What should I check after importing my Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Ads, and how do I stop scheduled imports overwriting my changes?
Check bids, budgets, bid strategies, targeting and conversion goals first, because Microsoft raises low bids and budgets to its minimums and swaps unsupported bid strategies by default. To stop a scheduled import undoing your edits, open Import > Import schedule & history, edit the schedule and untick what you manage in Microsoft Ads, such as campaign status, Update bids and Update existing campaign budgets. Or pause or delete the schedule. Microsoft says there's no way to undo an import, so use Change history to find what changed and fix it by hand.
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As of November 2026.
Microsoft Advertising's help center showed us an error page instead of the article, so we read Microsoft's copies on Microsoft Learn on November 3, 2026.
What changes when Google Ads campaigns come into Microsoft Ads?
Most items come across, but Microsoft changes some on the way in. Check these first:
| Item | What Microsoft does by default | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Low bids and budgets | Raises them to Microsoft's minimums. If you opt out, campaigns below the minimums aren't imported | Daily budgets and keyword bids |
| Bid strategies | Strategies Microsoft doesn't support become Enhanced CPC (Manual CPC for Audience campaigns), with bids "set to an amount we recommend." With no Microsoft conversion goal, a strategy that needs one is switched; Performance Max becomes Maximize clicks | Each campaign's bid strategy and bids |
| Conversion goals | Microsoft still calls importing them a pilot, not open to every account. Only tag-based, page-visit goals created in Google Ads come over. Data-driven attribution becomes last click | Put a UET tag on your site, then check each goal |
| Location targets | A place Microsoft doesn't support is widened to its parent region. If neither is supported, neither is imported | Locations, using the import summary and error file |
| Search partners | Google's "Include search partners" becomes all Microsoft search networks, including syndicated partners | Where your ads show |
| Negative keywords | Broad match negatives become phrase match. Lists with the same name are updated, and negatives from both platforms are merged | Negatives on your most important terms |
| Demographics | The 45-54 age group isn't imported, nor parental status or household income | Age targeting |
| Time zone | Set from the account on the first import, then never changes | Ad schedules |
| Currency | If the accounts' currencies differ, you choose whether to convert bids and budgets | Bids and budgets |
| Videos | Video files from Google video campaigns aren't imported | Upload the videos yourself |
Microsoft warns that targeting that suits Google "will very likely not be appropriate" for Microsoft. Check results on Import schedule & history and download the error file for failures. If your account was suspended soon after an import, see Why did Microsoft Advertising suspend my account, and how do I get it reinstated?
What should a B2B advertiser add after the import?
Add LinkedIn profile targeting, which no Google import can bring over. Microsoft says it's the only ad platform besides LinkedIn that lets you target people by their LinkedIn Company, Industry and Job function. It works in Search, Dynamic Search ads, Shopping, Audience and Performance Max campaigns, though not every account has it for Performance Max yet.
Limits:
- It's "bid only": it changes your bid for the people you pick but doesn't narrow who sees your ads.
- You can't target more than 1,000 companies in one ad group or campaign.
- You add company lists by hand; importing them from files or other platforms isn't supported.
Microsoft doesn't say whether a scheduled import touches targets that exist only in Microsoft Ads, so check Change history after the next run.
Also check tracking. When tracking templates, custom parameters or final URL suffixes change in Google Ads, a scheduled import can overwrite yours in Microsoft Ads. Microsoft swaps a utm_source of "google" (or a close variant) for "bing," but other UTM values come across unchanged. If you manage tracking outside Google Ads, Microsoft recommends not importing it.
Why does Microsoft Ads keep undoing my changes?
Most likely, a scheduled import is running. Microsoft says that when Updates to existing items is on, campaign status changes in Google Ads (such as paused or enabled) come over with each scheduled import. Bids, bid strategies and campaign budgets "may be updated to match" too. Its troubleshooting note says automated imports keep "reactivating the campaigns and modifying the settings back to what they are on Google Ads (including the budget)."
Updates to existing items is on by default, and so are its status, bid and budget options. Check for a schedule even if you meant to import once. Microsoft says Smart import will "automate the schedule" when you don't customize it, and an automatic schedule runs imports "on a regular basis."
Scheduled imports fetch items that changed in Google Ads since the last import, Microsoft says, so an edit in Microsoft Ads usually holds until that item changes in Google. Run now also re-imports items that changed only in Microsoft Ads, so it can overwrite your Microsoft edits.
How do I stop scheduled imports overwriting my changes?
Edit the schedule and untick the updates you don't want.
- From the navigation menu on the left, hover over Import and select Import schedule & history.
- Under Scheduled imports, find your Google import. If the table is empty, no schedule is set.
- In the Action column, select Edit.
- In the import options, untick each kind of update you now manage in Microsoft Ads (see the table).
- Save the import.
Microsoft's API reference names the setting behind each option:
| If you change this in Microsoft Ads | Untick this import option |
|---|---|
| Paused or enabled status | What to import > Updates to existing items > Status: Campaign status, Ad group status, Ad status, Keyword status |
| Bids | Bids and budgets > Update bids |
| Bid strategies | Bids and budgets > Update bid strategies |
| Budgets | Bids and budgets > Update existing campaign budgets |
| Tracking and UTMs | Updates to existing items > Campaign settings > Tracking templates, custom parameters, and final URL suffixes |
| Locations, devices, audiences, ad schedules | Updates to existing items > Targeting |
| Campaign names | Tick Other options > Campaign options > Do not update existing campaign names |
| Status, bids, budgets, tracking and targeting at once | Untick Updates to existing items itself. Microsoft's API reference says those update options are ignored when it's off. New Google campaigns still import |
Two catches: imports can be scheduled for an ad account and its manager account, so check both, and you can't edit or delete a schedule that another agency linked to the account created.
Should I pause or delete the scheduled import?
Pause it if you may want to sync again later. Select the import, then Edit > Pause. Daily, weekly and monthly imports keep running until you pause or delete them.
Delete it if you'll now run Microsoft Ads on its own. Select the import, then Edit > Delete. Microsoft says this "will effectively unlink" the campaigns from your Google Ads account. The imported campaigns stay in Microsoft Ads. To remove the Google account fully, delete the imported items too.
Can I undo a Google import that replaced my campaigns?
No. Microsoft says "there is no way to undo imports" from Google Ads or other platforms. Change history can undo only some single changes from the last 30 days (look for an arrow in the Undo column). To see what changed:
- From the navigation menu on the left, hover over Campaigns and select Change history.
- Set the date range. Change history keeps every change from the last six months, including system changes.
- Use Add filter > Changed by or Change type to narrow it down.
Then fix things by hand. If you had turned on Delete items that have been removed from your Google Ads account (off by default), campaigns you removed in Google were deleted in Microsoft with their ad groups, ads and keywords. Microsoft says deleted campaigns and ad groups can't be restored, so you'd rebuild them.
Why did my spend jump after the import?
Check the defaults in the first table: bids and budgets raised to Microsoft's minimums, Enhanced CPC at Microsoft's recommended bids, and search partners mapped to all of Microsoft's search networks. A scheduled import can also reset a budget to its Google amount. To keep a cost-per-click cap on automated bidding, see our page on Microsoft Ads bid strategies for B2B.
Sources
- Import campaigns directly from Google Ads (Microsoft Advertising Help), showed an error page instead of the article on November 3, 2026, so we read Microsoft's Learn copy below
- Import Campaigns Directly from Google Ads (Microsoft Learn, updated July 27, 2026), checked November 3, 2026
- What gets imported from Google Ads (Microsoft Learn, updated July 27, 2026), checked November 3, 2026
- Edit your scheduled imports and review import history and results (Microsoft Learn, updated July 27, 2026), checked November 3, 2026
- What changes were made to my campaigns and can I undo them? (Microsoft Learn, updated July 27, 2026), checked November 3, 2026
- LinkedIn profile targeting (Microsoft Learn, updated July 27, 2026), checked November 3, 2026
- GoogleImportOption Data Object (Microsoft Advertising API, updated October 29, 2026), checked November 3, 2026
- Google Ads Import (Microsoft Advertising API, updated June 5, 2026), checked November 3, 2026
