How to use this course, and what you need before you start

Back to: Microsoft Advertising: The Complete Practitioner Course

Objective: Get set up so the practical work in later modules is not blocked.

What this lesson covers

Prerequisites: paid search fundamentals, a site you can tag, a small live budget
Accounts to create now: Microsoft Advertising, Microsoft Clarity, Google Tag Manager
The downloads: negative keyword starter list, campaign build checklist, 90 day plan template
How the module quizzes and the final assignment work

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Orientation

Welcome, and what you will be able to do by the end

How to use this course, and what you need before you start

The account you will build as you go

Module 1: Why Microsoft Advertising, and who it is actually for

What Microsoft Advertising actually is

Who the audience is, and why that changes what you sell to them

The honest case for the channel

The honest case against, and when to walk away

Sizing the opportunity before you spend anything

Has Quiz

Module 2: Account setup and the Google Ads import

Creating the account, and the one setting you cannot undo

Billing: pre-pay, post-pay and spend limits

Path A: importing from Google Ads

What the importer gets right, and what it quietly breaks

Paths B and C: from scratch, and the hybrid

Your first Search campaign, start to finish

Has Quiz

Module 3: Campaign types and when to use each

Search campaigns

Shopping and Microsoft Merchant Center

Performance Max on Microsoft, and why it is not Google’s PMax

Audience campaigns

Vertical Ads and App Install

Choosing a campaign type: the decision tree

Has Quiz

Module 4: Keywords, match types and negatives

The three match types, and how Microsoft differs from Google

Close variants: why exact match is not exact

Negative keywords: the most valuable work in the account

The search terms report, run properly

Keyword Planner and keyword discovery

Structuring ad groups in 2026

Has Quiz

Module 5: Bidding and budgets

The bidding ladder

Manual CPC and Enhanced CPC

Maximize Clicks and Maximize Conversions

Target CPA and Target ROAS

Target Impression Share and brand defence

Budgets, pacing and bid adjustments

Has Quiz

Module 6: Conversion tracking with UET

Why everything downstream depends on this

Creating and installing the UET tag

Verifying the tag actually fires

Conversion goals: types, categories and the default set

Event tracking via GTM and direct JavaScript

Enhanced conversions

Offline conversions and msclkid

Has Quiz

Module 7: The Audience Network and LinkedIn targeting

What the Microsoft Audience Network is, and what it is not

The default that wastes most of the budget on this platform

Running MSAN as its own campaign

Creative requirements for native placements

LinkedIn profile targeting

Placement controls, exclusions and brand suitability

Has Quiz

Module 8: The optimisation playbook

Week 1: foundations

Weeks 2 to 4: search terms, bid strategy, audience layers

Months 2 and 3: expansion and refinement

Microsoft Clarity: free session recording tied to your ad data

AI Max: search term matching, text customisation and URL expansion

The ongoing cadence

Has Quiz

Next Steps

Your 90 day plan

The account audit habit

Review this course

Join the Elite Media Buyers community

What to learn next