Keyword handling

Keyword handling adds keywords or keyword placeholders to your tags. This allows you to associate ad activity with keywords in your tags, and to target your ads to these keywords. Learn more about use cases below.

Choose keyword handling options in your placement properties:

  • Insert placeholder: This includes a keyword placeholder ([kw]=placeholder) in your tags. Your publisher can add any keywords here that you want to show up in your reports, or that you want to use for keyword targeting.

  • Generate a tag for each keyword: Campaign Manager 360 generates a separate tag for each keyword you target in each assigned ad's properties. Learn more below.

  • Ignore: Campaign Manager 360 will not include any place in your tags for keywords. You can still add keywords, but you or the publisher will have to add the entire keyword parameter manually.

You can also choose Include placeholder in the "Settings" section of your site properties. This includes the placeholder in tags for all placements on that site, unless you manually choose Ignore for a particular placement in the placement properties.

Simple tag samples

This is an example of a standard tag without the keyword placeholder:

<A HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;ord=[timestamp]?">

Here is the same tag with the keyword placeholder (shown in bold):

<A HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=[url_encoded_publisher_data];ord=[timestamp]?">

If you ask the publisher to include the keyword "apple," then the tag should look like this:

<A HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=apple;ord=[timestamp]?">

In this case, any clicks or impressions on this ad will be associated with the keyword "apple" in your reports. If you target your ad to "apple", the ad will be eligible to serve when users visit a page with this tag. However,if the tag appears on another page without the keyword "apple," the ad won't serve.

Dynamic keywords

Instead of keywords, publishers can add code that expands dynamically. That means the code turns into a certain type of information — such as a search term or a site ID — each time there is an impression or click. The site fills in the appropriate information in place of the code.

For example, you might ask the publisher to add code that expands into a keyword the user searched for on the site. When a user searches for a keyword and then sees your ad, the code in the tag expands into that keyword. That way, you can see which keywords users searched for on the site before they saw your ad.

If you target ads to keywords, make sure the publisher includes that keyword in the tags. Or make sure the publisher includes code (such as JavaScript) that dynamically expands into that keyword in situations where you want the ad to serve. If the keyword is not in the tag, the ad will not serve.

Generate a tag for each keyword

When you choose to generate a tag for each keyword in Campaign Manager 360, your placement will generate a different tag for each keyword in each ad that has keyword targeting. Campaign Manager 360 will do this for every tag type you generate.

Example 1

Say you target one ad with three keywords: juice, soda, water.

Campaign Manager 360 will generate three tags for each tag type: one for juice, one for soda, one for water. Each tag will have its own keyword in the keyword placeholder. Here is an example of your standard tag export in this case:

Standard tag sample (3 targeted keywords, 1 ad)

Keyword: juice

<A HREF="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/ N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=juice;ord=[timestamp]?">

<IMG SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=juice;ord=[timestamp]?BORDER=0 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 ALT="Advertisement"></A>

 

Keyword: soda

<A HREF="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/ N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=soda;ord=[timestamp]?">

<IMG SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=soda;ord=[timestamp]?BORDER=0 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 ALT="Advertisement"></A>

 

Keyword: water

<A HREF="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/ N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=water;ord=[timestamp]?">

<IMG SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=water;ord=[timestamp]?BORDER=0 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 ALT="Advertisement"></A>

 

 

Example 2

If your placement has multiple ads, Campaign Manager 360 includes a different tag for each keyword targeted by each ad.

For example, say Ad 1 targets juice, soda, water, but Ad 2 targets meat, fish, carrot. So if your placement has two ads that each target three different keywords, Campaign Manager 360 will generate 6 tags: 3 for the first ad and 3 for the second ad.

Standard tag samples (6 targeted keywords, 2 ads)

Keyword: juice

<A HREF="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/ N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=juice;ord=[timestamp]?">

<IMG SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=juice;ord=[timestamp]?BORDER=0 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 ALT="Advertisement"></A>

 

Keyword: soda

<A HREF="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/ N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=soda;ord=[timestamp]?">

<IMG SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=soda;ord=[timestamp]?BORDER=0 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 ALT="Advertisement"></A>

 

Keyword: water

<A HREF="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/ N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=water;ord=[timestamp]?">

<IMG SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=water;ord=[timestamp]?BORDER=0 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 ALT="Advertisement"></A>

 

Keyword: meat

<A HREF="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/ N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=meat;ord=[timestamp]?">

<IMG SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=meat;ord=[timestamp]?BORDER=0 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 ALT="Advertisement"></A>

 

Keyword: fish

<A HREF="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/ N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=fish;ord=[timestamp]?">

<IMG SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=fish;ord=[timestamp]?BORDER=0 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 ALT="Advertisement"></A>

 

Keyword: carrot

<A HREF="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/ N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=carrot;ord=[timestamp]?">

<IMG SRC="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/ad/N9999.123499991234.COM/B1234000.5678000;sz=300x250;kw=carrot;ord=[timestamp]?BORDER=0 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 ALT="Advertisement"></A>

Note that if two ads target the same keyword, Campaign Manager 360 will generate a single tag for that keyword. Likewise, if your placement has 2 ads that target the same 3 keywords, Campaign Manager 360 will only generate 3 separate tags.

Why add keywords to tags

The keywords your publisher adds to your tag show up in reporting data for that tag. This helps you correlate ad activity with particular tags. The tag passes these keywords back to Campaign Manager 360 along with any other information about clicks and impressions from that tag.

For example, if your publisher adds the keyword "soda" to your tag, then your standard reports will include "soda" with any clicks and impressions from that particular tag.

Sample use cases
  • Problem: Your publisher's site has many pages. Some pages discuss soda. Some do not discuss soda. You want to see if your ads perform better when they appear on pages that discuss soda. You want to keep track of when your ads appear on pages that discuss soda.

    Solution: Include a keyword placeholder in your tags. Ask your publisher to add "soda" in place of the keyword placeholder whenever the publisher puts your tags on a page that discusses soda. Now your reports will tell you when clicks and impressions come from tags on a site that discusses soda. You can compare your ad performance on these pages to pages that don't discuss soda.

  • Problem: Your publisher implements the same tag in three different places on a site: the main page, the contacts page, and the about page. How do you know which tag gets the most clicks?

    Solution: You ask the publisher to add a keyword to each tag that identifies where it is on the site: "main," "contacts," and "about." Now you can tell which clicks come from which tag.

  • Problem: You want to know what term a user searched for on the publisher's site.

    Solution: You ask the publisher to add code to your keyword section that expands into whatever search term the user enters. When the user searches for a term, the code expands into that term and Campaign Manager 360 logs it as the keyword in your reports. Learn more about dynamic keywords below.

  • Problem: You only want to serve one of your ads when a user searches for "soda" on the publisher's site.

    Solution: Target the ad to "soda" in your ad properties. Include a keyword placeholder in the placement tag and ask the publisher to add "soda" to it. When the user searches for soda, the code expands into that term. The tag now has the keyword you wished to target and Campaign Manager 360 serves your ad. Learn about keyword targeting 

Limitations

Keyword data is not available for clicks related to click trackers and tracking ads.

Was this helpful?

How can we improve it?

Need more help?

Try these next steps:

true
2024 Privacy Readiness guide

Prepare for a world without third-party cookies and unlock the AI
opportunity by adopting a durable measurement setup.
Start Today

Search
Clear search
Close search
Main menu
5504880533756477792
true
Search Help Center
true
true
true
true
true
69192
false
false