Column Est. first page bid, Est. mainline bid and Est. best position are all blank in the UI

Hello Big T,

Thank you for using our Microsoft Advertising Learn Q&A Platform!

I understand how important it is for you to review your keyword performance—especially the delivery status shown in the keyword performance grid—so you can evaluate how your current settings are performing and determine whether any adjustments are needed to improve your ads’ visibility/placement on the first page of our search results.

I reviewed the Microsoft Advertising Platform Health Blog and did not find any reported incidents related to missing reports in the Keyword performance grid/table within the Microsoft Advertising UI.

Another possible reason is that your keywords may not yet have enough performance data for the system to determine whether they should be flagged with a “Below first page bid” status. In the meantime, the default delivery status typically appears as “Eligible” if the keyword is active, “Paused” if it has been paused, or “Disapproved” if it does not comply with Microsoft Advertising policies. For more details for other delivery status for your ads and keywords, see Delivery status.

Our support teams are pleased to engage in more in-depth discussions about your account through phone, chat, or email to offer review assistance, please see our support page to reach out!

I trust that the details shared here will partially address your inquiry. Should you have any further questions, feel free to contact our support. Additionally, I’ve sent you a private message requesting additional information. Please don’t hesitate to reply if you require further assistance.

Kind regards, 

Marvin | Microsoft Advertising Support Specialist | 800-518-5689 

The blank “Est. first page bid”, “Est. mainline bid”, and “Est. best position” columns, and the absence of the “below first page bid” delivery status, do not by themselves indicate a UI issue. They reflect that Microsoft Advertising does not currently have usable bid/position estimates for those keywords at the relevant ad positions.

In Microsoft Advertising, these UI columns are backed by the same estimation logic exposed through the Ad Insight APIs. For example:

• A keyword’s estimated first page bid corresponds to calling GetEstimatedBidByKeywordIds with TargetAdPosition = FirstPage.
• A keyword’s estimated main line bid corresponds to TargetAdPosition = MainLine.
• A keyword’s estimated best position bid corresponds to TargetAdPosition = MainLine1.

These estimates are derived from recent performance data (last 7 days) and are not guaranteed to be available for every keyword at all times. When no estimate is available for a given keyword and target position, the related UI columns can appear blank, and the system cannot label the keyword as “below first page bid”.

To confirm that this is data-driven behavior rather than a UI defect, use the Ad Insight service for some of the same keyword IDs:

1. Call GetEstimatedBidByKeywordIds three times, once each with TargetAdPosition set to FirstPage, MainLine, and MainLine1, and check whether bid values are returned.
2. Optionally, call GetEstimatedPositionByKeywordIds with a MaxBid value to see if estimated positions, clicks, CPC, and impressions are available for those keywords over the last 7 days.

If these API calls also return no estimates, the blank UI columns are expected and simply indicate that the system cannot currently compute reliable estimates for those keywords, rather than an issue with the interface itself.

References:

• Keyword First Page Bid Record - Bulk
• Keyword Best Position Bid Record - Bulk
• Keyword Main Line Bid Record - Bulk
• Bid Strategy Record - Bulk
• Budget and Bid Opportunities
• GetEstimatedPositionByKeywordIds Service Operation - Ad Insight (soap)