Bing Ads policy, officially called Microsoft Advertising policy, defines what content, claims, and targeting are allowed on the network and enforces those rules through a two-stage editorial review. When an ad gets disapproved, the single most useful action is to check the policy status and read the specific editorial reason code attached to it, since that code tells you exactly what to fix before you resubmit or appeal.
TL;DR:
- Disapprovals often originate from specific reason codes, like excessive capitalization or category-specific violations, which require targeted edits for quick fixes.
- Certain restricted categories, such as crypto and gambling, demand pre-approval involving licensing proof and active campaigns before ads can run legally.
- Regularly checking editorial status via bulk API calls helps prevent unnoticed disapprovals and reduces wasted spend caused by late detection.
- Appeals should be specific, well-documented, and cite exact policy clauses, with high-volume accounts needing efficient batch processes due to appeal limits.
- Repeated violations can lead to account strikes or suspension, making proactive, routine compliance checks essential for long-term ad account health.
Table of Contents
- What Microsoft Advertising policies cover
- How editorial review actually works
- Common disapproval reasons and how to read the codes
- Restricted categories that need pre-approval
- Fixing disapproved ads and filing a strong appeal
- Account impacts: Approved Limited, strikes, and suspension
- What experienced advertisers get wrong about compliance
- CloakingAd’s approach to restricted-category approvals
- FAQ
- Sources
What Microsoft Advertising policies cover
Microsoft Advertising policies apply across Search, Audience, Display, and Native placements, and they do not treat every ad type the same way. A headline that passes on Search can still fail Native review because image and layout rules differ, and Audience campaigns carry their own targeting restrictions layered on top of the content rules.
A few areas generate the most disapprovals and account flags:
- Prohibited and restricted content: counterfeit goods, misleading claims, and categories like pharmacy, crypto, and gambling that require special handling.
- Landing page quality: the destination must match the ad’s claims and load without errors or deceptive redirects.
- Tracking and privacy: Universal Event Tracking (UET) tags and a visible privacy policy link are expected on sites running conversion tracking.
- Market variation: a claim allowed in one country can violate policy in another, so rules are not uniform worldwide.
Policies change often, and a page that complied last quarter can fall out of compliance after an update, which is why checking the current policy text before every new campaign launch matters more than relying on memory.
How editorial review actually works
Every ad goes through an initial, largely real-time review the moment you create or edit it. That first pass catches obvious problems like banned words or missing disclosures, but it is not the whole story. Microsoft also runs a deeper background review, automated or manual, that can catch issues the initial check missed, and an ad must clear both stages to keep serving. This two-tier structure is why an ad can show as approved for days and then suddenly flip to disapproved with no action from you, according to Microsoft’s editorial review documentation.
Disapprovals get flagged through three detection modes, each implying a different response:
- System: an automated scan caught a policy match, usually tied to a reason code you can read and fix.
- User: someone reported the ad, which often means a landing page or claim issue worth re-checking manually.
- Legal order: a regulatory or legal requirement forced removal, which generally cannot be appealed through normal channels.
For advertisers managing more than a handful of campaigns, checking editorial status one ad at a time does not scale. The GetAdsByEditorialStatus operation in the Microsoft Advertising API lets you pull editorial status across an entire account in bulk, which is the practical way to catch disapprovals before they quietly drain a day of spend.
Pro Tip: Run your editorial status pull on a schedule, even daily for active accounts, rather than waiting for a performance dip to alert you.
Common disapproval reasons and how to read the codes
Most disapprovals trace back to a small set of repeat offenders: excessive capitalization, poor grammar or spelling, missing disclosures, and category-specific violations in pharmacy, healthcare, or political advertising. Each one maps to a specific editorial failure reason code rather than a vague “policy violation” label, and that code is what tells you whether the fix is quick or structural.
- Excessive capitalization or punctuation: usually a one-line edit to the ad copy.
- Poor grammar or clarity: rewrite the flagged asset rather than appeal, since these rarely overturn.
- Pharmacy or healthcare claims: often requires certification or category pre-approval, not just a copy change.
- Political or advocacy content: subject to separate disclosure rules that vary by market.
You can look up the exact meaning of a code in the Microsoft Advertising UI next to the disapproved ad, or pull it programmatically through GetEditorialReasonsByIds, which returns the full description tied to each failure code, per Microsoft’s editorial failure reason codes reference. When you are triaging a batch of disapprovals, fix the appealable, cosmetic issues first and document exactly what changed on each asset. That record speeds up any later appeal and keeps your account history clean if Microsoft reviews it again.
Restricted categories that need pre-approval
Some categories cannot run at all without applying for special permission first, and skipping that step is the fastest way to get disapproved repeatedly with no clear fix available. Cryptocurrency and gambling sit at the top of this list. Microsoft restricts both to pre-approved advertisers and, in the case of crypto, generally limits eligible advertisers to specific networks and markets, as outlined in Microsoft’s network policy updates.
Getting pre-approved usually requires more than filling out a form:
- Licensing proof: gambling operators typically need market-specific licensing documentation on file.
- An active payment method: applications without a live billing method attached to the account are often rejected outright.
- Active or recent campaigns: Microsoft tends to expect a demonstrable account history before granting restricted-category access.
- Market-by-market compliance: approval in one country does not carry over to another.
Before applying, it is worth checking both Microsoft’s policy page and your target market’s own advertising law, since the two do not always move in sync, and a campaign can be policy-compliant on Bing while still violating a local regulation. For readers navigating crypto specifically, our crypto advertising guide covers where pre-approval tends to open doors and where it does not.
Fixing disapproved ads and filing a strong appeal
Once you know the reason code, the remediation path is largely mechanical:
- Locate the disapproved asset in the dashboard or via an editorial status API pull.
- Read the specific reason code attached to it, not just the general “disapproved” label.
- Edit or replace the flagged element, whether that is ad copy, an image, or the landing page itself.
- Resubmit the ad, or if you believe the disapproval was a mistake, request an exception instead.
Exceptions are requested directly in the UI under Ads & Extensions, and the justification field has a hard limit of 1,000 characters, so the strongest appeals are specific and evidence-based rather than a general plea, according to Microsoft’s AppealEditorialRejections documentation.
Microsoft caps programmatic appeals at 2,000 per account in a rolling 24-hour window, with a 10,000 pending-appeal limit, so high-volume advertisers need an efficient, batched workflow rather than submitting appeals one at a time as disapprovals arrive.
Account impacts: Approved Limited, strikes, and suspension
A disapproved ad simply does not serve, but Microsoft also uses an “Approved Limited” status for ads that run with restrictions, often reduced visibility in certain markets or on certain networks rather than a full block. Repeated or severe violations escalate further. Microsoft applies a strike-based structure where accumulating serious violations, like repeated counterfeit listings or deceptive landing pages, can lead to account suspension rather than a single ad getting pulled.
Protecting account health comes down to a few habits:
- Document every fix so you can show a pattern of good-faith compliance if Microsoft reviews the account.
- Audit proactively instead of waiting for a disapproval notice to check policy alignment.
- Target conservatively in markets or categories with stricter enforcement histories.
What experienced advertisers get wrong about compliance
Most compliance failures are not knowledge gaps, they are cadence gaps. Accounts that check editorial status weekly instead of daily miss the window where a quiet fix would have worked. The advertisers who appeal successfully are not the ones who argue hardest, they are the ones who build an internal playbook mapping each reason code to a known fix, then write appeal text that cites the specific policy clause rather than asserting fairness.
— Umar
CloakingAd’s approach to restricted-category approvals
If disapprovals in a restricted category keep recurring no matter how carefully you edit assets, that is usually a sign the category itself needs a different approach, not another appeal. We work specifically with advertisers in categories like crypto, CBD, kratom, peptides, and forex, where standard editorial review was never designed to say yes easily.
Our services map directly to the pain points above:
- Consultation call: a direct conversation about which of your disapprovals are fixable through standard appeal and which need a structural workaround.
- Setup cloaking system, for advertisers who want the technical infrastructure, server configuration, and compliant landing pages built once and maintained.
- Done-For-You management, for advertisers who want ongoing account monitoring and approval maintenance handled end to end.
None of this replaces legal advice on licensing or local advertising law. It is operational support for getting and keeping ads approved. Book a consultation or see current services to find the right starting point for your account.
FAQ
How do I stop ads on Bing?
Pause or delete the campaign, ad group, or individual ad directly in Microsoft Advertising’s dashboard, which stops delivery immediately. You can also pause at the account level if you need to halt all spend while you review a disapproval or policy issue.
Can you run ads on Bing?
Yes, any advertiser can apply to run ads through Microsoft Advertising, though categories like crypto and gambling require pre-approval before campaigns go live, as described in Microsoft’s network policy updates. Standard categories go through the normal editorial review process without a separate application.
Are Bing Ads worth it?
That depends on your audience and category: Bing Ads can reach search traffic that Google Ads does not capture, often at lower competition for certain keywords. Whether it is worth it comes down to whether your target customers search on Bing’s network and whether your category clears editorial review without repeated friction.
What is the difference between Google Ads and Bing Ads?
Both are pay-per-click search advertising platforms, but they run on different search networks with separate editorial review systems, reason codes, and restricted-category rules. An ad approved on one platform is not automatically approved on the other, since each enforces its own version of content and compliance policy.
Sources
- Editorial review and appeals – Microsoft Advertising
- Updates to our network policies – Microsoft Advertising (blog)