Microsoft Advertising MCP Server
Search & Performance
Connect any AI assistant to Microsoft Advertising through one secure MCP layer that analyses, proposes and reports — with every change held for your approval.
What is the Microsoft Ads MCP?
The Microsoft Advertising MCP Server is an integration that connects your AI assistant — ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, Cursor or Codex — to your Microsoft Advertising account through one secure Model Context Protocol (MCP) connection. Instead of clicking through the Microsoft Advertising UI or exporting spreadsheets, you brief your assistant in plain language and it queries live account data, drafts changes and assembles reports on your behalf. OpenAds sits in the middle as the control layer, so every request is scoped, logged and reversible.
It matters because Microsoft Ads reaches a distinct, high-intent audience across Bing, Yahoo, AOL and the wider Microsoft Search Network — often at lower cost-per-click than other search platforms. The catch is that it is frequently under-managed. OpenAds keeps the analysis, proposal, approval and execution stages separate: the AI can research and recommend freely, but nothing that spends money or alters live campaigns runs until a human approves it. You get the speed of automation without surrendering control of the account.
Key capabilities
Pull live campaign, ad group, keyword and ad performance from Microsoft Advertising in seconds.
Research keywords, search terms and audience segments across the Microsoft Search Network.
Surface wasted spend — poor-converting keywords, irrelevant search terms and missing negatives.
Draft new Search, Shopping, Audience and Performance Max campaigns ready for review.
Propose bid, budget and pacing adjustments grounded in current account data.
Apply and manage negative keyword lists to tighten targeting.
Generate stakeholder-ready performance reports on demand.
Hold every write action for explicit human approval before execution.
What you can do
Analyse performance
Ask for a read on any slice of the account — a single campaign, a device breakdown, or month-on-month trends across the Microsoft Search Network. OpenAds retrieves live metrics such as impressions, clicks, CTR, average CPC, conversions and cost-per-acquisition, then explains what changed and why in language you can forward to a client.
Research keywords & audiences
Discover new keyword opportunities, check search volumes and competition, and explore in-market and remarketing audience segments available on Microsoft Ads. The assistant clusters ideas into themed ad groups and flags where imported Google Ads structures could be tightened for the Microsoft audience.
Find wasted spend
OpenAds scans search term reports for irrelevant queries, isolates keywords with high spend and no conversions, and identifies gaps in your negative keyword coverage. It presents a prioritised list of exclusions and pauses so you can reclaim budget quickly.
Create campaigns
Describe your goal, product and budget, and the assistant drafts a complete Microsoft Ads campaign — structure, keywords, match types, responsive search ad copy and extensions. Everything arrives as a proposal for you to review, edit and approve before it goes live.
Optimise & pace budget
Get recommendations on shifting budget toward converting campaigns, adjusting bids by device or location, and pacing spend so you finish the month on target. OpenAds shows the projected impact of each change and waits for your sign-off.
Generate reports
Request a weekly summary, a client-ready performance deck outline or a variance analysis against target. OpenAds compiles the numbers, highlights wins and issues, and drafts the narrative — turning hours of manual reporting into a single prompt.
Supported campaign types
Campaign typePrimary useTypical workflow SearchCapture high-intent queries on Bing and partner networksResearch keywords, draft ad groups and RSAs, approve, launch ShoppingPromote retail products with feed-driven listingsConnect Merchant Center feed, structure product groups, review, go live AudienceReach in-market and remarketing segments across the networkSelect audiences, set bids, approve targeting, activate Performance MaxAutomated cross-channel reach from a single campaignSupply assets and goals, review asset groups, approve, launch Dynamic Search AdsCover long-tail queries using site contentDefine page targets, set exclusions, approve, monitor Import from Google AdsMirror an existing Google Ads structure to MicrosoftMap campaigns, review adjustments, approve, sync
Getting started
Sign in to OpenAds and open the integrations page.
Select Microsoft Advertising and authorise the secure OAuth connection.
Choose the Microsoft Ads account or manager account you want to connect.
Set your permission scope — read-only, or read with approval-gated writes.
Confirm, and OpenAds establishes the MCP connection to your account.
Once connected, link your AI assistant of choice. ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, Cursor and Codex all speak MCP, so you simply point them at your OpenAds connection. From there you brief the assistant in natural language and it works against your live Microsoft Ads data through the same secure, approval-gated layer.
First prompts to try
"Show me my worst-performing Microsoft Ads campaigns over the last 30 days."
"Find search terms wasting spend and suggest negative keywords to add."
"Draft a Search campaign for our accounting software with a ₹80,000 monthly budget."
"Which keywords have spent over ₹5,000 with no conversions this month?"
"Compare desktop versus mobile performance and recommend bid adjustments."
"Reallocate ₹25,000 from underperforming campaigns to my best converter."
"Research new keyword ideas for our B2B logistics service."
"Build me a weekly performance report for the leadership team."
A complete workflow example
Objective: reduce wasted spend and improve cost-per-acquisition on a Microsoft Search campaign.
User prompt: "Our Bing search campaign's CPA has crept up. Find what's driving it and propose fixes."
What OpenAds analysed: it pulled 60 days of campaign, keyword and search term data, segmented by device and match type, and cross-checked the negative keyword list.
Findings: three broad-match keywords accounted for 38% of spend but only 6% of conversions; a cluster of irrelevant search terms was leaking budget; and mobile CPA ran 42% above desktop.
Proposed actions: pause the three underperforming keywords, add nine negative keywords, and apply a −20% mobile bid adjustment — with a projected ₹18,000 monthly saving and an estimated 15% CPA improvement.
Approval step: OpenAds presented each change as a discrete item for review. Nothing executed automatically. You approved the negatives and the bid adjustment, and edited one keyword pause. Only the approved items were then applied to the live account, and each was logged.
Result: the changes went live in minutes, spend tightened immediately, and the assistant scheduled a follow-up read to confirm the CPA improvement held.
Best practices
Start in read-only mode to build trust before enabling approval-gated writes.
Give the assistant your target CPA or ROAS so recommendations are grounded in your goals.
Review search term reports weekly to keep negative keyword lists current.
Approve changes in small batches so impact is easy to attribute.
Ask for a follow-up read a week after major changes to confirm the effect.
Safety and control
OpenAds draws a hard line between read and write actions. Reading data — pulling metrics, researching keywords, drafting proposals — happens freely and never touches your live account. Any write action that spends money or changes campaigns, bids, budgets or targeting is held at an approval checkpoint. You see exactly what will change, approve or edit it, and only then does it execute. Every approved action is logged, so the account has a clear, auditable trail.
OpenAds vs manual Microsoft Ads management
TaskOpenAdsManual management Performance analysisLive answer in seconds from a plain-language promptManual report builds and spreadsheet exports Finding wasted spendAutomated scan with a prioritised action listLine-by-line search term review Campaign creationDrafted end to end, ready for approvalBuilt screen by screen in the UI ReportingGenerated on demand with narrativeHours of assembly per report ControlEvery write action approval-gated and loggedManual, but slow and error-prone
Limitations
OpenAds works within Microsoft Advertising API capabilities; features not exposed by the API cannot be automated.
Data reflects Microsoft's reporting latency, so very recent activity may not appear instantly.
The assistant proposes changes based on available data — final judgement on strategy and approval remains with you.
Creative assets and landing pages must still be supplied or produced by your team.
Frequently asked questions
Will OpenAds change my campaigns automatically?
No. OpenAds can analyse and propose freely, but every action that spends money or alters your account is held for your explicit approval before it executes.
Which AI assistants can I use?
Any MCP-compatible assistant, including ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, Cursor and Codex. You connect once through OpenAds and use whichever you prefer.
Is my Microsoft Ads data secure?
Yes. The connection uses a secure OAuth authorisation, you control the permission scope, and every write action is logged for a full audit trail.
Can I import my existing Google Ads campaigns?
Yes. OpenAds can help map and mirror a Google Ads structure into Microsoft Ads, proposing adjustments suited to the Microsoft audience for your review before anything is created.
Do I need technical skills to use it?
No. You brief the assistant in plain language and review its proposals. No API knowledge or scripting is required.
Connect it through one secure MCP connection.