Local Inventory ads (LIAs) will be coming out of beta in Microsoft Advertising accounts early this month. The ads have been in testing for about a year.
How LIAs work. Microsoft’s Local Inventory ads function just as they do with Google Ads. When a user searches for a product, nearby retailers will be eligible to show ads for relevant inventory in stock in their nearby locations. LIAs feature an “in store” label. When a user clicks on the ad, they may be taken to the advertiser’s website or a Bing hosted store front page that includes product and store information.
How to get started. Import your store location data from Google My Business into your Microsoft Advertising account. If you aren’t already running Microsoft Shopping campaigns, you’ll need to upload your product feed to Microsoft Merchant Center. Then simply upload your local inventory feed to Microsoft Merchant Center. Finally, check the box in Local Inventory Ads to enable them for existing and new campaigns.
Why we should care. Advertisers that are already running Local Inventory ads in Google Ads can now fairly easily extend those to their Microsoft Advertising efforts. Local searches account for a growing number of queries, particularly on mobile. LIAs can help retailers with physical locations use Microsoft Shopping campaigns to help drive traffic to their stores.
About The Author
Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media’s Editor-in-Chief, managing day-to-day editorial operations across all of our publications. Ginny writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, she has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.