How do I target a list of named companies in Microsoft Ads for ABM?

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Use a LinkedIn company list. Since September 30, 2026, Microsoft says one list can hold up to 10,000 company names, up from 1,000, uploaded at once during campaign setup or in your audience library. Use it with LinkedIn targeting in Search and Audience campaigns. Three catches. Microsoft's help and API docs still say an ad group or campaign can target at most 1,000 companies. Its help says LinkedIn targeting adjusts bids rather than limiting who sees your ads. And its data leaves out people in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland.

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As of November 2026.

What changed in September 2026?

Microsoft's September 30, 2026 product post says: "You can now add up to 10,000 company names per list, up from 1,000." You can add them "all at once during campaign setup or in your audience library," then use the list with LinkedIn targeting in Search and Audience campaigns.

BeforeNow
Companies per list1,000Up to 10,000
How you add companiesSearch for and add each company one at a time. Microsoft's help article said importing lists from files wasn't supportedBulk upload during campaign setup or in the audience library
Who has itA beta note on Microsoft's help page said not everyone had access, according to PPC News FeedPPC News Feed reported on September 26, 2026 that the note was gone and the rollout was complete

Microsoft's company targeting uses LinkedIn profile data. Its help page calls Microsoft "the only advertising platform (other than LinkedIn)" that targets people by their LinkedIn profile.

How do I add a company list?

Upload it when you set up a campaign, or add it to your audience library and use it from there. Microsoft's monthly product newsletter, as reported by PPC Land on October 6, 2026, says lists "can take 1-2 days" to process and match, so upload a few days before launch. Microsoft says company names are displayed "mostly in English," so use the English names of your accounts where you can.

Microsoft's help center doesn't load without JavaScript, so the upload file format isn't confirmed here. For a short list, you can still add companies one at a time: when you create an ad group, in its Ad group target & bids section, select Company, search for each company, select Target, select Done, and set a bid adjustment.

Is the limit 10,000 or 1,000 companies?

Microsoft's own pages disagree. The September post says 10,000 per list, and its example puts 8,000 target accounts in one list used across Search and Audience campaigns. Microsoft's LinkedIn targeting help article (in the Microsoft Learn copy, written before the change) says "You cannot target more than 1,000 companies in a single ad group or campaign." Its API reference says the same: at most 1,000 company targets per campaign or ad group. PPC News Feed reported both numbers on September 26, in a report on Microsoft's Audience planner help page: up to 10,000 per list, and a maximum of 1,000 companies an ad group can target.

Microsoft hasn't said what happens when you apply a 10,000-company list to one ad group. Until it does:

  • Split large lists into tiers of 1,000 or fewer, one ad group or campaign each.
  • After the list is matched, check how many companies the ad group actually targets.
  • Ask Microsoft support before you plan around one 10,000-company ad group.

Does company targeting stop other people from seeing my ads?

Not according to Microsoft's help. It says LinkedIn profile targeting "will not narrow your ads' audience" and compares it to "bid only" rather than "target and bid." You set a bid adjustment for each company, so people at those companies get the adjusted bid in the auction. Everyone else your keywords match can still see the ad.

Microsoft's API allows adjustments from -90% to +900% for most criteria. If your campaign uses Maximize Clicks, Maximize Conversions, Target CPA or Target ROAS, the adjustment "will inform rather than directly modify" the automated bid.

PPC Land's October 6 report describes it another way. In its own explanation, not a Microsoft quote, company lists act as "or" with other LinkedIn targeting and as "and" with device, location or content targeting. That reads as if a list can narrow delivery. Microsoft hasn't said this for company lists, so check your reach by company after launch.

Which campaign types can use company targeting?

The September post names Search and Audience campaigns for company lists. Microsoft's help article lists LinkedIn profile targeting for Search, Dynamic Search Ads, Shopping, Audience and Performance Max campaigns. In Performance Max it works as an audience signal, and the help article says not everyone has it there yet. For B2B, Search and Audience campaigns are the usual fit.

Does it work for accounts in the EU and the UK?

Not for people who live there. Microsoft's September post says the lists are "available to advertisers globally in supported markets," but "the underlying consumer data excludes users in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland." You can still run the campaign, but people in those countries won't be matched to your list. If many of your target accounts sit in Europe, plan another channel for them.

Can I exclude companies, such as customers or competitors?

Yes, with a limit to check. Microsoft's help shows an Exclude option when you edit company targets in a campaign's Demographics tab. Its newsletter, as reported by PPC Land, says a list can be a "targeting or exclusion list." But Microsoft's API reference lists company exclusions for Audience campaign ad groups only. Check that the option appears in your Search campaign before you count on it.

How do I see which companies saw or clicked my ads?

Use the professional demographics report. Microsoft's API describes it as impressions, clicks, spend and average cost per click for each ad group, broken out by company, industry and job function.

Use it to see which target accounts you reach. Then judge results in your CRM on pipeline from those accounts, not on clicks alone.

Can I add companies through the API?

Yes. Microsoft's API reference now has a CompanyList type of LinkedIn segment, which you create with AddLinkedInSegments. It holds the companies in the list and reports how many of them Microsoft matched. The reference gives no size limit and doesn't explain how a list is applied to an ad group.

The older route adds one company at a time. The SearchCompanies call needs at least 3 characters of the name and returns matching companies. You then add a ProfileCriterion of type CompanyName with the company's profile ID, up to 1,000 per campaign or ad group. Microsoft applies both levels together, and if the same company is set at both, the ad group setting wins. Before the change, in June 2026, a Microsoft support moderator wrote that there was no public list of company IDs to download and that Microsoft Advertising Editor couldn't look up IDs for a pasted list of names.

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