How to Track Microsoft Bing Ads Keyword Performance and Analyze Engagement in GA4

As a marketing manager, understanding the performance of your keywords is crucial to optimizing your campaigns. Tracking engagement metrics like session duration and bounce rates can help you identify which keywords are driving quality traffic and which ones are underperforming. In this post, we’ll guide you through how to set up URL tracking options in Microsoft Bing Ads and view keyword engagement reports in Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Even if you’re not a technical expert, we’ll keep things simple!

But why is this necessary? Doesn’t Microsft Ads display this data like Google Ads does?

Unlike Google Ads, which automatically integrates with Google Analytics (GA4) to display performance data such as session duration, bounce rate, and keyword-level insights, Microsoft Ads requires a more manual setup. In Google Ads, performance data is seamlessly tracked and displayed without additional configuration, making it easy for marketers to access both ad metrics and engagement data in one place. However, with Microsoft Ads, you must manually add UTM parameters or a tracking template to your ad URLs in order to track detailed keyword performance in GA4. While this extra step may seem like a hassle, it allows for greater customization in the data you collect, but does require more effort compared to the automated tracking in Google Ads.

Step 1: Set Up URL Tracking Options in Microsoft Bing Ads

To track the performance of your keywords, you need to add tracking parameters to your ad URLs. These parameters allow Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to identify the source of your traffic, such as the keyword, campaign, and medium. Follow these easy steps to add tracking in Microsoft Bing Ads:

1. Log in to Microsoft Ads
   Go to Microsoft Ads and log into your account.
2. Navigate to Your Ads
   In the Campaigns tab, select the campaign or ad group where you want to add the tracking parameters.
3. Open the Ad URL Options
   Click on the ad you want to edit. Scroll down to the Ad URL Options or Tracking Template section.
4. Add UTM Parameters
   Here, you can add UTM parameters to track keyword performance. Use this format:

   {lpurl}?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={Campaign}&utm_term={Keyword}

   • utm_source=bing: Tracks traffic from Microsoft Bing Ads.
   • utm_medium=cpc: Indicates that the traffic is from a cost-per-click ad.
   • utm_campaign={Campaign}: Automatically adds your campaign name.
   • utm_term={Keyword}: Dynamically inserts the keyword that triggered your ad.
5. Save Your Changes
   Click Save to apply the changes to your ad.

That’s it! With these UTM parameters in place, you’re now ready to track keyword performance in GA4.

Step 2: View Engagement Reports in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Now that you’ve set up tracking, you can view engagement metrics in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how well your Microsoft Bing Ads keywords are performing.

1. Log in to Google Analytics 4
   Go to your GA4 property and sign in.
2. Create a Custom Report
   Click on the Explore tab in GA4. Select Free Form to create a custom report.
3. Add Dimensions and Metrics
   Add Source/Medium or Campaign as a dimension to filter your Microsoft Ads traffic. Add Keyword (from the UTM parameters) as another dimension. Add Session Duration and Engagement Metrics (like bounce rate or pages per session) as the metrics to analyze how users interact with your site.
4. Filter for Microsoft Ads Traffic
   In the filters section, make sure to select bing / cpc as the source/medium to focus only on your Microsoft Bing Ads traffic.
5. Review the Data
   Once your report is set up, look at metrics like Average Session Duration or Engaged Sessions. These metrics help you assess how well visitors from specific keywords are engaging with your website.

Step 3: Identify Low-Performing Keywords

By analyzing the engagement metrics in GA4, you can identify which keywords are underperforming. Keywords with short session durations or high bounce rates are likely bringing in low-quality traffic, and may need to be adjusted or paused.

• If a keyword has high impressions but low session duration, it might not be relevant to users or may need better targeting.
• If a keyword has a high bounce rate, it could indicate that visitors aren’t finding what they expected on your site, signaling a need for better landing page optimization.

Conclusion

By adding URL tracking options in Microsoft Bing Ads and using GA4 to view engagement reports, you can make data-driven decisions to improve your campaigns. This will allow you to weed out low-performing keywords and focus on those that drive quality traffic, ultimately leading to more successful marketing efforts.

Remember, even if you’re not a technical expert, the steps above will help you track, measure, and optimize your Microsoft Bing Ads campaigns effectively! Most importantly, you can weed out the keywords that are not performing and wasting your ad spend.