How do I stop Microsoft Ads from showing my B2B search ads on the Microsoft Audience Network?

TofuAnswer by the Tofu team · checked

Not completely. Microsoft has no opt-out switch for Search campaigns, which it says "may also be extended to audience placements" such as MSN, Microsoft Edge and Outlook.com. Its help recommends website exclusions, so add msn.com, outlook.com and outlook.live.com to each search campaign, consider setting ad groups to "Microsoft sites and select traffic," and check the Website URL (publisher) report. A Microsoft support specialist said in August 2026 that this removes "most" audience placements, but also that you can't fully exclude MSN or Outlook from search ad placements. Contact support for more.

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As of October 2026.

Before you start

  • Know where search ads can show. Microsoft's help says Search ads appear with results on Microsoft Bing, AOL, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia and other partners, and "may also be extended to audience placements" on MSN, Microsoft Start, Microsoft Edge, Outlook.com and publisher partners. Its ad distribution page adds: "All options include search and Audience ads."
  • Know there is no switch. A Microsoft Advertising support specialist wrote on Microsoft Q&A on August 31, 2026: "Customers cannot opt out of Microsoft Audience Network (MSAN) themselves through their accounts." The help page's own advice is: "To opt out of Audience ads, we recommend using website exclusions." The same specialist wrote in January 2026 that "complete exclusion from all audience placements is not guaranteed."
  • Know why it matters for B2B. On an audience placement, your search ad shows to someone reading news or email, not to someone who just typed your keyword. If you bid on high-intent B2B terms, those clicks spend the same budget without that intent. Check your own numbers in Step 1 before you decide.
  • Have edit access to the campaigns and ad groups. For shared exclusion lists across accounts, you also need the manager account.

Step 1: See how much search spend goes to audience placements

Run the Website URL (publisher) report from the Reports page for your search campaigns over the last 30 days or more. It shows the sites where your ads appeared, so you can compare results by site. Microsoft says some of this traffic is reported in aggregate, so you won't see every domain on its own. Microsoft's reporting docs also list "Audience network" as a value of the Top vs. other attribute, which splits audience placements from search placements in reports that include it.

Then check the leads, not just the conversions. Match the audience-placement leads to your CRM and see how many became qualified pipeline.

Step 2: Exclude Microsoft's audience sites on each search campaign

  1. From the navigation menu on the left, hover over Campaigns and select Campaign settings.
  2. Select the campaign.
  3. In the advanced settings, below Manually add websites, enter msn.com, outlook.com and outlook.live.com, plus any other audience sites from your report.
  4. Select Save.

Leave out "www" so the exclusion covers every subdomain: Microsoft says contoso.com blocks both www.contoso.com and www2.contoso.com. These exclusions don't touch your search ads on Bing. Microsoft's help says that for Search campaigns you can't block Yahoo and Microsoft search traffic (including Bing and AOL), but you can block audience traffic, including MSN, Microsoft Edge and Outlook.com. The support specialist adds that excluding bing.com blocks only audience placements on Bing.com, not search ads. But the same answer also says you "cannot fully exclude MSN, Outlook, or Outlook mobile apps from search ad placements," and that for Search ads, domains in the "Microsoft sites and select traffic" category still serve "even if you add these domains to the exclusion list." That conflicts with the help pages, so check your report after adding exclusions (Step 8).

Limits: up to 2,500 excluded URLs, and each URL can have one subdomain and up to two directories.

Step 3: Repeat in ad groups that have their own exclusions

Microsoft says ad-group-level website exclusions override campaign-level ones. If an ad group has its own list, add the same domains there:

  1. Hover over Campaigns and select Ad groups > Ad groups.
  2. Select the checkbox next to the ad group.
  3. Select Edit > Other changes.
  4. For Select a setting, select Website exclusions and enter the URLs.
  5. Select Apply.

Step 4: Use a shared list if you run many campaigns

  1. From the navigation menu on the left, select Tools > Content suitability > Website control lists.
  2. Choose Campaign exclusions, then select Create.
  3. Enter a List name, add the URLs in the Website exclusions box and select Save.
  4. Select the list's checkbox, then Associate campaign(s) to list, choose the campaigns and select Save.

Agencies can create account-level exclusion lists only in a manager account, then associate them with any account they manage. At the account level you can view those lists but not edit them. Manager and account-level lists apply on top of campaign and ad group exclusions.

Step 5: Consider "Microsoft sites and select traffic" for ad distribution

Ad distribution is an ad group setting:

  1. Hover over Campaigns and select Ad groups > Ad groups.
  2. Select the ad group, then select Settings from the page menu.
  3. Under Ad group settings, in Advanced settings, select Ad distribution.
  4. Choose Microsoft sites and select traffic and select Save.

In Microsoft Advertising Editor, select the ad group and change the Ad distribution drop-down in the edit pane. This option drops "additional partner traffic," the Bing and Yahoo search partners such as Ask.com and Forbes. It does not stop audience ads by itself, since Microsoft says all options include them. The support specialist recommends it alongside exclusions, while Microsoft's help recommends the entire network for reach and lower cost per click, so compare results before you switch everything.

Step 6: Try the -100% audience ads bid adjustment, if your account has it

Microsoft's Bulk API docs, updated in October 2026, still describe an ad group bid adjustment for audience ads from -100 to 900 and say "-100 percent will prevent audience ads from showing for this ad group." But the support specialist wrote in August 2026 that there is "no direct opt-out or bid adjustment for Audience Network delivery that is universally available." The advertiser who started that thread said the setting was gone from the web interface and that Editor skipped their -100 upload. Try it in Editor or the Bulk API, and check whether the change saved.

Step 7: Ask Microsoft Advertising Support

The specialist's advice for anything the steps above don't cover was to contact support. They added that if you have legal or brand safety reasons to opt out of specific domains within select traffic, you can send support a request "with your specific business justification." Give your account ID, the campaigns, the sites and your reason, such as lead quality from Step 1.

Step 8: Check again, and give the Audience Network its own campaign if you want it

Run the Website URL (publisher) report again after a week or two and add any new sites you don't want. If you do want Audience Network reach, put it in a separate Audience campaign with its own budget. Microsoft's API docs show that showing ads only to people at specific companies, industries or job functions ("target and bid") works only in Audience campaigns. The specialist notes that an Audience campaign won't stop search campaigns from serving there, so keep the exclusions.

Common problems

ProblemWhy it happensFix
Search ads still show on MSN or Outlook after exclusionsMicrosoft is inconsistent: its website control lists page says Microsoft sites such as MSN.com can't be excluded, but also that Search campaigns won't show on Microsoft sites you exclude; the support specialist says exclusions remove "most" audience placements, but also that search ads still serve on excluded Microsoft sitesAsk support (Step 7)
Exclusions don't apply to one ad groupAd-group-level exclusions override campaign-level onesAdd the domains to that ad group (Step 3)
Can't edit an account-level exclusion listThose lists are edited only in the manager accountSign in to the manager account
Hit the exclusion limitMicrosoft allows up to 2,500 URLsExclude whole domains instead of single pages
Ads still show on Bing after excluding bing.comSearch ads on Bing and AOL can't be blockedExpected; the exclusion only removes audience placements on Bing.com
-100% audience bid adjustment skipped or missingSupport says it isn't available to every accountAsk support (Step 7)
Can't see MSN, Edge and Outlook as separate rowsMicrosoft's help says select partner traffic is reported in aggregate, and the support specialist says the same of Microsoft sites in Search campaignsUse Top vs. other ("Audience network") to size it
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