Microsoft Advertising's January 2026 update introduces several enhancements aimed at improving control, transparency, and ease of use for marketers.
Performance Max: New Customer Acquisition Goals
Performance Max (PMax) now offers a new customer acquisition feature in open beta, allowing advertisers to target new customers specifically by increasing bids or focusing exclusively on acquiring them. This feature is available for campaigns using purchase goals and helps generate net-new customer revenue alongside existing campaigns. Best practices include setting a conversion value for new customers (recommended at least 30% of average sale revenue) and frequently updating audience lists.
PMax Transparency and Controls
Several improvements enhance transparency and control within PMax:
- Share of Voice (SOV) Metrics: Includes impression share, click share, and impression share lost to budget or rank, available since November 10. These metrics cover search and shopping placements but exclude audience placements.
- Asset Group-Level URL Options and Tracking Templates: Advertisers can now apply tracking parameters at the asset group level, improving data segmentation.
- Import Enhancements:
- Search theme limit doubled to 50, allowing richer signals in campaign imports.
- Asset group imports now retain eligible assets even if some images don’t meet size requirements or exceed the previous 25-image limit, minimizing import disruption.
These updates streamline campaign imports and optimization across platforms.
Audience Ads: Content Targeting General Availability
Content Targeting is now generally available, enabling advertisers to reach customers in contextually relevant environments on Microsoft properties and partner sites. Two targeting options are offered:
- Placement Targeting: Ads appear exclusively on premium Microsoft properties like MSN, Outlook, Microsoft Casual Games, and Microsoft Edge.
- Topic Targeting: Ads align with specific content categories such as Finance, Travel, and Health to appear alongside relevant content.
A new content targeting report helps advertisers understand ad placements and optimize campaigns accordingly.
Location Targeting Improvements
Location targeting has been expanded and improved for smoother setup, broader coverage, more reliable Google imports, and better campaign activation, reducing paused or inactive imports.
Autogenerated Assets in Responsive Search Ads (RSA)
Autogenerated assets are now automatically enabled globally (except China and South Korea) for new RSAs, enhancing ad relevance, scaling ad variations, and improving performance with a reported 5% increase in click-through rate. These assets create additional text assets if advertisers have not provided the maximum allowed (15 headlines, 4 descriptions).
Key points include:
- Advertisers in sensitive verticals must opt-in for autogenerated assets.
- Existing RSAs and imported RSAs retain their current settings.
- API-created RSAs remain opted out by default.
- Autogenerated assets apply only to text, not images.
Opt-out and asset management options are available through campaign settings. Microsoft Advertising encourages feedback through various channels to continue improving the platform. The next update roundup is scheduled for February 2026.
