Key takeaways
- PUSH won Search Performance Partner of the Year for EMEA and LATAM at the Microsoft Advertising Partner Awards 2026 for its Private Health Quoter work.
- Microsoft Advertising delivered a 14.29% lead-to-sale rate, the highest of the four channels compared, from April 2025 to March 2026.
- Blended cost per acquisition was 36% lower than legacy Microsoft Search activity from April 2024 to March 2025.
- The method: Dynamic Search Ads to find converting searches, staged AI bidding through Universal Event Tracking, and focused keyword campaigns built from proven search terms.
- Microsoft Copilot supported ad copy, tracking diagnosis, cookie consent review and real-time performance updates.
What are the Microsoft Advertising Partner Awards, and why do they matter?
The Microsoft Advertising Partner Awards are Microsoft's annual awards for its Elite and Select agency partners. The 2026 EMEA and LATAM ceremony took place at Townhall, Inner Space in London.
Microsoft says the awards recognise partners whose creativity, collaboration and commitment drive results for customers. Entry rests on client work, so a win says something about outcomes.
PUSH is a Microsoft Elite Partner, one of only four agencies in the UK. Earlier Microsoft wins include Independent Partner of the Year and Best Account Team in Europe.
What does Search Performance Partner of the Year actually recognise?
Search Performance Partner of the Year recognises search work that delivers measurable results for a client. PUSH's entry was the Private Health Quoter programme, told from AI-assisted intent discovery through to lead-to-sale performance across the channel mix.
The measure matters. Private medical insurance is a considered purchase. People compare. For this client, acquisition performance depended on what happened after a lead arrived.
Lead volume is easy to report. Policy sales are harder to earn, and that is the number the entry was built around.
What was the work behind PUSH's Private Health Quoter campaign?
PUSH used Dynamic Search Ads to find the searches that convert, then built focused keyword campaigns around that evidence. Universal Event Tracking (UET), staged AI bidding and Microsoft Copilot supported the programme.
The campaign ran from April 2025 to March 2026 in the UK private medical insurance market. The full breakdown sits in the Private Health Quoter Microsoft Advertising case study.
How did PUSH achieve an 86% higher lead-to-sale rate on Microsoft Advertising?
PUSH let real search data decide the campaign structure, then fed conversion signals back into Microsoft's bidding. The case study reports the 86% figure in its headline.
"We let the search data tell us what to build. Dynamic Search Ads showed us which queries turned into policy sales, and we built the keyword campaigns around those. A lead only counts when it becomes a policy, so that is the number we managed to."
Discover intent with Dynamic Search Ads
Dynamic Search Ads explored real searches across private medical insurance. Search term reports and conversion data showed which queries, ad messages and landing page combinations deserved more investment.
Introduce AI bidding in stages
UET sent conversion signals to Microsoft's AI bidding. Campaigns moved to Maximise Conversions after reaching 20 conversions within a 15-day window. Target CPA followed as conversion data built up.
Build keyword campaigns from proven searches
Converting DSA search terms became exact and phrase match keyword campaigns. That focused campaign achieved the lowest CPA in the account, approximately 19% below the blended account CPA.
Responsive Search Ads, Multimedia Ads and Image Extensions then widened the creative coverage across Microsoft inventory.
Why did Microsoft Advertising deliver better lead quality than Google, Meta and Native?
On this account, Microsoft Advertising delivered the highest lead-to-sale rate of the four channels compared: 14.29%, across April 2025 to March 2026.
The channel generated 2,772 conversions in that period. That equates to approximately 396 estimated policy sales, based on the reported conversion total and lead-to-sale rate.
Cost moved the right way too. Blended cost per acquisition was 36% lower than legacy Microsoft Search activity from April 2024 to March 2025.
Two things differed in this programme. The searches came from converting evidence, and the bidding learned from conversion data. This is one account in one sector, so test it in yours.
What role did AI and Microsoft Copilot play in the campaign?
AI worked at two points: bidding and day-to-day optimisation. Microsoft's bidding algorithms optimised toward conversions, and Microsoft Copilot sped up the work around them.
PUSH used Copilot to:
- generate ad copy recommendations
- diagnose tracking issues
- review cookie consent
- provide real-time performance updates
Those uses supported creative development, conversion measurement and faster decisions.
PUSH also ran joint strategy sessions with the Microsoft Advertising account team, validated bidding strategy with them and gained early access to Multimedia Ad formats.
"Rohan and Abinash are always testing. They try different campaign types constantly, and that keeps PUSH ahead. On Private Health Quoter, it started with Dynamic Search Ads and ended with focused keyword campaigns built from what converted."
This is how we work across accounts. PUSH won Best Use of AI in Search at the UK Search Awards 2025, and the Microsoft win comes from the same approach.
How can your business use Microsoft Advertising to improve paid search performance?
Start with evidence of which searches sell, track conversions to the sale, and add automated bidding in stages. That is the sequence behind the Private Health Quoter result.
Four steps carry across to most accounts:
- Run Dynamic Search Ads to surface real converting queries.
- Install UET and send conversion data back to the platform.
- Move to Maximise Conversions once you reach 20 conversions in 15 days, then to target CPA.
- Turn proven search terms into exact and phrase match campaigns.
Credit for this win belongs to Rohan Moona. PUSH manages Microsoft Advertising inside a wider AI-driven paid search programme. Talk to PUSH about finding converting searches in your account and measuring lead-to-sale performance by channel.
Start with the searches that already sell.
