Introduction:

Targeting by placements can help grow and optimize Campaigns and Creatives. Placement Targeting allows you to target specific domains(s) or URL(s) to reach a user while visiting specific sites and at their highest intent or point of interest. Alternatively, you can exclude specific domain(s) or URL(s) that are driving poor performance, so that ads are not served while a user is visiting the site(s).

Domain vs URL Examples:

Domain	URL
test.com	https://www.test.com
account.test.com	https://account.test.com
	https://account.test.com/search2021
	https://test.com/search?category=green

Targeting can be set on the three levels: Account → Campaign → Creative. You can choose whether or not to set Placement targeting as the same or different through the various levels, by selecting Append or Override when making changes. For more information about Targeting options, please click here.

There are two different versions of Placement Targeting - Basic and Advanced.

Basic Placement Targeting

Basic Placement Targeting allows you to whitelist or blacklist domains (not URLs) via a Domain List.

Domain List Creation

On the left side navigation, click on Settings -> List Manager.
Once the List Manager wizard appears, click 'Add'.
Enter the list's name on the 'New Keyword List' overlay and click 'Save'.
Add in the domain(s):
1. Click 'Add' -> paste in the list -> Click 'Add' OR
2. Click 'Upload' to upload a CSV file with the domains
Click 'Close'.

Domain List Targeting

Select the desired Campaign or Creative to target the list to by checking the box next to its name.
Click the 'Edit' drop-down menu.
Click 'Change Targeting'.
Click on 'Ad Placement'.
Select 'Basic'.
Select the Domain List(s) to be used by clicking the box to the left of the list name.
Click 'Include' or 'Exclude'.
1. Include - whitelist the domain(s) used on the list
2. Exclude - blacklist the domain(s) used on the list
Click 'Append' or 'Override', depending on what you prefer to do with the new targeting.
1. Override: This will adjust Placement targeting so that the change being made will replace any targeting already applied at the current or at a higher level.
2. Append: This will adjust Placement targeting so that the change will be added to any targeting already applied at the current or a higher level.
3. Note: If Placement targeting is not applied to any level, you must still select 'Append' or 'Override' to finalize the edit.
The 'Active Rules - Ad Placement Targeting' screen will update to show the details of the targeting to confirm what is in place.
Click 'Close' to close the window.

You can also create a new Domain List from this 'Ad Placement' window by clicking the '+Add New' button next to the Search List search bar.

Removing Domain List Targeting

To remove one list from targeting:

Select the desired Campaign(s) or Creative(s) to target the list to by checking the box next to its name.
Click the 'Edit' drop-down menu.
Click 'Change Targeting'.
Click on 'Ad Placement'.
Click the 'X' next to the Domain List listed under 'Active Rules - Ad Placement Targeting'.

To remove multiple lists from targeting:

Select the desired Campaign(s) or Creative(s) to target the list by checking the box next to its name.
Click the 'Edit' drop-down menu.
Click 'Change Targeting'.
Click on 'Ad Placement'.
Select the line(s) associated with each list that should be removed.
Click 'Remove'

Domain List Modification

On the left side nav, click on Settings -> List Manager.
Click on the list's name which you want to modify.
To add new domains:
1. Follow the same steps used to create the original list.
To remove domains:
1. Select the line(s) for the domain(s) which you want to remove.
2. Click 'Remove'.
  1. If you want to remove all domains, hold the button down to click on 'Remove All'.
Click 'Close'.

Domain List Limits

Each account can have up to 500 domain lists in total.
Each list has 10k items maximum.
If a domain list is not used by any targeting configurations for 90 days, then it will be moved into archive status.

Advanced Placement Targeting

Advanced Placement Targeting allows you to whitelist or blacklist placements (patterns) at a more granular level. The advanced option allows you to target both domains and full URLs, with the option to match based on exact, starts with, ends with or contains.

Placement Targeting

Select the desired Campaign(s) or Creative(s) to target by checking the box next to its name.
Click the 'Edit' drop-down menu.
Click 'Change Targeting'.
Click on 'Ad Placement'.
Click on 'Advanced'.
Select 'Match Type'.
1. Full URL - Match against the entire URL
2. Domain - Match against the domain only
Select 'Matching Patterns' - Matches pattern based on what is chosen as 'Match Type'.
1. AD - Entered pattern must match exactly to the type
2. *AD* - Entered pattern must be contained within the type
3. AD* - Entered pattern must match what the type starts with
  1. If using Full URL + Starts With, "https://" must be included in the placement.
4. *AD - Entered pattern much match whet the type ends with
Select 'Targeting'.
1. 'Include' - whitelist to entered placement(s)
2. 'Exclude' - blacklist from entered placement(s)
Select 'Ad Types' - The ad type(s) will be affected by the targeting; multiple options can be selected.
1. 'ANY' - all ad types
2. 'DS' - Display
3. 'LB' - Lightbox
4. 'TL' - Textlink
5. 'PU' - Push
Paste in the list of patterns to be matched with.
Click 'Add'.
Click 'Append' or 'Override', depending on what you prefer to do with the new targeting.
1. Override: This will adjust Placement targeting so that the change being made will replace any targeting already applied at the current or at a higher level.
2. Append: This will adjust Placement targeting so that the change will be added to any targeting already applied at the current or a higher level.
3. Note: If Placement targeting is not applied to any level, you must still select 'Append' or 'Override' to finalize the edit.
The 'Active Rules - Ad Placement Targeting' screen will update to show the details of the targeting to confirm what is in place.
Click 'Close' to close the window.

Domain and URL Matching Examples

Domain - test.com

Pattern	Exact	Starts With	Ends With	Contains
test.com	Match	Match	Match	Match
lets.test.com	No Match	No Match	Match	Match
test.com/start	No Match	No Match	No Match	Match
bytes	No Match	No Match	No Match	No Match

URL - http://test.com/search

Pattern	Exact	Starts With	Ends With	Contains
test.com	No Match	No Match	No Match	Match
http://test.com	Match	Match	No Match	Match
/search	No Match	No Match	Match	Match
bytes	No Match	No Match	No Match	No Match

URL - http://test.com/search=bytes.com

Pattern	Exact	Starts With	Ends With	Contains
test.com	No Match	No Match	No Match	Match
bytes.com	No Match	No Match	Match	Match
search=	No Match	No Match	No Match	Match
test	No Match	No Match	No Match	Match

Please note: If using Full URL + Starts With, "https://" or "http://" must be included in the placement.

Removing Pattern Targeting

To remove one pattern from targeting:

Select the desired Campaign(s) or Creative(s) to target the list to by checking the box next to its name.
Click the 'Edit' drop-down menu.
Click 'Change Targeting'.
Click on 'Ad Placement'.
Click on 'Advanced'.
Click the 'X' next to the pattern listed under 'Active Rules - Ad Placement Targeting'.

To remove multiple lists from targeting:

Select the desired Campaign(s) or Creative(s) to target the list to by checking the box next to its name.
Click the 'Edit' drop-down menu.
Click 'Change Targeting'.
Click on 'Ad Placement'.
Click on 'Advanced'.
Select the line(s) associated with each pattern that should be removed.
Click 'Remove All'

Advanced Placement Targeting Limits

URLs will be restricted after the "?" character.
Each level (Account, Campaign and Creative) can have a maximum of 2,000 placements.

Glossary

Main Report

Delayed Targeting

Run of Network Traffic

Topic Targeting