After last week’s steady stream of updates from Google, Bing brought to our attention that they haven’t exactly been twiddling their thumbs. Below is a list of recent enhancements to your Bing Ads experience.
Opt out of exact match plurals
It’s amazing the difference one little “s” can make. After all, there’s not much funny about the four humors, right? Before, if advertisers wanted to differentiate between the singular and plural of their exact match keyword, they needed to contact Bing Support. Now the option is available in both the Editor and the API.
Automatic destination URL tagging
Make the burdens of PPC task tedium a little bit easier by letting Bing share the load. Bing Ads can now automatically tag your ad destination URLs for compatibility with Google Analytics.
Smarter keyword interpretation
“Down with arbitrary keyword rejections,” we say, and Bing agrees. Keywords with subtle variations, such as hyphens (sightseeing versus sight-seeing) or pronunciation indicators (blase versus blasé) may now happily co-exist in the same Ad Group without being ripped apart by the meddling hand of their Bing overlords.
Editor update
Download the latest updates to the Bing Editor to equip your PPC toolbelt with improved targeting, faster uploading, and more! You can do that here.
Sign-in Changes
In an effort to increase security during the sign-in process, when you now login you’ll be prompted to change your credentials to an existing Microsoft account, or to create one.
API Updates
Upgrade to Bing Ads API Version 9
Bing has retired the 8th version of their API, so make sure you acquire the latest incarnation. Need some help with the process? Bing’s got you covered with this migration guide.
Upgrade code for Sitelink Extension change
Hey, new string fields will allow advertisers to have two lines of description text for each of their site links. For more information on the technicalities behind achieving this change, head on over to the Microsoft Developer’s Network.
More account security!
In a pre-emptive strike against fraudulent in-account activity, Bing has introduced a “suspended” value for the statuses of your account and campaigns. If you ever encounter this value, you’ll need to contact Bing Ads Support.
So there it is, a veritable cornucopia of enhancements all in one place.
(featured image by Len Matthews/Flickr)
