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How to: Bing URL Negation

So you want to automate URL exclusions for Microsoft Ads?

Overview of Documentation:

  1. Before you start...

  2. Creating a workflow

  3. Why use this workflow?

  4. Understanding Run Types (First-Time Setup vs Daily Runs)

  5. Step-by-Step Setup Guide

  6. Troubleshooting

‼️Before you start...

Submit a ticket on Alli Service Desk to authenticate Microsoft Ads API access

Feature = Workflows

Sidebar = Actions > Workflows

Title = [Client Name] Microsoft URL Negation V2 Authentication

Tell us what's going on... = Copy and paste the below, replace Account ID with your Microsoft Ads Account ID:

Please set up Microsoft Ads API authentication for URL Negation V2

Microsoft Ads Account ID: [insert Account ID from aid= URL parameter]
Client Name: [insert Client Name]

Why is this needed?
The workflow requires Microsoft Ads API credentials (Developer Token, OAuth Client ID/Secret, Refresh Token) to be configured as environment variables. The Solutions team will set these up for you.

Wait for confirmation from the Solutions team before proceeding to create your workflow.

Creating a Workflow

Alli Solutions - Bing URL Negation

Use the Alli Solutions - Bing URL Negation

Why use Bing URL Negation

Purpose-built for Placement Optimization: This workflow automates the process of identifying and excluding underperforming publisher URLs from Microsoft Ads campaigns. If your campaigns are serving on low-quality placements that consume budget without delivering results, this automation is the most efficient way to protect your media spend.

When to use it:

  • Your Microsoft Ads campaigns are serving on the Audience Network or partner sites

  • You're seeing high impressions/spend but low clicks/conversions on certain placements

  • You want to automate recurring URL exclusion analysis instead of manually reviewing publisher reports

  • You need to apply exclusions across multiple campaigns consistently

  • You want to maintain a whitelist of protected domains (e.g., search properties, trusted publishers)

Key benefits:

  • Automation: Eliminates the manual process of downloading publisher reports, analyzing performance, and applying exclusions campaign-by-campaign

  • Data-Driven: Uses your custom performance thresholds to identify underperforming URLs objectively

  • Consistency: Applies exclusions across all active Search, Shopping, and Dynamic Search Ads campaigns simultaneously

  • Protection: Whitelist functionality prevents accidental exclusion of critical domains

  • Timeliness: Daily runs ensure new underperforming URLs are caught quickly before wasting significant budget

Understanding Run Types

The workflow has two run modes: Historical and Daily. Understanding when to use each is critical for successful setup.

Historical Run

When to use:

  • ✅ First time running the workflow

  • ✅ After a previous run failed

  • ✅ When you want to reset and re-analyze all historical data

What it does:

  • Analyzes performance data from the last 90 days (configurable)

  • Ignores any existing exclusions already applied to campaigns

  • Creates a "clean slate" exclusion list based purely on performance thresholds

  • Note: This will fetch ALL underperforming URLs, even if they're already excluded

Expected behavior on first run:

  1. The workflow will create a datasource named microsoft_publisher_performance

  2. The workflow will exit with an error indicating the datasource needs authentication

  3. This is expected! It's a one-time setup requirement

Daily Run

When to use:

  • ✅ After your first successful Historical run

  • ✅ For all scheduled/recurring runs

What it does:

  • Only analyzes URLs that are not already excluded on campaigns

  • Performs incremental updates (adds new underperforming URLs without re-processing old ones)

  • More efficient and faster than Historical runs

Important: Do not use Daily mode until you've completed at least one successful Historical run.

Step-by-Step Setup Guide

Instructions for finding the microsoft ads account id in platform


  1. Microsoft Ads Account ID

    • This must be a numeric ID with no letters or special characters.

    • To find it, log in to Microsoft Ads, and look at the URL in your browser.

    • Look for the parameter aid=XXXXXX — this number is your Account ID.

      • Screenshot 2025-05-19 at 4.41.01 PM.png

         

    • ⚠️ Do not use the Account ID shown in the UI — use the one from the URL (Refer to the image).

Step 1: Create the Workflow

  1. Go to Alli Platform → Actions → Workflows

  2. Click Create Workflow

  3. Select template: Alli Solutions - Microsoft URL Negation V2

Step 2: Fill in Required Inputs

Pay special attention to the thresholds field.

Threshold Requirements:

  • You must provide at least two thresholds

  • At least one "upper bound" (impressions OR spend)

  • At least one "lower bound" (clicks OR conversions)

Example valid combinations:

  • ✅ Impressions + Clicks

  • ✅ Spend + Conversions

  • ✅ Impressions + Spend + Clicks + Conversions

  • ❌ Only Clicks + Conversions (missing upper bound)

Step 3: First Run (Expected to Fail)

  1. Click Save and Run

  2. The workflow will:

    • Create the microsoft_publisher_performance datasource

    • Exit with an error: DataSourceNotSetup

This is expected! Proceed to Step 4.

Step 4: Authenticate the Datasource

  1. Go to Alli Data → Search for microsoft_publisher_performance

  2. Click on the datasource to open it

Configure the datasource:

a. Required Authorizations tab:

  • Click Authorize and complete the Microsoft Ads OAuth flow

b. Additional Configurations tab:

  • Under Account Name, select your Microsoft Ads account from the dropdown

c. Define Your Data tab:

  • Metrics: Select the following (required):

    • ✅ Impressions

    • ✅ Clicks

    • ✅ Spend

    • ✅ Conversions

  • Dimensions: Ensure Goal is selected

d. Load Your Data tab:

  • Set Backfill Date to cover the last 90 days (recommended for statistical significance)

  1. Click Save on the datasource

Step 5: Re-run the Workflow

  1. Return to your workflow

  2. Click Run again (with the same inputs from Step 2)

  3. The workflow should now complete successfully

Success indicators:

  • ✅ Workflow status shows "Completed"

  • ✅ Output shows number of URLs excluded

  • ✅ No error messages in logs

Step 6: Switch to Daily Mode

  1. Edit your workflow

  2. Change run_type from historical to daily

  3. Save the workflow

  4. Set up a schedule (recommended: daily at 9 AM)

You're done! The workflow will now run daily and automatically exclude new underperforming URLs.

Important Caveats

1. Campaign-Level Exclusions

Exclusions are applied at the campaign level, not account level.

Impact: If you launch a new campaign after the workflow runs, exclusions will not automatically apply to it. You must:

  • Run the workflow again manually, OR

  • Wait for the next scheduled run

2. Datasource Naming

The workflow requires a datasource named exactly microsoft_publisher_performance.

Impact: If you have a similar datasource with a different name, the workflow will create a new one and ignore your existing datasource - which okay.

Troubleshooting

Need more help?

  1. Take a screenshot of the error/output

  2. Note the Microsoft Ads Account ID used

  3. Open a Jira ticket in Alli Service Desk:

    • Feature: Workflows

    • Title: [Client Name] Microsoft URL Negation V2 Issue

    • Description: Include client name, account ID, workflow link, and error screenshot

  4. If no response within 48 hours, escalate to #alli-search-automation Slack channel