WHY THE ACCOUNT VERIFICATION

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Advertising Community Forum! My name is Pranavi, and I will be assisting you with this query.

The Advertiser Identity Verification is a program that verifies an advertiser’s business entity or their individual legal identity. This is done to promote a more secure advertising ecosystem as AIV provides greater transparency to both viewers and searchers. It ensures that customers see ads from trusted sources to improve their overall experience.

Our goal is to improve users’ trust in the ads ecosystem by providing them with more information about the advertisers. Through the advertiser identity verification, we will verify the name and location of our advertisers in a phased rollout. This is a part of our larger effort to increase transparency, choice, and control for the users.

Understanding the identity verification process:

Anytime Microsoft Advertising requires advertiser identity verification, you'll receive an email request and an in-product notification for one or more of your accounts. The request will contain verification instructions. You'll need to complete the instructions within 30 days, or else your account may be paused, and your ads will stop showing. In this event, as soon as your identity verification is complete, we'll enable your account, at which time your ads will begin showing again.

Please note that our review process may take 3-5 business days. We may pause your account if you fail the verification. For more information on verification status, please see Identity verification status.

• Only a Super Admin owner of the account can apply for verification. As of now, agencies cannot complete verification on behalf of an account owner.
• You're only required to complete identity verification for the Microsoft Advertising accounts that we notify you about. You can't opt in other accounts for identity verification.
• Currently, you can apply for verification for one account at a time. We don't currently support verification of multiple accounts in parallel, except if another account that you own shares the same business location. In this case, it will be automatically verified as well.

Depending on the situation, you can choose to verify as a business, as an individual, or both.

Please note that the documentation you need to provide will differ based on your location.

Verify as a business (if you represent or promote a business)

You can choose to verify as a business if you represent or promote a business, for example, a law firm or a plumbing service.

1. Select the profile picture in the upper-right corner of any Microsoft Advertising page to view the list of manager accounts you have access to.
2. Select the account that has a request for advertiser identity verification.
3. From the top menu, select Tools > Preferences > Account settings.
4. Under Verification Status, select Become a verified advertiser.
5. Select Verify as a business.
6. Review and verify your account's business name and location. Note: The information here must match that in the documents you submit for verification later, or else your verification will fail. You can make updates in your account settings to make sure that your information is up to date.
7. Enter information about your legally registered business, including Business website and Business email address.
8. Upon entering the Business email address, request a verification code by selecting Send verification code. You'll receive an email at your business email address with the verification code.
9. Enter the verification code from the email under Enter code. Note: If you don't receive a verification code, you may request additional verification codes once Send Verification is re-enabled.
10. Under Business documents, provide documentation with your business name and address that'll be used for verification.
11. If you own registered rights to your domain, under Website documents, submit documentation that proves your business has registered rights to the domain (e.g., receipt of domain of purchase or domain renewal). Note: If you provided an email address besides your business domain, then you also need to provide documentation to verify your personal identity.
12. Select Next.
13. Review the information.
14. Select Submit application.

Verify as an individual (if you represent or promote yourself as an individual)

You can choose to verify as an individual if you represent or promote yourself as an individual; for example, if you're a freelance writer or food truck owner. You may also need to choose individual verification if you provide an email outside of your business domain.

1. Select the profile picture in the upper-right corner of any Microsoft Advertising page to view the list of manager accounts you have access to.
2. Select the account that has a request for advertiser identity verification.
3. From the top menu, select Tools > Preferences > Account settings.
4. Under Verification Status, select Become a verified advertiser.
5. Select Verify as an individual. Note: For individual verification, the account's legal business name in Account settings must match your full name (first and last). If the legal business name doesn't match your full name, then you need to verify as a business instead. Or, to continue with individual verification, go to Account settings and edit your Legal business name as needed to continue with individual verification.
6. Select Next.
7. Provide documentation to verify your personal identity. Note:
   • You need to upload screenshots of the original documents for the purpose of verification. Pre-scanned uploads of documents may lead to verification failure.
   • If you are verifying in India, your Driving License is not a supported form of verification.
8. Provide a photo of yourself that reflects your current appearance. Please note that pre-scanned or existing photographs may lead to verification failure.
9. Select Next.
10. Review the information.
11. Select Submit application. Help link: Advertiser identity verification (microsoft.com)

I hope that the above information is of help. I will be also sending you a private message where you can reply to us if you have any further queries, and we will be happy to assist you.

Thank you,

Pranavi | Microsoft Advertising Support Specialist | 800-633-5915