Microsoft Ads is introducing a new feature called Brand Lists for Performance Max (PMax) campaigns, promising more control over your brand image and the visibility of your ads.
Brand lists allow advertisers to exclude their ads from appearing next to certain brands, potentially improving ad relevance and return on ad spend (ROAS).
How it works.
- Advertisers can create up to 20 brand lists.
- You can add brands from a predefined list or request the addition of specific brands.
- Brand exclusion can prevent ads from being delivered for brand-related search queries.
Why we care. This PMax feature gives advertisers more control over the sites and searches where their ads appear, allowing advertisers to avoid associating with competitors or brands that don’t align with their values.
Key Features.
- Automatically covers spelling mistakes.
- Includes an editorial review process for trademark requests.
- It takes 4-6 weeks to review trademark requests.
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Between the lines. The move is a sign that Microsoft wants to compete with Google Ads by offering more precise control over ad placement.
What you say. Microsoft touts the benefits as helping advertisers “mitigate risks” and “display ads with relevant content.”
The big picture. As digital advertising becomes more complex and automated, platforms are introducing more brand safety and precise ad targeting tools.
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About the author
Anu Adegbola is a paid media editor at Search Engine Land since 2024. She reports paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more.
In 2008, Anu’s career began with
Delivering digital marketing campaigns (primarily, but not exclusively, paid search) by developing strategies, maximizing ROI, automating repetitive processes and driving efficiency across all parts of marketing departments through inspiring leadership on both the agency, client and marketing technology side.
In addition to editing Search Engine Land articles, she is the founder of the PPC networking event PPC Live and host of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup and bFringe evangelist at ClickTech.
She is also a speaker internationally and has spoken at venues including SMX (USA), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Amsterdam), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.
