Ad specs / Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Advertising (Bing) ad character limits
Published
Bing's limits have a second number almost nobody publishes: the length your text may be when you type it, and the length it may be after dynamic text is substituted. Exceed the second and the ad does not truncate — it fails to display.
What are the character limits for Bing responsive search ads?
Three to fifteen headlines at 30 characters each, and two to four descriptions at 90. Those are the limits that apply after any dynamic text is resolved.
| Field | How many | Limit you type | Limit after substitution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headline | 3–15 | 1,000 | 30 |
| Description | 2–4 | 1,000 | 90 |
| Path 1 | 0–1 | 1,000 | 15 |
| Path 2 | 0–1, needs Path 1 | 1,000 | 15 |
| Final URL | up to 10, first used | 2,048, protocol counted | |
According to Microsoft's
ResponsiveSearchAd reference, read on 2026-09-07. The 1,000-character figure is
the input allowance when the field contains dynamic text strings such as
{keyword}; the bold number is what survives.
Why does my Bing ad fail to display instead of truncating?
Because Bing treats an over-length result as an error, not as something to cut. Microsoft's wording is exact: the ad "will fail to display or default text will be used if the length exceeds 30 characters after dynamic text substitution occurs."
That is the trap in one sentence. A headline of Save on
{keyword} is 18 characters in the box and passes every check you can
run before launch. Substituted against a long search term it can land past 30,
and the result is not a shortened headline — it is your default text, or
nothing.
Do the limits change for Chinese, Japanese or Korean ads?
Yes, and they halve. Double-width characters get 15 final characters for a headline and 45 for a description, from a 500-character input allowance rather than 1,000.
Microsoft is specific about what counts: "the double-width characters are determined by the characters you use instead of the character set of the campaign or ad group language settings," and the list includes emoji. An emoji in an English headline moves that headline onto the 15-character rule.
How long can the display URL path be?
Fifteen final characters each for Path 1 and Path 2 — but the binding constraint is the total: the domain plus both paths "cannot exceed 67 characters," or 33 for double-width. Path 2 cannot be set without Path 1, a space inside a path is shown as an underscore, and a forward slash is not allowed at all.
What are the limits for Microsoft Audience and multimedia ads?
A different object with different numbers, which is why a single "Bing character limit" answer is usually wrong.
| Field | How many | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | 1 | 25 |
| Headline | 1–15 | 30 after substitution |
| Long headline | 1–5 | 90 |
| Description | 1–5 | 90 after substitution |
| Text (video ads) | 1 | 90 |
According to Microsoft's ResponsiveAd reference, read on 2026-09-07.
Does AdPlaybook build Microsoft Advertising campaigns?
No. It builds for Google Ads, LinkedIn, Meta, Pinterest, Reddit, TikTok, X and YouTube — eight platforms, each with its limits read from that platform's own documentation and carrying the date it was read. Microsoft Advertising is not among them, and this page is a reference rather than a claim of support.
The ad specs pages cover the eight it does build for, and the difference between a hard limit and a truncation point is the same trap on every platform — Bing's version is just unusually punishing, because the penalty is a dead ad rather than an ellipsis.