Deliver more relevant ads with IF functions

Microsoft Advertising is always looking for ways to help our advertisers improve performance of their search campaigns. Optimizing ad copy is an essential part of a successful campaign and we want to provide advertisers a way to easily tailor their ad copy for different devices and audiences. 

We’re excited to announce the global availability of IF functions for all our advertisers. With IF functions you can customize a single expanded text ad with messages based on your customer’s device or a specific audience segment. Conditional messaging allows advertisers to simplify their campaign management and reduce effort on bulky operations eliminating the need to set up multiple campaigns and ads. 

How do IF functions work?

At serve time, if the search user’s device or audience referenced in the IF function meets the condition, then the parameter is replaced with the text that’s indicated. Otherwise, the entire parameter is replaced with the default value that’s provided.

For example, If you want to target a customer who is using a mobile device, you can use the following template and use it in your expanded text ad:

{=IF (device = mobile, text to insert) : default text if condition not met}


Or if you want to target a customer based on the end user’s inclusion in one the audience lists, you can use the following template:

{= IF (audience IN ( <audience list 1> , <audience list 2>), text to insert ) : default text if condition not met}

 

Key things to know about IF functions

• You can reference IF functions in any part of the Expanded Text Ads except the URL fields.
• Default values are optional and will be used if the condition isn’t met. If a default value is used in one IF function, all other IF function parameters in that ad must have a default value as well.
• Nested IF functions aren’t allowed. IF functions inside IF functions or other customizer parameters inside IF functions aren’t allowed.
• Both device and audience can’t be referenced in one IF-function syntax.
• You can create IF functions using the Google Import tool.
  • Easily import ads with IF Functions for device targeting without any issues.
  • Importing ads with IF functions using audience targeting might generate an error if an audience list with the same name does not exist on the Microsoft Advertising platform.

You can create and manage IF functions via the Feed Management Tool in the UI and with our bulk API. Check out our About IF functions help page for all the additional information on IF functions.

Share your thoughts

For any questions or feedback regarding responsive search ads, reach out to your Microsoft Advertising account manager or contact support. You can also ping us on Twitter, suggest a feature on the Microsoft Advertising Feature Suggestions Forum, or send an email to advertising-feedback@microsoft.com.