Microsoft Advertising lets you exclude IP addresses, but far fewer of them than Google Ads, and only one campaign at a time. You get at most 100 addresses or ranges per campaign, IPv4 only, with a wildcard allowed only in the last part of an address. If you run the same campaigns on Google and Microsoft, a list you built for Google won't fit. Here is what Microsoft gives you, how to spend 100 slots, and what to check first.
What Microsoft gives you
- Filtering and review. Microsoft's Traffic Quality Center describes how it filters invalid clicks and how to ask for a review when you think some got through.
- IP exclusions, per campaign. In Campaigns, select the campaign, then Edit → Other changes, and choose IP address exclusions from the Campaign settings menu. Enter one address per line and select Apply. Exclusions belong to the campaign, not the ad group, so a source you want gone everywhere has to be added to each campaign.
- Location exclusions. You can exclude locations in a campaign's settings too, which is the better tool when the problem is a whole region rather than a few addresses.
| Rule | Microsoft Advertising |
|---|---|
| Where exclusions live | Campaign level only, not ad group |
| How many | Up to 100 addresses or ranges per campaign |
| Address types | IPv4 only, all four octets |
| Ranges | A wildcard in the last octet only, for example 203.0.113.* |
Sources: Microsoft Advertising Help, How to prevent your ads from showing to certain people, and the Traffic Quality Center.
How to spend 100 slots
- Start with sources that repeat and never convert. An address that lands on your ad URLs again and again, with no lead or sale behind it, is worth a slot. One odd visit is not.
- Use a range when the addresses share a network. Several bad addresses that differ only in the last number fit in one entry, such as
203.0.113.*. Check that the range doesn't also cover your own office or a mobile carrier your customers use. - Drop what Microsoft can't take. IPv6 addresses and wider ranges have no place in the list, so leave them out rather than spending time converting them.
- Review the list monthly. Remove sources that have gone quiet to free slots for new ones.
The free IP exclusion list builder sorts pasted addresses by how often they repeat and groups them into ranges. Its ranges are already written as 203.0.113.*, the form Microsoft accepts, and the most active sources come first. For Microsoft, leave out any IPv6 entries and take the first 100 lines for each campaign.
Exclusions stop repeat clicks, not the first one
Microsoft decides what it filters and credits. An exclusion only stops the clicks that come after it, so the click that first revealed a source is still billed unless Microsoft filters or credits it.
Where AdProtektor fits
- It sees every visit, whatever sent it. AdProtektor scores each visit to your site and classifies visitors as Real, Crawler, Bot, Competitor or Click Farm, so Microsoft traffic is judged on the same evidence as Google traffic.
- It can keep flagged visitors off your site. With website blocking on, a blocked visitor is refused at your site, whichever ad brought them.
- It gives you the list to paste. Analytics exports the visitors you filter, flagged ones included, as CSV with their IP addresses, ready to sort into your 100 slots.
- Google Ads is automatic, Microsoft is not. With your Google Ads account connected, blocked sources go on your Google Ads exclusion lists automatically. AdProtektor doesn't write to Microsoft Advertising, so there you paste the list yourself.
With 100 slots, the question is not who to block but who is worth a slot.
To see which of your visitors are worth a slot, start a free trial and add the script to your site.