After Microsoft shelved its display ads network, many have written off the company’s ability to continue Bing Ads as a viable alternative to Google’s monetized search advertisement platform. Despite Microsoft selling off its display ads division, the company believes Bing Ads continues to be an innovative and worthwhile investment for both marketers and consumers and usage numbers (in the US) are reflecting that notion.
Beyond putting the right ads in front of the right people, the Bing Ads team is also concerned with steering consumers clear of “low quality or even dangerous” content. The reality of malicious adware infecting devices or pilfering user’s personal data and information has the Bing Ads team working around-the-clock to produce a safe and secure product for consumers and advertisers alike.
At Bing Ads, we take the safety and security of our search users very seriously. We start with an extensive team of domain experts who are up-to-date with latest attack patterns, as well as an operations team that is constantly refining policy enforcement to keep the ecosystem clean from new threats and compliant with laws in 40+ countries and multiple languages. Also, we incorporate escalations from users and advertisers into enforcement policy improvements. Coupled with an extensive backend infrastructure, we work 24/7 to ensure ads that are shown are policy compliant and safe for our users. Each and every ad entering the system is scanned using automation powered by machine learning and then manually reviewed when necessary to ensure correct policy decisions.”
Now, there is only so much the Bing Ads team can do to keep consumers as safe such as enforcing stricter checks on advertising that include “toll-free numbers” to fix computer issues and using machine learning to combat relatively sophisticated ad attacks. When implementing updated security measures, the Bing Ads team has recorded over 250 million blocked ads.
However, there are still thousands of socially engineered ad attacks tossed at consumers on a daily basis, and the Bing Ads team are encouraging users to keep an eye on the more prominent online patterns and offers to protect themselves against attacks.
During 2015, we rejected hundreds of millions of ads and identified thousands of sites pushed by bad actors for being in direct violation of our policies. Bad actors often engage in misleading behaviors with the intent to mislead and potentially damage our users. Some of the models we detected include:
- Unrealistic weight loss claims and dieting schemes
- Quick money making schemes and work from home jobs
- Questionable deals on luxury items like designer purses
The Bing Ads team is continuously updating its tracking and reaction methods to intercept and counter bad ads and with its growing prowess with machine learning-based detection mechanisms, the company will become even more efficient over time. Efficiency and safety will become a strong selling point for users as they continue to search the web in mass.
