Bing ads library: searching Microsoft's Ad Library
The Bing ads library is Microsoft's Ad Library, and it only covers ads shown in the EU and EEA. How to search it, what it reveals, and why Bing ads mirror Google's.
The Bing ads library is the Microsoft Ad Library, at adlibrary.ads.microsoft.com. It exists to meet EU law, so it only includes ads delivered in the EU and EEA. It does cover every advertiser in the world that has served ads there, including campaigns with global targeting, which makes it more useful than "EU only" suggests.
You can search it by advertiser name or by words in the ad, with no login. For most competitors, though, the faster route to their Bing ads is their Google ads, for reasons covered below.
What the Bing ads library covers
From Microsoft's own FAQ on the library page and its Ad Library API documentation:
- Where: ads with impressions in the 27 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Nothing from the US, UK or elsewhere.
- Since when: the library has recorded EU and EEA impressions since June 2023.
- How fast: ads appear 24 to 48 hours after their first eligible impression.
- How long: an ad stays for exactly one year after its last eligible impression.
- Which ads: text ads, responsive search ads, dynamic search ads, product ads, multimedia ads, audience ads, app install ads, hotel price ads and vertical ads, served on Bing through the Microsoft Advertising Network.
- What is left out: ad extensions.
How to search the Bing ads library
- Open the library. No account needed.
- Search by advertiser name or by ad content. Searching words from the ad finds advertisers using the same phrase, which is a quick way to see who else bids on the same offer.
- Narrow by date if the results are long.
- Select View ad details on any ad for the full record.
Microsoft's advertiser names can be the account name or, for verified advertisers, the legal name. Try both the brand and the company name.
What each ad's details reveal
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Title and description | The ad copy. For dynamic ad types, a recent, representative version |
| Display URL | The URL shown in the ad, or the merchant name for some ad types |
| Destination URL | The actual landing page the ad links to |
| Paid for by | Who paid, if different from the account owner |
| Start and end dates | First and last eligible impressions in the EU or EEA |
| Total impressions | A range, across the EU and EEA |
| Impressions by country | The share of impressions in each country, as a percentage |
| Targeting | Which types were used, and whether for inclusion or exclusion |
The targeting types are gender, age, location, Microsoft audiences and advertiser audiences. Microsoft audiences include in-market audiences and LinkedIn profile targeting. Advertiser audiences cover the advertiser's own lists, such as customer match and remarketing.
Three of those fields are worth more than they look.
Destination URL. Display URLs are tidied up. The destination URL is the real page, and it can include tracking parameters. Those sometimes carry the campaign name the competitor uses internally.
Microsoft audiences. Because these include LinkedIn profile targeting, a B2B competitor showing Microsoft audiences may be aiming Bing ads at job titles, companies or industries. Google Ads has no LinkedIn data, so this is a deliberate Bing choice.
Advertiser audiences, included or excluded. If a competitor used its own audiences for exclusion, it is probably keeping existing customers or past visitors out of the ad, which points to new-customer acquisition. Used for inclusion, it is remarketing.
Two caveats from Microsoft's documentation. Dates can lag by one to three days, so a running ad may show an end date a few days old. And the targeting list is an aggregate of everything used during the ad's life, not what applied to any single impression.
Why Bing ads often mirror Google ads
Microsoft Advertising has a Google Import tool that copies Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Advertising. It brings across campaigns, ad groups, keywords, bids, budgets and the ads themselves, and it can import Performance Max, Shopping, Display, video and Demand Gen campaigns as well as Search. Microsoft also describes a setting that keeps the copy in sync when the Google campaigns change.
The result is that many advertisers run the same ads on Bing that they run on Google, sometimes word for word. So the efficient order is:
- Find their Google ads first in the Google Ads Transparency Center, which works worldwide.
- Check the Microsoft Ad Library for the same advertiser in an EU country they sell in.
- Compare the two. Identical copy suggests an import and little Bing-specific effort. Different copy, different landing pages or LinkedIn profile targeting means someone is managing Bing on purpose.
That third step is the one that tells you something. A competitor that bothers to write separate Bing ads thinks Bing is worth real attention, and you should ask whether you are missing something there.
Seeing Bing ads outside Europe
There is no library for Bing ads shown in the US, UK or anywhere else outside Europe. Your realistic options:
Use their Google ads as a proxy. Given the import tool, they are the best guess at what runs on Bing.
Search Bing yourself. Use a private browser window, search the terms you bid on, and do not click competitors' ads, which costs them money.
Ask whether it matters. If you do not advertise on Microsoft yourself, the main question is whether competitors find it worth doing. A competitor with active ads across several EU countries in the library is likely to run Bing at home too.
Many paid PPC research tools focus on Google. If Bing data matters to you, confirm a tool covers it before paying. For the full process of researching a rival's search ads, see PPC competitor analysis.
A note on Figo
Figo does not cover Microsoft or Bing ads. It reads the Google Ads Transparency Center for each competitor once a week, along with the Meta and TikTok ad libraries, which catches the Google side of any imported campaign. For anything Bing-specific, the Microsoft Ad Library above is the tool, and it is free. For other platforms, see the full list of ad libraries.
Questions people ask
Is there a Bing ads library for the US or UK?
No. Microsoft's Ad Library only includes ads delivered in the EU and EEA. A competitor that advertises on Bing only in the US or UK will not appear in it.
Does the Microsoft Ad Library show which keywords an advertiser bids on?
No. It shows the ad copy, the display and destination URLs and the types of targeting used, such as age, location or audiences, but not the keywords.
How quickly do new Bing ads appear in the library?
Microsoft says within 24 to 48 hours of an ad's first impression in the EU or EEA, and edits show up on the same timescale.
Does it include ad extensions?
No. Microsoft's FAQ says ad extensions are excluded, so sitelinks, callouts and similar assets will not appear.
Can I query the Microsoft Ad Library with an API?
Yes. The Ad Library API is public and works without signing up, with stricter rate limits. A Microsoft Advertising account and a developer token raise the limits.
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