Abnormal traffic decline of Microsoft Advertising in the Chinese market

Hello Jason,

Thank you for using our Microsoft Advertising Learn Q&A Platform! 

I understand that you are concerned with the recent fluctuations you have noticed on your account. I hope the response and resources provided here can be of some assistance.

Microsoft is committed to delivering world-class service to advertisers and publisher partners. We’re dedicated to protecting our marketplace from click fraud, conversion fraud, phishing, malware, and maintaining traffic quality standards. Use this resource for information about our traffic quality protection systems and Policies. Despite our best efforts, we can’t guarantee every instance of low quality, fraudulent activity or suspicious traffic will be caught. If you suspect click or conversion fraud, Report It to our Team and we will investigate it promptly.

Microsoft Advertising takes user, advertiser, and network protection seriously. Between Microsoft Advertising and the Microsoft ecosystem of security and privacy products, we ensure that the Microsoft Advertising Search Network provides quality traffic and a safe experience for our customers.

Here are some specific methods we use to help protect advertisers:

• Click Filtration System: Our proprietary click filtration system is a complex series of filters that work to identify low quality and/or invalid clicks that will never be billed to advertisers. To read more about how Microsoft monitors clicks, review Monitoring Clicks: Telling the Good from the Bad.
• Risk Assessment: In some markets, our systems evaluate the quality of partner traffic in real- time and may adjust the bids via auto bidding strategies to mitigate risk on advertiser ROI for associated clicks. If this is available in your market, there’s nothing you need to do to take advantage of this. Our models apply automatically based on data available to Microsoft Advertising auto bidding technology.

Fluctuations in click volume from day to day are common and can be caused by a variety of factors. Here are some key reasons your clicks may be lower than previous days:

• Seasonal changes: For example, increases in online shopping during holidays or decreases during off-peak periods can affect click volume.
• Sales, discounts, or promotions: If you recently ended a promotion or sale, you may see a drop in clicks as visibility and traffic decrease.
• Recent news events: News stories or current events can stimulate or reduce online consumer interest and web traffic.
• Changes to your ads or website: Updates to ad headings, text, or your website can impact how often your ads are clicked.
• New links to your website: If other sites stop linking to your website, you may see fewer clicks.
• Keyword changes: Adding or removing keywords, or changes in keyword bidding, can affect traffic.
• Ad position changes: Movement from sidebar to mainline position in search results can cause spikes or drops in traffic. Mainline positions generally generate more traffic.
• Internal ranking algorithm changes: Microsoft Advertising may update its internal ranking algorithms, affecting ad visibility and click volume.
• Seasonal fluctuations in search activity: General changes in user search behavior can impact click volume.

To monitor and understand these fluctuations, you should regularly review performance reports, track conversion rates, and use tools like Universal Event Tracking (UET) and Microsoft Clarity to analyze traffic behavior. If none of these explanations account for the change, Microsoft Advertising recommends reporting the issue to Support for further investigation. For further information, please see the following sources:

Traffic Quality Center

Microsoft Advertising Click Measurement: Description of Methodology

Our support teams are happy to discuss your account in more detail via phone, chat or email to provide review assistance, please see our support page to reach out! 

I hope the information provided here will at least partly answer your question.  If you have any additional questions please do not hesitate to reach out to our support. I have also sent you a private message asking for further details. You are more than welcome to respond to me so that I can begin the investigation on my end.

Kind regards, 

Vahid | Microsoft Advertising Support Specialist | 800-518-5689