First, confirm it is actually Microsoft Advertising and not your store. Then contain the damage and communicate. Here is exactly how to do that during a Microsoft Advertising outage, plus what usually breaks and how long incidents tend to last.
How do I confirm Microsoft Advertising is actually down?
Check two independent sources before changing anything in your store. First, StatusBird's live Microsoft Advertising status page, which is based on independent checks every 2 minutes. Second, Microsoft Advertising's own status page at ads.microsoft.com/status. If the official page still shows green, do not assume you are wrong: vendors often acknowledge incidents well after they start. If both look clean, the problem is more likely your store's configuration or a specific integration.
What does a Microsoft Advertising outage look like?
- ads.microsoft.com fails to load or shows errors after sign-in
- Traffic from bing.com referrals drops noticeably in analytics
- Bulk uploads or API sync jobs from tools like Google Ads import fail
- Merchant Center feed uploads stall or products show as pending indefinitely
- Reporting shows missing or delayed spend and conversion data
What breaks in your store
An outage can hit the ads.microsoft.com web interface, the Microsoft Advertising API, ad serving itself, or Merchant Center feed processing. If serving is affected, paid clicks from Bing and partner properties stop arriving at the store; if only the interface or API is down, ads keep running but you cannot adjust bids, budgets, or pause campaigns, which matters if a promotion just ended. Feed processing failures cause shopping ads to show stale prices or disapprove products, which can mean advertising a discount that no longer exists.
For context, Microsoft Advertising has had no major incidents in the last 90 days of StatusBird's independent monitoring (100.0% availability), so a real outage is unusual. That makes it easy to mistake one for a problem on your end, which is why confirming first matters.
What to do during the outage
- Check the Microsoft Advertising status page to see which component is affected before troubleshooting your own account.
- Use the Microsoft Advertising Editor desktop app, since it can sometimes post changes when the web interface is failing.
- Verify whether ads are still serving by searching your brand terms on Bing in a private window.
- Update landing pages or store banners to match live promotions if you cannot pause outdated ads.
- Note the outage window and reconcile spend afterward, since reporting data usually backfills after recovery.
Frequently asked questions
Microsoft Advertising will not load but I have a sale ending tonight. Are my ads still spending?
Usually yes. Interface outages are more common than serving outages, so ads typically keep running and spending while the console is down. Search your keywords on Bing directly to confirm, and try the Microsoft Advertising Editor desktop app to push a pause if you need one.
My Google Ads import to Microsoft failed. Did I lose my campaigns?
No, a failed import does not delete existing campaigns; they continue running with their last synced settings. Re-run the import once Microsoft's API recovers and spot-check bids and budgets to make sure the sync completed cleanly.
After the outage
Once Microsoft Advertising recovers, verify the affected workflows end to end rather than trusting the status page. Note the start and end times while they are fresh: if you are on a paid Microsoft Advertising plan with an SLA, documented downtime is what a service credit claim is built on. See how to claim SLA credits for the process.
How this data is measured
StatusBird checks Microsoft Advertising's status every 2 minutes, around the clock, independently of the vendor. The availability figure counts major and critical outages only; minor degradation is excluded so numbers are not skewed by vendors that report small blips near-continuously. Grades run from A+ to F. See the live numbers on the Microsoft Advertising reliability page and current status on the Microsoft Advertising status page, or browse all 84 service grades.
Know before your customers do
StatusBird monitors Microsoft Advertising and 83 other services online stores depend on, plus your own storefront, every 2 minutes. When something goes down you get an SMS, email, or Slack alert with plain-English context, usually before the official status page catches up. Start monitoring free, no card required for the free plan.