Effective targeting separates profitable Microsoft Ads campaigns from money-wasting ones. While the platform offers many of the same targeting options as Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising provides one major exclusive advantage: LinkedIn profile targeting—a feature impossible to replicate on any other search platform.
This comprehensive guide covers every Microsoft Ads targeting option available in 2026, from demographic filters to advanced remarketing strategies.
Microsoft Advertising offers layered targeting that lets you reach specific audiences across the Microsoft Search Network, which includes Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, AOL, and partner sites. The platform reaches over 100 million daily searchers, and its targeting capabilities help you find the right users within that audience.
Microsoft's targeting options fall into several categories:
| Targeting Type | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Demographic | Age, gender, household income | Broad audience refinement |
| Geographic | Location-based targeting | Local/regional businesses |
| Device | Desktop, mobile, tablet | Platform-specific campaigns |
| LinkedIn Profile | Company, industry, job function | B2B campaigns |
| In-Market Audiences | Purchase-intent signals | Bottom-funnel targeting |
| Custom Audiences | Your first-party data | Remarketing & lookalikes |
In January 2026, Microsoft announced a partnership with Epsilon for "Third-Party Search" targeting, adding even more precision targeting capabilities to the platform.
Microsoft Ads demographic targeting lets you filter your audience by personal attributes. These options work across Search, Audience, and Shopping campaigns.
Age Groups:
Gender:
Household Income (U.S. only):
Microsoft's audience tends to skew toward users 35+ years old with above-average household incomes, making demographic targeting particularly valuable for reaching affluent, professional audiences.
This is Microsoft Advertising's standout differentiator. Because Microsoft owns LinkedIn, it's the only platform outside LinkedIn offering LinkedIn Profile Targeting—a capability Google simply cannot match.
Company Targeting:
Industry Targeting:
Job Function Targeting:
According to Search Engine Land, LinkedIn Professional Demographics can be used in:
Microsoft reports impressive results from LinkedIn targeting:
In-market audiences let you reach users who are actively researching or comparing products and services in specific categories. Microsoft identifies these users based on their search and browsing behavior across the Microsoft network.
Microsoft analyzes signals including:
Microsoft offers hundreds of in-market audience categories across verticals including:
Custom audiences let you leverage your own first-party data to reach users who have already interacted with your business.
Create audiences based on website visitors:
Upload your own customer data to target:
Enhanced Conversions connects your CRM data to track conversions more accurately and build better audience lists.
Microsoft can create lookalike audiences based on your remarketing lists or customer match data, finding new users who share characteristics with your existing customers.
Microsoft Ads offers flexible location targeting:
Location Types:
Targeting Methods:
Location Exclusions:
Target users by device type:
Device Bid Adjustments:
Microsoft's audience skews heavily toward desktop users, making desktop targeting particularly valuable on this platform.
Proper conversion tracking is essential for targeting optimization. Without it, you can't measure which audiences drive results.
The Universal Event Tracking (UET) tag is required for:
Microsoft's Enhanced Conversions use first-party data to improve tracking accuracy, especially important as third-party cookies phase out.
The most effective campaigns combine multiple targeting types:
For B2B advertisers, combine:
| Audience Type | Suggested Bid Adjustment |
|---|---|
| Remarketing (cart abandoners) | +30% to +50% |
| LinkedIn (target companies) | +20% to +40% |
| In-market (high intent) | +15% to +25% |
| Demographics (ideal customer) | +10% to +20% |
LinkedIn profile targeting lets you reach users based on their professional attributes—company, industry, and job function—within Microsoft Advertising search campaigns. Since Microsoft owns LinkedIn, this targeting is exclusive to Microsoft Ads and unavailable on any other search platform.
Install the Universal Event Tracking (UET) tag on your website, then create remarketing lists in the Audiences section of Microsoft Advertising. You can segment by pages visited, time on site, and recency. Minimum audience size is typically 300 users before the list becomes active.
Microsoft Advertising allows importing campaign structures from Google Ads, including some audience settings. However, Google-specific audiences (like Google's in-market segments) won't transfer directly—you'll need to recreate them using Microsoft's equivalent targeting options.
"Target" (target and bid) shows ads only to users in that audience. "Bid only" (observation) shows ads to everyone but lets you adjust bids for specific audiences. Start with "bid only" to collect data before narrowing to "target" mode.
Ready to maximize your Microsoft Ads targeting? Contact our team for a free campaign audit, or schedule a consultation to discuss how LinkedIn profile targeting can transform your B2B advertising results.
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