Microsoft Ads BMM to BM Update – All You Need to Know

We want to bring to your attention an important change that’s being rolled out in Microsoft Advertising. It’s possible that you may have missed the notification about this change in the Microsoft Advertising UI or announcements on Microsoft blog posts, so wanted to provide you with more details.

What’s happening? 

Microsoft Advertising has announced a change that will affect advertisers using legacy broad match modifier keywords for search ads. Starting March 15, these keywords will serve as broad match keywords for search ads, instead of phrase match keywords as they did previously. There will be a gradual rollout until the end of June.

The change will be gradual and will not impact sensitive verticals in Pharma and Adults & Gambling, which will continue to deliver as phrase instead of broad.

Why is it happening?

In the summer of 2021, the use of Broad Match Modifier keywords was phased out and existing BMM keywords are now being delivered as phrase match variant. However, there are further updates being made to also deliver legacy BMM keywords as broad match which will allow a roll out of of an algorithm update to broad match keywords.

Microsoft Advertising has been consistently making algorithmic improvements to broad match and testing adjustments, by removing broad match modifier keywords we can move to the new algorithm for broad match.   
Based on the experiments run by Microsoft so far, they expect the change to be small and for them to see good increases in conversions.

What action(s) should I take? 

No action is needed from advertisers at this point, but it is recommended to monitor performance for at least two weeks before assessing any potential adjustments. Advertisers can switch their keywords to retain phrase match delivery, while retaining the keyword’s ID and history via the Microsoft Advertising UI.

If you decide to switch keywords from broad to phrase match, note that the quality score of the keyword will be moved from inline to a “Deleted” line item, but it is not something that gets directly used in auctions. Additionally, a new BMM KW (with the match type from Google Ads) will not be created during the next import. 

How to switch keywords to phrase match in the Microsoft Ads UI

1.     Click on “Add filter” and select “Keyword text” in the pop-up, add “+” in the contains field and hit Apply.   

2.     Click on the checkbox next to “keyword” to select “All keywords” then click on Edit. Select “Change Match types” from the drop-down menu. 

3.     Change all keywords with “broad match” to “phrase match.” Click Save.  

Important notes: 

• The quality score (QS) of the keyword will be moved from inline to a “Deleted” line item., but it is not something that gets directly used in auctions. More importantly, QS is only based on exact match so other match types have no effect on it. 
• If you make the change to Phrase through the UI, your next Google Import will not update the match type. Additionally, a new BMM KW (with the match type from Google Ads) will not be created during the next import.  
• Our platform does not allow duplicate keywords, so if you’re changing a BMM keyword to Phrase that already exists, that will not create a duplicate. Note that +abc and abc will be considered duplicate if they have the same match type.

How to monitor performance 

We do not expect there to be large volatility issues due to this change; however, if you suspect this may be the cause of a past performance issue, we suggest actions below:

• Please pull the Search term report and add the “Delivered match type” column.
• Filter the Search term report to just BMM Keywords (has a + sign and the bidded match type is broad).
• Once you have this report, filter on Delivered match type = broad and see the number of impressions/ clicks generated. 

If you believe that this volume can lead to volatility, please notify our team and we will reach out to Microsoft support on your behalf.