Flight log / Transmission 021
Importing Google Ads into Microsoft Ads without importing your mistakes
Microsoft's Google Ads import can bring over up to 20,000 campaigns and 20 million keywords. It copies your wasted spend at exactly the same speed.
> Clean up Google first, install the Microsoft UET tag, then run a one-time import of only your proven Search campaigns. After import, reset bid strategies, rebuild budgets, re-check negatives, rebuild audiences that didn't transfer, fix UTMs, review assets and add LinkedIn targeting. Use scheduled imports only if Google stays your source of truth.
The Google Ads import is how a lot of advertisers end up on Microsoft Advertising in the first place. It's fast, it's free and it mostly works. "Mostly" is where the money goes.
An imported account is a copy of a Google account sitting in a different auction, with different users, different matching and a list of things that didn't make the trip. This guide covers the steps, the gaps and the changes to make before the first dollar spends. If you're still weighing Microsoft Ads vs. Google Ads, start with Bing Ads vs. Google Ads.
// 01 · pre-flight checklistWhat should you fix before importing Google Ads?
Everything you'd be embarrassed to see twice. The import doesn't judge; it copies.
- Pause or remove losers in Google first. Campaigns, keywords and ads that haven't produced qualified conversions shouldn't get a second budget.
- Tidy your negatives. Consolidate into shared lists so they're easy to audit after import. Our negative keyword lists guide covers the structure.
- Fix naming collisions. Microsoft campaign names aren't case-sensitive, so "Brand Search" and "brand search" will throw a duplicate error.
- Install the UET tag and create Microsoft conversion goals. Imported goals don't record anything without Microsoft's own tag on the site.
- Decide your source of truth. If Google stays the master and Microsoft mirrors it, you'll use scheduled imports. If Microsoft will be optimized separately, you'll import once.
The import is a photocopier, not an editor. Whatever your account looked like the day you ran it is what arrives on the other side, coffee stains included.
How do you import Google Ads into Microsoft Ads?
The flow lives under Import in the Microsoft Advertising interface. The steps:
- Choose Import from Google Ads and sign in with a Google account that has access to the source account.
- Pick the Google Ads account and the campaigns to import. Select specific campaigns, not "all."
- Set import options: what to bring over, how to handle bids and budgets, URL tracking, and what future imports may update.
- Choose a schedule: run now, once at a set time, or on a recurring schedule.
- Review and run. Then read the import summary, including skipped items and warnings, before activating anything.
Microsoft's documented limits are generous: up to 20,000 campaigns, 10 million ad groups, 20 million keywords, 20 million ads and 5.5 million ad group and campaign negative keywords combined. Size won't stop you. Judgment should.
How do scheduled imports work?
Microsoft's import supports these schedules: Auto, where Microsoft varies the timing, plus Now, Once, Daily, Weekly and Monthly. A scheduled import keeps pulling Google changes into Microsoft, and options control details like whether removed Google entities get deleted and whether Microsoft budgets are adjusted by a set percentage.
Now the fine print. Microsoft says some fields only update on the initial import, including keyword match types, ad group bids, ad rotation and native bid adjustments. Plenty of others, keyword bids included, do sync on re-import, which means an edit you made in Microsoft can be replaced by whatever Google says next week.
| Your setup | Schedule | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft optimized separately | Once, then off | Prevents Google edits from overwriting Microsoft-specific work |
| Google is the master, small Microsoft budget | Weekly | New ads and keywords flow over without manual rebuilds |
| Rapidly changing structure, one owner for both | Daily | Only if the same person reviews both platforms every week |
| Not sure | Once | You can always import again. You can't un-overwrite. |
What doesn't import cleanly from Google Ads?
Microsoft publishes a long list of what's imported, skipped and converted. These are the items that matter most for B2B search accounts.
| Item | What happens on import |
|---|---|
| Display Network campaigns | Skipped |
| Demand Gen campaigns | Imported as Audience campaigns |
| Performance Max | Imported as Performance Max (or Search in some cases); video assets and stock images don't come over, and without a Microsoft conversion goal the bid strategy starts as maximize clicks |
| Bid strategies Microsoft doesn't support | Defaults to manual CPC for Audience campaigns and enhanced CPC for others, with recommended bids |
| Bids and budgets below Microsoft minimums | Raised to the minimum |
| Customer lists, affinity, detailed demographics, app and YouTube audiences | Not imported |
| Remarketing lists built in Google Analytics | Not imported |
| Conversion goals | Only tag-based, destination URL goals created in Google Ads; data-driven attribution becomes last click |
| Negative keywords | Imported; broad match negatives come over as phrase match |
| Locations Microsoft can't map | Expanded to the parent region, with a warning |
| Location groups, IP exclusions, automated rules | Not imported |
| Placement exclusions | Only if selected in advanced options |
| Age and gender targeting | Imported, but Google's 45 to 54 bracket is dropped and other brackets are remapped |
| Household income and parental status targeting | Not imported |
| utm_source values like "google" | Replaced with "bing" |
Microsoft's own advice is to review campaigns after import and add missing information back, noting that not imported doesn't mean not supported. Translation: the gaps are your job.
Broad match negatives becoming phrase match sounds like a footnote. It's the footnote that lets "free" and "jobs" back into your search terms.
What should you change after importing?
Bids and bid strategies
Check every campaign's bid strategy. Unsupported strategies get swapped, and conversion-based strategies need conversion data a brand-new Microsoft account doesn't have. On a new account, the pattern that works in most B2B cases is to start on a click or manual strategy, let conversions accumulate, then move to target CPA once there's enough volume to learn from.
Budgets
Don't mirror Google budgets. Microsoft's volume is a fraction of Google's on the same keywords, so a copied budget either sits unspent or gets shoved into broader, weaker traffic. Set budgets from Microsoft's own keyword planner estimates, then adjust after two weeks of real data.
Negatives and search terms
Re-check every broad negative that became phrase. Then read the Microsoft search terms report weekly for the first month, because matching behaves differently in a different auction. Our search term report guide has the routine.
Audiences
Rebuild what didn't transfer. Upload customer lists directly, recreate remarketing lists on UET data, and add the one targeting layer Google doesn't have: LinkedIn company, industry and job function, applied as bid adjustments. Microsoft states LinkedIn targeting is bid-only and won't narrow reach on its own.
Ad copy
Imported responsive search ads work, but they were written for Google's audience. Microsoft traffic skews desktop and workday in most B2B accounts, so copy that leans on specifics, integrations, security and pricing structure often fits better than mobile-first brevity. Test at least one Microsoft-specific variant per ad group.
Assets and extensions
Sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, images and logos generally import. Review them anyway: confirm image assets exist, since richer placements like Copilot and the Audience Network draw on them, and remove any that point to pages you've since retired.
Tracking and landing pages
Confirm your UTMs now say "bing" where expected and that your CRM maps them to the right channel. Then check that each ad group still points to the page that matches its keywords. Imported URLs are only as good as the Google URLs were.
Locations and demographics
Open the import warnings for locations. When Microsoft can't map a Google location, it falls back to the parent region, so a campaign aimed at a single metro can quietly start serving across a whole state. Microsoft also remaps age brackets, drops Google's 45 to 54 bracket entirely and skips household income and parental status, so any demographic layering you relied on in Google needs a second look. If you were bidding up 45 to 54 year olds, that adjustment just vanished. For most B2B search campaigns, the fix is simple: target only the countries and regions you actually sell into, and leave demographics open.
// 05 · mission logPost-import checklist
| Check | Done when |
|---|---|
| Import summary reviewed | Every skipped item and warning has an owner |
| UET tag and conversion goals | Test conversion recorded in Microsoft |
| Bid strategies | Each campaign's strategy fits its conversion volume |
| Budgets | Set from Microsoft estimates, not copied from Google |
| Negatives | Broad-to-phrase conversions reviewed; shared lists attached |
| Locations | Parent-region expansions checked against where you sell |
| Audiences | Customer lists uploaded, remarketing rebuilt on UET |
| LinkedIn targeting | Company and job function bid adjustments added for your ICP |
| Ad copy | At least one Microsoft-specific variant per ad group |
| Assets | Images, logos and sitelinks present and pointing to live pages |
| UTMs and CRM mapping | Microsoft traffic shows as its own source end to end |
| Schedule | Recurring import on or off by decision, not by default |
Where this breaks
- The "set and sync" trap. Recurring imports feel efficient until someone tunes Microsoft and the next sync quietly undoes it.
- Thin conversion data. Microsoft accounts with a handful of monthly conversions can't feed automated bidding well. Expect longer learning periods.
- Docs move. Microsoft updates the import list as campaign types change. Read the current version of the what-gets-imported page before a large migration, not this one.
For where Microsoft fits in a full program, see the B2B PPC playbook.
Import once, then fly it like its own ship. Mirrors are for bathrooms.
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FAQ
Can you import Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Ads?
Yes. Microsoft Advertising has a built-in Google Ads import. You sign in to your Google Ads account, choose the campaigns to bring over, set options for bids, budgets and URLs, and run it once or on a schedule.
What doesn't import from Google Ads to Microsoft Ads?
Microsoft lists items that are skipped or changed, including Display Network campaigns, automated rules, IP exclusions, customer lists, affinity audiences, Google Analytics remarketing lists, location groups and video files. Unsupported bid strategies are converted, and data-driven attribution on imported goals becomes last click.
Do scheduled imports overwrite changes made in Microsoft Ads?
They can. Scheduled imports push Google changes into Microsoft on the schedule you set. Microsoft says some fields, such as keyword match types, ad group bids and ad rotation, only update on the initial import, but other edits, including keyword bids, can be overwritten. Review import options before turning on a recurring schedule.
Do Google Ads conversions import into Microsoft Ads?
Partly. Microsoft can import tag-based, destination URL conversion goals created in Google Ads, but not goals from Google Analytics or SA360. You still need the Microsoft UET tag on your site for conversions to record.
How often should you run a Google Ads import?
Run a one-time import for the initial build. Use a daily or weekly schedule only if you deliberately manage structure in Google and mirror it to Microsoft, and turn it off once you start optimizing Microsoft on its own terms.