• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 6, 2023

Microsoft Advertising has an advertising verification requirement that it plans to enforce beginning August 1. The move follows the program's announcement in June 2022. 

"We want our customers to have choice and control through transparency, so in addition to making our network safer, one of the primary goals of AIV is to increase visibility to those who interact with our ads," Sarah Ralston, senior service engineering manager at Microsoft Advertising; and Sandeep Krishnan, senior program manager at Microsoft Advertising, wrote in a blog post. 

To support the goal, all ads will display the name and location of the advertiser, the business, or the individual who is funding the ad, as well as information about why they are seeing an ad, such as targeting parameters.

Important dates to keep in mind:

• July 1: New advertisers must be verified before Microsoft will serve ads.
• July 15: Contact Microsoft support if account is not verified and haven’t received an email from Microsoft about account verification.
• Aug. 1: Microsoft Advertising starts only serving ads from verified advertisers.

Understanding the identity verification process is critical, especially in this late stage of authorization.

Whenever Microsoft Advertising requires advertiser identity verification, the advertiser will receive an email request and an in-product notification for one or more of the accounts.

The request will contain verification instructions that must be completed within 30 days, or else the account may be paused and ads will stop serving. The review process may take three to five business days.

Microsoft may pause the account if the advertiser fails the verification. To appeal a decision, advertisers can contact Support.

Microsoft Advertising has also announced the launch of an Ad Library where users can view ads shown on Bing that have impressions serving for ads serving in the European Union. Users can search for ads in the Ad Library via the advertiser’s name or words in the ad creative. The advertiser’s details will be displayed in the Ad Library.

Advertisers in the U.S. could choose to target markets in Europe, or may select the option to also have their ads shown if a user searches about their location. In those instances, an advertiser based in the U.S. may have ads appear in European markets and would be included in the Ad Library.