How does Bing Ads account for ad blockers or other technologies that might affect view-through conversion tracking?

Bing Ads (now Microsoft Advertising) faces the same challenges as other advertising platforms when it comes to ad blockers and other technologies that can impact tracking, including view-through conversion tracking. These tools prevent ads from being shown or stop tracking scripts from executing, making it difficult to gather accurate conversion data for users who don't interact with the ad directly. Here's how Bing Ads deals with these challenges:

1. Limitations of Ad Blockers and Tracking
Ad Blockers: Ad blockers prevent ads from being displayed, and as a result, view-through conversions cannot be tracked for users who use ad blockers. This is because the necessary tracking pixel (UET tag in Bing Ads) is not loaded when an ad is blocked.

Privacy Features in Browsers: Modern browsers, like Safari and Firefox, have introduced features like Enhanced Tracking Protection and Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP), which can prevent the firing of tracking pixels or cookies. These features can impact how view-through conversions are tracked by blocking or limiting third-party cookies.

Script Blockers: Some users install browser extensions that block tracking scripts, such as those used by Bing Ads' Universal Event Tracking (UET) system. This can interfere with conversion tracking.

2. Bing Ads' Solutions to Ad Blockers
Universal Event Tracking (UET): While UET can track conversions, Bing Ads cannot circumvent ad blockers or browser privacy features. The UET tag requires that JavaScript and cookies are enabled, so users who block these technologies may not be tracked. However, if users view the ad and later convert without blocking the UET tag, those conversions will still be recorded as view-through conversions.

First-Party Cookies: Microsoft Ads relies on first-party cookies rather than third-party cookies, which are less likely to be blocked by privacy features. These cookies allow for better tracking of conversions on sites after users have seen an ad.

Tracking Improvements: Bing Ads continuously improves tracking to adapt to the evolving landscape of privacy features, including experimenting with server-to-server tracking solutions and working on making their ad delivery and tracking systems more resistant to ad blockers.

3. Impact of Cookie Restrictions
Cookie-Less Tracking: Due to increasing privacy concerns and cookie restrictions, Bing Ads and other platforms are exploring alternative solutions for conversion tracking. Microsoft is working on cookie-less tracking that may rely on different methods, such as server-to-server communication or browser fingerprinting (within legal privacy guidelines), to bypass the need for cookies.

Contextual and Behavioral Targeting: Even if tracking isn't perfect, Bing Ads can still use contextual and behavioral targeting based on user interactions with your brand across devices and platforms. This may help mitigate some of the effects of ad blockers on performance reporting.

4. Analytics Workarounds
Cross-Platform Attribution: For advertisers looking to assess the effectiveness of their campaigns despite view-through conversion tracking limitations, they can use cross-platform attribution models. This approach helps gauge the overall impact of multiple touchpoints across channels, even if some view-through conversions aren't captured due to ad blockers.

Offline Conversions: If users are engaging with your brand offline (such as by calling your business or visiting your physical store after seeing an ad), you can track these as offline conversions in Bing Ads. This gives you a more complete view of the ad's impact on conversions.

5. Privacy and Consent Management
GDPR & CCPA Compliance: Microsoft Advertising is compliant with privacy laws such as the GDPR and CCPA, which means advertisers must get explicit user consent before collecting data for tracking purposes. Some users may opt out of tracking, leading to fewer view-through conversions being recorded.

Transparent Opt-Out Options: Microsoft Ads also offers users the ability to opt out of personalized advertising. While this doesn't directly impact the ability to track view-through conversions, it can limit the data available for analysis and affect campaign performance insights.

6. Campaign Optimization Based on Available Data
Optimization Despite Limited Tracking: Even with tracking limitations due to ad blockers or privacy features, Bing Ads provides machine learning and automated bidding strategies that can help optimize campaigns based on available data. These tools use available impressions, clicks, and conversions (including view-through) to adjust bidding and targeting strategies for maximum performance, even if some data points are missing.

Impression-Based Strategies: In some cases, Bing Ads can use impression data (even without clicks or conversions) to gauge the effectiveness of campaigns and optimize for future ad delivery, helping to maintain campaign performance.

7. Reporting and Attribution Adjustments
Attribution Model Adjustments: While ad blockers and privacy features might cause some view-through conversions to be underreported, advertisers can still use Bing Ads' attribution models (like first-click, last-click, or linear attribution) to understand the role of impressions and user interactions. These models help advertisers evaluate how ads across platforms contribute to conversions, even with incomplete tracking.

Data Limitations Acknowledgment: Bing Ads may provide data insights and performance benchmarks based on available tracking, but it's important for advertisers to understand that ad blockers or privacy tools may affect the total accuracy of view-through conversion reporting.

Conclusion
Bing Ads can track view-through conversions, but ad blockers, privacy features, and cookie restrictions can limit the effectiveness of this tracking. While advertisers can't fully circumvent these barriers, Bing Ads is adapting by offering solutions like first-party cookies, server-to-server tracking, and ongoing innovations to mitigate the impact of these technologies. In the meantime, advertisers can use alternative methods, such as cross-platform attribution and offline conversion tracking, to measure the full impact of their campaigns and optimize for long-term success.