{"id":11245,"date":"2026-08-17T11:48:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clickcease.com\/blog\/?p=11245"},"modified":"2026-07-29T11:55:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T11:55:40","slug":"how-do-i-turn-off-microsoft-audience-network-if-it-sends-junk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clickcease.com\/blog\/how-do-i-turn-off-microsoft-audience-network-if-it-sends-junk\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I turn off Microsoft Audience Network if it sends junk?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

A Step-by-Step Guide to Disabling Audience Ads and Controlling Traffic Quality in Microsoft Ads<\/h2>\n
\n

In Brief<\/h3>\n

To turn off the Microsoft Audience Network, you must navigate to the settings of the specific ad group you wish to modify. Within the settings, locate the Audience ads bid adjustment and set it to \u201cDecrease by 100%\u201d. This action does not remove the option but effectively prevents your ads from being served on the network by bidding zero for any potential placement. This is the standard and most direct method for opting out of Audience Network traffic for search campaigns.<\/p>\n

Advertisers typically take this step when they identify a significant volume of low-quality traffic, invalid clicks, or fake leads originating from Audience Network placements. While the network is designed to expand reach, its vast and varied inventory of publisher sites can expose campaigns to higher levels of bot traffic and non-converting users, leading to wasted ad spend and skewed performance metrics. Disabling it allows for a focus on higher-intent traffic from the core search network.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Disabling Audience Ads: The Mechanics and Strategic Implications<\/h3>\n

The process for disabling the Microsoft Audience Network is executed at the ad group level, offering granular control over which parts of your campaign are exposed to its inventory. To implement this, select the desired campaign and then the specific ad group. From there, navigate to the \u201cSettings\u201d tab. You will find a section for \u201cOther settings\u201d which contains the \u201cAudience ads\u201d bid adjustment. The default is often a 0% adjustment. To effectively turn it off, you must edit this setting and choose the option to decrease the bid by 100%. Saving this change ensures your ad group will no longer bid on or serve ads across the Audience Network.<\/p>\n

A question clients often ask us is whether disabling the Audience Network will harm their overall campaign volume and reach. The reality we see is that while total clicks and impressions will almost certainly decrease, the quality of the remaining traffic from the search network often leads to a higher conversion rate and a lower cost per acquisition. This effectively trades empty, high-volume clicks for profitable, high-intent conversions. The core tension for advertisers is between the allure of extended reach and the non-negotiable need for data integrity and budget efficiency. Sacrificing the former is often a prerequisite for achieving the latter.<\/p>\n

A complete shutdown is not the only option available for managing traffic quality. For advertisers who wish to test the network or believe some valuable placements exist, a more nuanced approach involves proactive publisher exclusions. By regularly running a \u201cWebsite URL (publisher)\u201d report within Microsoft Ads, you can identify specific domains that are driving high volumes of clicks but zero conversions. These sites can be added to a placement exclusion list at the campaign or account level. This method requires more active management but allows you to surgically remove the worst offenders while remaining open to potentially valuable placements. A comprehensive strategy for managing Microsoft Ads click fraud<\/a> involves both proactive exclusions and ongoing monitoring of placement performance.<\/p>\n

Despite its risks, there are specific scenarios where keeping the Audience Network active, albeit with stringent controls, might align with campaign goals. For top-of-funnel brand awareness campaigns, where the primary key performance indicator is impressions or reach rather than direct conversions, the network\u2019s extended inventory can be beneficial. In such cases, the goal is broad visibility, and the cost per impression may be acceptably low. However, even for these objectives, it is critical to implement a robust exclusion list and use a service to monitor for bot traffic, ensuring that the impressions being served are to humans and not automated scripts that provide no real brand value.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

<\/path><\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/span>PRO TIP<\/span>TIP<\/span><\/div>
Before disabling the Audience Network entirely, run a Website URL (publisher) report for the last 30 days. If over 80% of your Audience Network spend comes from fewer than 10 low-performing domains, try excluding just those sites first.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n

What’s the financial impact of disabling the Audience Network?<\/h3>\n

An e-commerce business saw its budget drain with few sales. Their analytics showed high clicks but a conversion rate of less than, for illustration, 0.1%. A Website URL report revealed that over 90% of clicks came from a handful of irrelevant publisher sites on the Microsoft Audience Network, a clear source of invalid traffic.<\/p>\n

The manager faced a decision: manually exclude hundreds of sites weekly or disable the network for that ad group. They chose to set the Audience Ads bid adjustment to decrease by 100%. In the following week, total campaign clicks dropped by a hypothetical 85%, but the conversion rate on the remaining search traffic jumped to 3.5%. The cost per acquisition fell dramatically. This decision proved that by eliminating the Audience Network’s low-quality placements, they could focus spend on high-intent search users and significantly improve campaign profitability.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Bottom Line<\/h3>\n

Disabling the Microsoft Audience Network by setting the ad group bid adjustment to -100% is a critical and effective measure for any advertiser concerned with traffic quality and budget efficiency. This single setting provides a powerful lever to eliminate a common source of invalid clicks, bot traffic, and fake leads. While this action reduces the total reach of a campaign, it refocuses advertising spend on the higher-intent Microsoft Search Network. The decision should not be seen as a failure but as a strategic optimization based on performance data, ensuring that paid media budgets are allocated to channels that deliver measurable and profitable results.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

Get Started with ClickCease today<\/a><\/p><\/section><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Step-by-Step Guide to Disabling Audience Ads and Controlling Traffic Quality in Microsoft Ads In Brief To turn off the Microsoft Audience Network, you must navigate to the settings of the specific ad group you wish to modify. Within the settings, locate the Audience ads bid adjustment and set it to \u201cDecrease by 100%\u201d. 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