Microsoft Ads is rolling out a new feature called “brand lists” for Performance Max (PMax) campaigns. It promises more control over your brand image and ad visibility.
Brand lists allow advertisers to exclude their ads from appearing alongside specific brands, potentially improving ad relevance and return on ad spend (ROAS).
How it works.
- Advertisers can create up to 20 brand lists.
- They can add brands from a predefined list or request specific brands to be added.
- Brand exclusion can be applied to prevent ads from serving on branded search queries.
Why we care. This PMax feature offers advertisers more control over the sites and searches they see their ads against. It allows advertisers to avoid association with competitors or brands that don’t align with their values.
Key features.
- Covers misspellings automatically.
- Includes an editorial review process for brand requests.
- Takes 4-6 weeks for brand requests to be reviewed.
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Between the lines. This move signals Microsoft’s efforts to compete with Google Ads by offering more granular control over ad placements.
What they’re saying. 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 tools for brand safety and ad targeting precision.
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About the author
Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more.
In 2008, Anu’s career started with
delivering digital marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, maximising ROI, automating repetitive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leadership both on agency, client and marketing tech side.
Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event – PPC Live, host of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup, and brand evangelist at ClickTech.
She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Amsterdam), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.
