Keyword targeting is a powerful tool that allows you to tailor ads based on certain words or phrases present in your website, URL, or email content. This guide will walk you through how to set up keyword targeting on your Indie Website and effectively manage ad placements.
How Does Keyword Targeting Work?
When an IAM ad zone loads on your Indie Website, the global JavaScript variable window.abkw records the keyword for that page. Typically, this variable won't be set, which means IAM will ignore it.
For newsletters, the keyword variable is kw. This variable must be manually included in the email zone tag along with the keyword to enable targeting in emails.
If window.abkw or kw is set to a keyword, IAM will look at the assigned ads or campaigns in the zone to see if any of them match the keyword.
Keyword Types
Preferred: Ads with this keyword will be prioritized and shown above others.
Required: Ads will only appear if the keyword matches; if not, they won't be served at all.
Filtered: Ads will only show if there’s a keyword match, but they won't be prioritized.
Important Note
IAM does not search pages for keywords automatically. You must manually assign keywords to window.abkw when setting up zone tags.
Enabling Keyword Targeting on an Indie Website
Keyword targeting requires us to make additions to your website's code. If you're interested in having keyword targeting enabled on your website, simply submit a ticket to Indiegraf Support. In that request, let us know what categories you would like to target.
Enabling Keyword Targeting in Email Newsletters
In Indie Ads Manager, navigate to the dashboard of the relevant email ad zone (Publishers > Your Publication > Your Email Zone)
Click Get Zone Tags in the right hand menu. The Zone Tags window will appear
Enter the Email User ID Macro (EUID)
Click Generate Tag
Copy the tag and paste it into a text editor. Add &kw=YOUR.KEYWORD after your EUID in the img src tag, replacing YOUR.KEYWORD with the keyword for the email. Do not add quotation marks to the email. For example:
<!-- Indie Email - Leaderboard [email] --><a href="https://servedby.indiegraf.com/go2/;ID=185279;size=728x90;setID=794768;uid=M_[MAILING_ID]-S_[id];" target="_blank"><img src="https://servedby.indiegraf.com/e061c2b60/img-api/O0lEPTE4NTI3OTtzaXplPTcyOHg5MDtzZXRJRD03OTQ3Njg7dHlwZT1pbWc%3D/?uid=M_[MAILING_ID]-S_[id]&kw=YOUR.KEYWORD" width="728" height="90"></a>
Log into your Indie Email account and navigate to your email template (or create a new one)
Add an HTML content block in your email template where you would like your ad(s) to appear.
Paste your zone tag into the HTML content block.
Save your email template.
Assigning Keywords in Indie Ads Manager
Targeting at the Ad Item Level
Once the keyword targeting is set up in your Indie Website, you’ll be able to assign keywords to ad items and campaigns.
In IAM, navigate to the relevant ad item. (Advertisers > My Advertiser > Campaign > Ad Item)
Scroll down, click Targeting to expand its settings
Enter your keyword(s). Be sure to use the correct syntax (see below).
Select a keyword targeting option:
Preferred
Required
Filtered
Click Save
You will still need to assign the ad to the relevant zone(s)
Targeting at the Campaign Level
Once the keyword targeting is set up in your Indie Website, you’ll be able to assign keywords to ad items and campaigns.
In IAM, navigate to the relevant campaign’s dashboard
Click Assign to Zone on the top right of the Zone Assignments table. A list of eligible zones will appear.
Select a zone to which the campaign will be assigned. The Assignment Details page will appear.
Select a serve method. The rest of the settings will appear.
Set the initial settings as needed, then scroll down to the bottom of the page.
Click Targeting to expand its settings.
Enter your keyword(s). Be sure to use the correct syntax (see below).
Select a keyword targeting option:
Preferred
Required
Filtered
Click Save
Keyword Syntax & Special Characters
Keywords and Keyword Macros
string: this is the word or phrase that you want to be added to parts of your website, e.g. politics
inurl: a keyword macro that you use to target a string in a URL instead of within the page. Do not add a space between the colon and the string, e.g. inurl:politics
publisherID: a keyword macro that you use to target a specific publisher based on the publisher ID. Do not add a space between the colon and the ID, e.g. publisherid:12345
Special Characters
Aside from the string itself or the keyword macros, there are special characters that extend the features of keyword targeting, such as letting you search for multiple keywords at once, or excluding the matching page or publisher from being served.
Character | Details |
* | A wildcard character.
(e.g., *ews matches any four-letter word ending with "ews") |
- | Negative match. A negative match prevents the ad from appearing at all. This works with all keyword types.
(e.g., -publisherid:12345 to exclude a publisher) |
, | Allows you to specify multiple keywords. This works with all keyword types, but it is an OR operator.
(e.g., news,politics) |
+ | Makes a keyword a required match. If the keyword is not detected, the ad will not be served. Do not add a space between + and the keyword.
(e.g., +inurl:news will serve the ad only to pages with “news” in their URL. Please note, this ONLY works with the Preferred targeting method.) |
( ) | Group keywords together. This lets you apply other special characters to groups of keywords as if they were individual keywords. This is an AND operator.
For example, +(news, politics) tells IAM to serve ads only to pages with a match of news AND politics in the keyword. Note that this also only works with the Preferred targeting method. |
\ | Specifies that the succeeding hyphen (-) or plus sign (+) is part of a keyword and not a special character. You must add this character if your keyword or list of keywords contains an AND operator (), even if the _ or + is outside of the operator.
For example, instead of typing +(hotels,self-catering holiday homes) in IAM, you should type +(hotels,self\-catering holiday homes). |