Troubleshooting

Bing Ads Troubleshooting Guide

Use this practical checklist to diagnose account issues, restore delivery, and get accurate reporting inside Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads).

Quick Diagnostic Checklist

Run through these items in order before making campaign-level changes:

  • Confirm the account is active and fully funded (no billing hold or payment failure).
  • Verify campaigns, ad groups, and keywords are enabled and not hitting daily budget caps.
  • Check ad disapprovals and policy notifications in the Microsoft Advertising UI.
  • Review change history for recent edits that may have throttled delivery.
  • Test destination URLs and tracking templates for 200-status responses.

Account Access & Billing Issues

When Bing Ads stops serving suddenly, it is usually tied to a permissions or billing flag.

Billing Hold

Navigate to Tools > Billing > Payments and confirm the primary payment method is valid. If a charge failed, submit a manual payment to reactivate delivery.

For invoices, upload the remittance details through the billing center and notify your Microsoft rep if the hold persists.

User Permissions

In Tools > Account access, confirm you still have "Super Admin" or "Standard User" rights. Agency MSA updates can unlink accounts unexpectedly.

If access was revoked, request a new invitation from the billing contact tied to the customer account.

Conversion Tracking Problems

Tracking gaps often lead to automated bidding instability. Revalidate every layer of the UET (Universal Event Tracking) setup.

  1. Open Tools > UET tags to confirm the active tag ID matches the snippet on-site.
  2. Use the UET Tag Helper browser extension to verify page load and event firing. Look for "Tag Active" in green.
  3. For server-side or tag manager setups, confirm event parameters (`ec`, `ea`, `el`, `ev`) are passed exactly as defined.
  4. In Conversion Goals, confirm the goal status is "Recording conversions" and the scope is "Account".
  5. Compare Microsoft Ads conversions against analytics or CRM data to identify if the gap is tracking or attribution delay.

After fixes, allow 2–3 hours for conversions to reappear. Automated bidding strategies may need 3–5 days to stabilize once conversions resume.

Delivery & Bid Strategy Troubleshooting

If campaigns are running but volume or CPA swings unexpectedly, work through these diagnostics.

Symptom Likely Cause Fix
Impressions drop to zero Audience targeting too narrow, bid strategy limited by budget, or negative keyword conflict Expand audiences, increase max CPC cap, and run the conflict report under Tools > Keywords.
CPA spikes overnight Automated bid strategy reacting to stale conversion data Switch temporarily to Enhanced CPC, import offline conversions, or increase conversion window coverage.
High click volume but low conversions Destination issues, search partner traffic, or query mismatch Audit search terms, exclude low-quality partners, and tighten match types with exact negatives.
Lead quality complaints Lack of qualification in ad copy or landing page form Clarify offers, add qualifying questions, or implement caller IVR screening.

Escalating With Microsoft Support

If the problem persists, document your findings and escalate efficiently.

  • Collect supporting evidence: screenshots, change history export, tag helper output, and URLs tested.
  • Open a ticket via Help > Contact Microsoft Advertising support and include the customer ID and impacted campaigns.
  • Request call-back support for billing holds and ad policy reviews; chat works well for editorial questions.
  • Follow up every 24 hours with fresh data until the case status is "Resolved".

Preventive Maintenance Plan

Keep a lightweight runbook to avoid repeat outages.

Weekly

  • Review change history and confirm automated rules executed successfully.
  • Spot-check key conversion pages with the UET Tag Helper.
  • Export search terms and trim waste via negative keyword lists.

Monthly

  • Reconcile conversions against CRM wins to catch attribution gaps.
  • Audit budgets versus actual spend to prevent pacing issues.
  • Update ad copy and assets based on evolving search term themes.

Downloadable Troubleshooting Log

Keep a shared document so account stakeholders know what was tested and what's pending.