format used for your Google URL builder should also be applied to your Bing URL builder.

Navigate to the URL Builder (Admin > Revenue > URL Builder) and follow the steps outlined below.

The screenshots and examples below show both redirect and non-redirect URLs. In either case, be sure to copy and paste the device tracking value to the same field in the Bing URL builder as it is found in the Google URL builder.

There are two ways that the URL builder may be tagged with {device}. These are classified as “separate” or “combined”, and instructions for each are shown below as “Option A” and “Option B”, respectively.

Option A: Separate device parameter

This option has a separate parameter name/value pair. (Example: &pdv={device} or &device=[device])

Step 2a (Option A): Copy the device parameter name and value from the Google tab:

 

Step 2b (Option A): Paste the device parameter name and value to the Bing tab:

 

Step 2c (Option A): Once the device parameter name and value is pasted in the Bing tab, expand the Advanced Options link to ensure that Auto-correct is On, and Click Save:

 

 

Option B: Combined device parameter

This option does not utilize a separate device parameter name/value pair. Instead, the “{device}” value track parameter is combined with unique tracking ID and separated by a delimiter such as and underscore “_” or pipe “|”. (Example: “mkwid=[uniq_id]|d{device}” or “utm_content=[uniq_id]_d{device}”)

Step 2a (Option B): Copy the appended device value next to the [uniq_id] from the Google tab:

Step 2b (Option B): Paste the appended device value to the Bing tab:

 

Step 2c (Option B): Once the device delimiter and value is pasted in the Bing tab, expand the “Advanced Options” link to ensure that Auto-correct is “On”, and click “Save”:

Step 3: Create, Edit, and Upload Bulksheets

Now that the Bing URL Builder is configured with the device tracking parameter, the Bing URLs can be updated.

The URL builder will behave differently depending on the “separate” or “combined” approach. Therefore, instructions for each option are listed below.

Option A: Create a Bulksheet for separate device parameter

 

Step 3a (Option A): Navigate to the Keyword tab and filter for Bing keywords with the status of “All but Deleted”. Then, select the following headers from the View Builder:

• Keyword (automatically selected)
  • Account
  • Campaign
  • Group
  • Match Type
  • Destination URL (or Click Through URL if using redirects)

 

Step 3b (Option A): click on the “Create Report” link, select “Include items with zero clicks”, and click “Continue”:

 

Step 3c (Option A): Download and edit your bulksheet.

Go to the Reports page to download your bulksheet.  Then delete the first 6 rows, which contain the report information. The headers will now be in the first now. If opened in Excel be sure to resolve any “#NAME?” values that may have appeared in they Keyword column due to broad match modified terms. Save the updated bulksheet in .csv or .txt format.

 

Step 3d (Option A): Upload Bulksheet
Go to the Activity Log, click on the “Keyword” link in the left navigation, and upload your bulksheet:

Step 3e (Option A): Post URLs Go to Activity Log, filter for “Publisher = Bing” and “Status = “To be sent” (or “Status = Held”). Super-select the checkboxes and click on “Post now”:

 

Option B: Create a bulksheet for a “Combined” device parameter

 

Step 3a (Option B): Navigate to the Keyword tab and filter for Bing keywords with the status of “All but Deleted”. Then, select the following headers from the View Builder:

• Keyword (automatically selected)
  • Account
  • Campaign
  • Group
  • Match Type
  • Destination URL (or Click Through URL if using redirects)

 

Step 3b (Option B): Click on the “Create Report” link, select “Include items with zero clicks”, and click “Continue”:

 

Step 3c (Option B): Download and edit your bulksheet.

Go to the Reports page to download your bulksheet.  Then delete the first 6 rows, which contain the report information. The headers will now be in the first now. If opened in Excel be sure to resolve any “#NAME?” values that may have appeared in they Keyword column due to broad match modified terms. Save the updated bulksheet in .csv or .txt format.

Step 3d (Option B): Edit Bulksheet

Because the URL Builder will not edit/overwrite existing URL parameters, the parameter containing the unique ID will need to be removed from the URLs in the bulk sheet. (For most integrations, this parameter is named “mkwid”, or “utm_content”.) Upon upload in Step 3e, the tracking parameter will be rebuilt with the device value “combined” with the unique ID.

In most cases, the removal of this parameter can be managed by running a search and replace in the excel on the Destination URL column.  However, more complicated URL formats may need to be manually edited.

The screenshots below show how a Search and Replace function can be used to remove the tracking parameter. However, this pattern may vary based on your specific URL structure.

Before Replacement:

After Replacement:

 

Step 3e (Option B): Upload Bulksheet

Go to the Activity Log, click on the “Keyword” link in the left navigation, and upload your bulksheet:

 

Step 3f (Option B): Post URLs Go to Activity Log, filter for “Publisher = Bing” and “Status = “To be sent” (or “Status = Held”). Super-select the checkboxes and click on “Post now”:

 

 

Step 4: Repeat Steps 2 & 3 above for Creatives and Product Groups (if needed).

Note: If your Bing Creatives are using {param1} as the URL, then you do not need to update the Creative URLs.

For the Creative bulksheet, select the following headers:

• Headline (automatically selected)
• Account 
• Campaign
• Group
• Desc Line 1
• Desc Line 2
• Display URL
• Destination URL
• Creative ID (will appear in the output by default)

For the Product Group bulksheet, select the following headers:

• Product Group (automatically selected)
• Account
• Campaign
• Group
• Destination URL
• Product Group ID (will appear in the output by default)

 

ow to Add Device ValueTrack Parameter to Bing URLs

Introduction

Beginning on March 23, 2015, Bing Ads will begin unifying device targets, essentially removing the option to target mobile vs. desktop/tablet.

The {device} ValueTrack parameter should be added to Bing URLs in support of Bing Enhanced Campaigns (a.k.a. Unified Device Targeting).

Below are the step-by step instructions for updating your Bing URLs with this dynamic value.

Which Marin Client Accounts do not need to be updated?

If your revenue integration method is Publisher Tracking and/or you have no tracking parameters set in the URL Builder, then you do not need to update your Bing URLs.

In addition, if the URL Builder is set to Use Same Settings for All Publishers and the dynamic insertion value of [device] or {device} is present (as shown in the image below), then you may not need to update your Bing URLs.

Updating your Bing URLs

Step 1: Hard Sync Bing Publisher Account

In order to ensure that your account is fully synced in Marin, a manual sync must be performed before updating URLs.

To run a manual sync, click on the Manage Accounts button from the Channels tab. Then follow the steps outlined in the diagram below.

1a. Select your Bing Publisher Account
1b. Select Linked from the drop-down
1c. Super-select all linked-in Campaigns
1d. Click on Sync
1e. (Repeat Steps 1a-1d for each Bing account)
1f. Click on the Finish button or close the overlay

Note: Depending on the size of your Bing account, manual syncs may take hours or days. Please consider this when determining when to begin the syncing process.

While the syncing of your account is in progress, any updates to the Bing campaigns, bids, keywords, creatives, etc. must be managed in the Marin Platform directly. Syncing errors may occur if updates are made outside of the Platform during this time.

Step 2: Copy structure from Google URL builder to Bing URL builder

In order to remain aligned with the tracking structure required for your integration method, the format used for your Google URL builder should also be applied to your Bing URL builder.

Navigate to the URL Builder (Admin > Revenue > URL Builder) and follow the steps outlined below.

The screenshots and examples below show both redirect and non-redirect URLs. In either case, be sure to copy and paste the device tracking value to the same field in the Bing URL builder as it is found in the Google URL builder.

There are two ways that the URL builder may be tagged with {device}. These are classified as “separate” or “combined”, and instructions for each are shown below as “Option A” and “Option B”, respectively.

Option A: Separate device parameter

This option has a separate parameter name/value pair. (Example: &pdv={device} or &device=[device])

Step 2a (Option A): Copy the device parameter name and value from the Google tab:

 

Step 2b (Option A): Paste the device parameter name and value to the Bing tab:

 

Step 2c (Option A): Once the device parameter name and value is pasted in the Bing tab, expand the Advanced Options link to ensure that Auto-correct is On, and Click Save:

 

 

Option B: Combined device parameter

This option does not utilize a separate device parameter name/value pair. Instead, the “{device}” value track parameter is combined with unique tracking ID and separated by a delimiter such as and underscore “_” or pipe “|”. (Example: “mkwid=[uniq_id]|d{device}” or “utm_content=[uniq_id]_d{device}”)

Step 2a (Option B): Copy the appended device value next to the [uniq_id] from the Google tab:

Step 2b (Option B): Paste the appended device value to the Bing tab:

 

Step 2c (Option B): Once the device delimiter and value is pasted in the Bing tab, expand the “Advanced Options” link to ensure that Auto-correct is “On”, and click “Save”:

Step 3: Create, Edit, and Upload Bulksheets

Now that the Bing URL Builder is configured with the device tracking parameter, the Bing URLs can be updated.

The URL builder will behave differently depending on the “separate” or “combined” approach. Therefore, instructions for each option are listed below.

Option A: Create a Bulksheet for separate device parameter

 

Step 3a (Option A): Navigate to the Keyword tab and filter for Bing keywords with the status of “All but Deleted”. Then, select the following headers from the View Builder:

• Keyword (automatically selected)
  • Account
  • Campaign
  • Group
  • Match Type
  • Destination URL (or Click Through URL if using redirects)

 

Step 3b (Option A): click on the “Create Report” link, select “Include items with zero clicks”, and click “Continue”:

 

Step 3c (Option A): Download and edit your bulksheet.

Go to the Reports page to download your bulksheet.  Then delete the first 6 rows, which contain the report information. The headers will now be in the first now. If opened in Excel be sure to resolve any “#NAME?” values that may have appeared in they Keyword column due to broad match modified terms. Save the updated bulksheet in .csv or .txt format.

 

Step 3d (Option A): Upload Bulksheet
Go to the Activity Log, click on the “Keyword” link in the left navigation, and upload your bulksheet:

Step 3e (Option A): Post URLs Go to Activity Log, filter for “Publisher = Bing” and “Status = “To be sent” (or “Status = Held”). Super-select the checkboxes and click on “Post now”:

 

Option B: Create a bulksheet for a “Combined” device parameter

 

Step 3a (Option B): Navigate to the Keyword tab and filter for Bing keywords with the status of “All but Deleted”. Then, select the following headers from the View Builder:

• Keyword (automatically selected)
  • Account
  • Campaign
  • Group
  • Match Type
  • Destination URL (or Click Through URL if using redirects)

 

Step 3b (Option B): Click on the “Create Report” link, select “Include items with zero clicks”, and click “Continue”:

 

Step 3c (Option B): Download and edit your bulksheet.

Go to the Reports page to download your bulksheet.  Then delete the first 6 rows, which contain the report information. The headers will now be in the first now. If opened in Excel be sure to resolve any “#NAME?” values that may have appeared in they Keyword column due to broad match modified terms. Save the updated bulksheet in .csv or .txt format.

Step 3d (Option B): Edit Bulksheet

Because the URL Builder will not edit/overwrite existing URL parameters, the parameter containing the unique ID will need to be removed from the URLs in the bulk sheet. (For most integrations, this parameter is named “mkwid”, or “utm_content”.) Upon upload in Step 3e, the tracking parameter will be rebuilt with the device value “combined” with the unique ID.

In most cases, the removal of this parameter can be managed by running a search and replace in the excel on the Destination URL column.  However, more complicated URL formats may need to be manually edited.

The screenshots below show how a Search and Replace function can be used to remove the tracking parameter. However, this pattern may vary based on your specific URL structure.

Before Replacement:

After Replacement:

 

Step 3e (Option B): Upload Bulksheet

Go to the Activity Log, click on the “Keyword” link in the left navigation, and upload your bulksheet:

 

Step 3f (Option B): Post URLs Go to Activity Log, filter for “Publisher = Bing” and “Status = “To be sent” (or “Status = Held”). Super-select the checkboxes and click on “Post now”:

 

 

Step 4: Repeat Steps 2 & 3 above for Creatives and Product Groups (if needed).

Note: If your Bing Creatives are using {param1} as the URL, then you do not need to update the Creative URLs.

For the Creative bulksheet, select the following headers:

• Headline (automatically selected)
• Account 
• Campaign
• Group
• Desc Line 1
• Desc Line 2
• Display URL
• Destination URL
• Creative ID (will appear in the output by default)

For the Product Group bulksheet, select the following headers:

• Product Group (automatically selected)
• Account
• Campaign
• Group
• Destination URL
• Product Group ID (will appear in the output by default)

 Bing – “There is an Error Communicating with Bing.”

What is the error?

The error will show as one of the following:

• “There is an error communicating with Bing. Please try again and contact your CEM if the problem persists”
• “Error communicating with Bing api”

When does this error appear?

This error occurs when there is an Error to be resent, Failed or Partially Succeeded bulk upload operation to Bing. This is seen in the Activity Log.

Why this error occurred

The Bing API is not functioning correctly at this moment or is running slowly.

Fixing the error through our platform

1. Try uploading your edits or new objects to the publisher again.
2. You can attempt another “edit” on the object to post to the publisher. For example, you can reinforce a Status “edit” by doing the following:

• Check to see what Status the object is in
• Within the platform grid, select that object (ie. if it is a group, go to the Groups tab and select this group)
• Select the Pause or Resume icon for the same status (ie. if the object is in a Paused status, click the Pause icon). Although this will not update the actual status, this will still be seen as an “edit”
• This “edit” will create a job seen in the Activity Log
• Push this to the publisher, and any changes seen in the previously error-ed job will also post through.

3. File a Support ticket if you continue to experience this error.

Bing – How to Track Rich Ads in Search (RAIS) Conversions

·         Introduction

Rich Ads in Search, or RAIS, for Bing are similar to regular ads, and appear in the same space within the SERPs, except that they offer richer content to the user. For example, a RAIS may include videos, images, deep links, or a combination of all of these.

Tracking RAIS Using The Platform

We currently support one method of tracking Rich Ads in Search. This method allows marketers to attribute the conversion back to the keyword which drove the conversion. This is achieved by simply inserting {param1} as the deep link URL and Destination URL for the RAIS ad in Bing.

Please also make sure all keywords within the Bing group have a URL with tracking parameters. The downside of this method is that it does not allow marketers to use a custom landing page for a deep link. This method is ideal for marketers who wish to use ROI based bidding on groups with RAIS ads.

Troubleshooting Rich Ads In Search

Once you are tracking conversions resulting from clicks on your RAIS, you may encounter issues. We’ll list some potential pitfalls below.

Clicks Showing In Bing Ads, But No (Or Few) Conversions In The Platform

This situation can occur when clicks are being made on the headline of the ad, rather than the ‘rich’ elements (such as the deep link or image). If you’re sure tracking is set up correctly, you can verify this by running a Rich Ad Component Report within Bing Ads. Just follow these steps:

1. In Bing Ads, click Reports.
2. ChooseRich Ad Component from the Report Typedrop-down.
3. Choose the date range.
4. Expand Choose Your Columns and add Component Destination URL.
5. Run your report, and download it if you wish.

This situation can also occur if you have an actual URL with tracking parameters as the deep link URL and Destination URL for the RAIS ad type (not setup with: {param1}). What will happen is that any conversions stemming from these URLs will fail to attribute in the account since the system does not sync these ad types in. The result in the revenue files will say: Failed: No matches found. To fix this, please update all URLs for the RAIS ad type to: {param1}

Additional Information

• Please feel free to read more on deep links in the following Bing Ads Blog for more information: Grow Conversions During the Credit Crunch with Deep Links

Bing – Keyword Level Conversions Data Not Matching Creative Level or Total Conversion Data

WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

When using creative level tracking for Bing, you may notice that you miss keyword level revenue compared to the creative-level revenue and/or compared to the totals row in the Keywords tab.

WHAT CAUSES THE ISSUE?

This problem most commonly occurs when you use Creative Level tracking for Bing and have the {MatchType} parameter instead of {BidMatchType} for some or all of your keywords.

This results in different figures being displayed in the keyword level revenue, and creates discrepancies between the keyword level revenue vs. the creative level and total revenue in the platform.

Why This Issue Occurs:

Bing populates the {MatchType} parameter with the served, rather than bidded match type. Therefore, it’s possible that a keyword/match type pair does not exist within the group to attribute to.

For instance, if your group only contains broad match keywords, but a user searched for the exact keyword, it would be returned as “exact” when using the {MatchType} parameter. Therefore, we would not attribute to any keyword, since there is no exact match within that group.

HOW TO FIX THE ISSUE

You can update your URL Builder settings and update the URLs from {MatchType} to {BidMatchType}.

Useful links

• For more information on {BidMatchType}, please read our Support Center article: https://marketinginsights.zendesk.com/entries/25199621

Bing – Platform Support for the {BidMatchType} Parameter

Introduction

The platform offers full support for the Bing {BidMatchType} and {MatchType} dynamic tracking parameters.

{BIDMATCHTYPE} vs. {MATCHTYPE}

Bing offers two different dynamic tracking parameters for keyword Match Type that can be used in URLs for tracking purposes:

• {BidMatchType}: This parameter returns the bid match type of the keyword that triggered the ad. This is the match type selected by the advertiser when creating the keyword. This is also the match type shown in the platform.
• {MatchType}: This parameter returns the delivered match type that was used by Bing to match the keyword and the users’s search query. This may or may not be equal to the match type shown in the platform.
• These two parameters resolve with the following values:
  • {MatchType}: b, e, p, c 
  • {BidMatchType}: bb, be, bp, bc

Example

Let’s assume an advertiser creates the keyword ‘red shoes’ with match type Broad. If a web users searches for ‘buy red shoes’, this query would match the keyword. In this case, the bid match type (i.e. {BidMatchType}) is Broad, because that is the match type set by the user for the keyword. The delivered match type (i.e. {MatchType}), however, is Phrase because the exact phrase ‘red shoes’ is contained in the user’s search query.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TRACKING

As of August 2013, the platform supports the values returned by {BidMatchType} (i.e. bb, be, bp, bc) in the Match Type column of revenue upload files.

Since the platform must receive the bid match type in revenue upload files in order to properly identify the keyword that led to a conversion, {BidMatchType} should be used in Bing URLs whenever possible.

If you are using creative-level tracking, you must use {BidMatchType} on Bing URLs for tracking to work as expected. If you have {matchtype} instead of {BidMatchType} in the URLs, you may see Warning: Attributed only to the creative in the Results column of revenue files for Bing objects.

5 Key Tactics to Unlock Missed Opportunities on Bing

Introduction

Bing Ads now accounts for nearly 30% of the US search market, and is a powerful way to reach over 150 million unique searchers. Even better? Searchers on Bing spend 31% more than the average Internet searcher. Today’s sophisticated advertisers know the importance of investing in Bing Ads. But with all the demands on their time and attention, there is often room for improvement. That’s why we’re revealing 5 key tactics to unlock missed opportunities on Bing. This content is also available in webinar format here.

These tactics take advantage of Marin’s powerful cloner (or copy) tool. We introduced this handy feature back in 2008 as a way to avoid the time-consuming, error-prone process of manually duplicating campaigns across publishers. Cloner supports copying campaigns, groups, keywords, creative, campaign-level sitelinks, placements, and negative keywords. This makes it easy to use at any level, even when copying within the same publisher. Renaming your newly copied campaigns is also quick – simply use bulk management or find and replace.

 

 

Now let’s dive into the 5 tactics you need to know!

Tactic #1 – Capitalize on Top-Performing Campaigns

You already have successful campaigns on other publishers, so why not take advantage of these on Bing as well? Marin’s cloner tool makes it quick and easy to copy top-performing campaigns from one publisher to another. Consider copying campaigns that are hitting or exceeding profitability targets, campaigns that are reaching your budget limit, or campaigns that are on the cusp of profitability and could benefit from a reasonable decrease in CPC.

• Bonus Tip! Based on our Q3 2014 benchmark data, we saw Bing click share increase more than 10% in the B2B, Healthcare, and Travel verticals. Consider making an extra investment in Bing if you advertise in these verticals.

 

 

Tactic #2 – Cash in on Your Best Keywords

Often the keywords you have on Bing do not match up with the keywords you have on other publishers, so it’s worth taking a look at this discrepancy. Moving profitable keywords is a great way to get additional volume in a way that improves overall performance. To do this, identify your top-performing keywords on other publishers and check to see if they’re also on Bing. From there, simply use Marin’s cloner tool to launch those keywords on Bing. Marin can help identify these opportunities for you, so ask your account team if you have questions.

• Bonus Tip! Marin’s bidding is also capable of using Google keyword performance data to calculate Bing keywords in the event that the Bing keywords have no historical data. To do this, add the Bing keywords to the same Folder where the Google keywords live until you have enough volume for Bing to bid on its own.  This is the best strategy if you expect performance to be similar across Google and Bing. An alternate option is to set up your new Bing campaigns separately as an exploratory spend folder until you know how they will perform.

 

Tactic #3 – Reconsider Budget Capped Campaigns

Marin filters make it easy to quickly identify which Bing campaigns are hitting your KPIs, but also which campaigns are hitting your budget caps. Simply compare your daily budget with your publisher cost, and consider changing your daily budget to expand volume with a few clicks. You can do this in Marin by using in-line editing, or by using multi-select to increase budgets in bulk by a dollar amount or percentage increase.

• Bonus Tip! This is also a good opportunity to cut unprofitable campaigns on other publishers and reallocate that wasted spend to new and profitable campaigns on Bing.

 

 

Tactic #4 – Sell More with Sitelinks

If you’re not already using them, sitelinks are a great way to maximize performance on Bing. They take up more real estate in the search engine results so you can push competitors farther down the page. They also allow you to provide a more relevant experience for searchers by deep linking into more specific pages. Finally, sitelinks are known to boost CTR by 10-20%. Marin does all the heavy lifting when it comes to sitelinks, so management is faster than what you would experience directly through Bing. Use Marin to manage in bulk so you don’t have to go from campaign to campaign, and try the cloner tool to copy sitelinks between campaigns. This is a great way to pick up some time-savings and get sitelinks live quickly.

• Bonus Tip! Bing supports a maximum of 10 sitelinks. If you try to copy a campaign that is linked to more than 10 sitelinks from another publisher to Bing, only 10 will succeed and the remaining sitelinks will be ignored.

 

 

Tactic #5 – Set Up Bing Product Ads

Similar to sitelinks, Bing Product Ads are another great opportunity to expand your reach and visibility. Featuring images of the products you offer, Product Ads are a rich and compelling way to reach your potential customers and send them immediately to where they can buy. Additionally, they make it possible to take up more real estate on the search engine results page – even allowing for multiple listings in the form of text ads and Product Ads. Marin’s workflow allows you to manage both ad types in our platform for valuable time-savings.

• Bonus Tip! Advertisers using Product Ads can reach up to 31 million unique retail searchers who don’t use other search engines.

Useful resources

Now that you’re armed with these tactics, we also want to equip you with some helpful resources:

• Learn more about Marin’s cloner tool. Get all the details in our help article, and also stay tuned for additional support in the coming months. We’re planning to offer copying for location targeting settings, radius targeting, and eventually zip code targeting.
• Read our Intelligence Report. This quick read is full of data and details that make a clear case for stretching your advertising budget using Bing Ads.
• See how one company boosted conversions by 259%. Sykes Cottages reinvigorated their Bing campaigns after onboarding with Marin, and achieved great results.
• Review Bing benchmark data. Our Q3 2014 benchmark report revealed key stats on Bing click share and spend share. You can see the highlights here.
• Watch the webinar. Get more details on this exact content from Nate Sandford, Regional Vice President of Customer Success at Marin and Kate Stonich, a seasoned Bing Ads Trainer.
• Get $1000 to get started! If you’re not currently using Bing, give it a try with this special offer.