Previously our team has discussed how Google and Facebook are increasing their verification for advertisers as the growing need to protect the ad experience for marketers and searches surfaced. Microsoft has now joined the party, releasing a statement that they plan to implement a new advertiser verification feature.
What Does Advertiser Verification Do?
More money is being used for digital advertising, and the pandemic that started in 2020 gave it a big boost. With an increase of advertisers comes an increase of scams and data threats. To combat this, platforms have introduced advertiser identification to verify that the company or user running the ads is real and legitimate.
How Will This Change for Advertisers?
Microsoft will be rolling the feature out to 15 countries, including the United States to begin. As Microsoft audits their ad accounts, advertisers will receive an email notification prompting them to complete steps for verification of their identity. This includes providing information from “government-issued documents or busy-related documents,” states Microsoft. You will have 30 days to complete the steps required from the time you receive the email notification. Microsoft has not released details on what happens if this is not completed upon request, but if we learn from other platform policies, your ads may be turned off until the process is completed.
How Will This Change for Users?
When viewing an ad, the user will have the option to click on a dropdown arrow next to the URL in the ad to see further advertiser details. Using the template, here is an example replacing the advertiser’s name with MoreVisibility:
For our clients, this verification process has become a standard practice and we recommend following the steps provided by Microsoft to complete verification as soon as you receive the email notification.
