Creating and Working with Campaigns
Last Updated: October 01, 2009
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Yahoo! Search Marketing > Yahoo! Search Marketing Help > Sponsored Search > Managing Your Account

Learn about: Creating a New Campaign Entering a Campaign Name and Targeting Creating an Ad Group and Specifying Distribution Tactics Choosing Keywords Setting Your Ad Group Bid Creating Your Ad Reviewing Your Ad Group







Budgeting and Scheduling Your Campaign Reviewing and Activating Your Campaign Campaign Bulk Import The Campaign Details Page Campaign Settings Related Resources













Campaign Bulk Import

The Import subtab below the Campaigns tab allows you to upload a file to create, edit or delete multiple campaigns, ad groups, keywords and ads at once.* We also provide you with a downloadable template file in which to insert your selected campaign information. You can download the template in XML format in an Excel 2003 spreadsheet or you may download the template in CSV format. After you complete the template file, you can upload the information into your account.

Using bulk import allows you to:

  • Save time editing the bids, URLs, ad text, and settings for your campaigns.
  • Create entirely new campaigns from a file that you upload.
  • Import your campaign information to a spreadsheet for reference and archival purposes. With the spreadsheet, you can:
  • Update only the columns you select by choosing ‘update: yes’ or ‘update: no’ options from the top row.
  • Select column options from cell dropdowns for columns with specific entry options (this feature is only available in the .XML format).
  • View tool-tips displaying help text beside each cell in the header row with descriptions of the cell and possible value entries (this feature is only available in the .XML format).
  • View an ‘in-sheet’ error message if your spreadsheet cannot be validated and requires change (this feature is only available in the .XML format).

View additional information about bulk importing your campaigns, including common errors, tips and tricks.


Large Downloads

Some programs supporting CSV formats may limit the amount of rows in your spreadsheet. If you have a large Yahoo! Search Marketing account, your template file may exceed this limit. In order to view your full account download you can:

  • Use the latest import template in .XML format for Microsoft 2003 so the additional campaign information for each campaign past Microsoft Excel 2003’s 65,536 row limitation is automatically displayed onto multiple tabs at the bottom of your spreadsheet.
  • Use a third party text editor, such as TextPad®, to view additional rows if you are using an older import template (see note below) or downloading your campaigns in .CSV format.

Instructions for placing an oversized bulksheet file onto multiple tabs follow:

Note: You must have Textpad®, a third-party text editor, installed to complete the process below. For more information and to download this program, visit http://www.textpad.com/download/index.html.

To place an oversized download file onto multiple tabs in your spreadsheet program:

  1. Open a blank workbook.
  2. Download the campaign(s) of your choice by clicking the “Download Campaign” button and saving the file(s) to your desktop.
  3. Unzip/extract the saved file(s) to your desktop.
  4. Right click the unzipped spreadsheet file and select “Textpad”.
  5. Wait for the file to open up in Textpad® completely.
  6. Press Ctrl+Q, L on your keyboard to turn on the line number feature in Textpad®.
  7. Starting from the top of the file, scroll all the way down until you reach Row 50,000.
  8. Press Ctrl+Shift+Home on your keyboard to select the first 50,000 rows of the file.
  9. Press Ctrl+X to cut the rows, then paste them in the first tab of the blank workbook.
  10. Repeat Steps 7 to 9 as needed, pasting no more than 50,000 rows on a new tab each time.
  11. Save the file with a new name.

*The Import sub-link will only appear if the Import Campaign feature is supported by your account.

Note: Older template files may still be used to import your campaign data; however, newer template features and data columns will not display in older templates.

Import Campaign Spreadsheet

The columns that appear in the template file are explained in the chart below:

Column # Column Name Definition
A Campaign Name The unique name that you create to identify a campaign. This column must be filled out for every row in the spreadsheet.
B Ad Group Name The unique name that you create to identify an ad group. This column must be filled out for every row in the spreadsheet, except for the Campaign rows.
C Component Type A component type can be a campaign, ad group, ad, keyword, or ad group excluded word. Complete this column to indicate the component type for a particular row.
D Component Status Indicates the status of the component type entered in a particular row. When a component status is enclosed in square brackets, one of its parent component types has a deleted status. For example, a keyword row with status indicated as [On] means the keyword’s ad group or campaign is deleted. This column must be filled out for every row in the spreadsheet, except for rows with the component type specified as an ad group’ excluded word.
E Display Status A brief description that shows whether or not a component (Campaign, Ad Group, Keyword, or Ad) are active, as described in the Statuses topic. If the primary reason that a component is not active is because its "parent" entity is not serving, the parent status appears before the component status, and the parent and component statuses are enclosed by [] and () respectively. For instance, a keyword may be inactive primarily because its parent Ad Group is inactive. Do not edit this value.
F Keyword The keyword you are creating, editing or deleting. This column must be filled out for each row in the spreadsheet with the component type specified as “keyword.”
G Keyword Alt Text Alternate text defined for a keyword, which allows you to reword the keyword to better fit within the sentence structure of the title or description when using the Keyword Insertion feature for Sponsored Search and Content Match. This column must be filled out for each row in the spreadsheet with the component type specified as “keyword.”
H Keyword Custom URL Custom URL specified for a Sponsored Search keyword. This column may be filled out for rows where the component type is specified as “keyword.”
I Sponsored Search Bid (USD) This column is used when campaign optimization is OFF and will be blank if optimization is ON. The values include Default and {BID VALUE}. Default means that the default bid is in use.
{BID VALUE} is the custom bid you specified. Please do not use "$" or "{" in the template file. Example: 1.35
This column may be filled out for rows with the component type specified as either “ad group” or “keyword.”
J Sponsored Search Bid Limit (USD) This column is used when campaign optimization is ON and will be blank if optimization is OFF. The values include Default and {BID LIMIT VALUE}. Default means the keyword is using the default bid limit.
{BID LIMIT VALUE} is the custom bid limit you specified. Please do not use "$" or "{" in the template file. Example: 1.35
The campaign bid limit will not appear in this column. This column may be filled out for rows with the component type specified as either “ad group” or “keyword.”
K Sponsored Search Min Bid (USD) Displays the Sponsored Search minimum bid for your keyword.
L Sponsored Search Status Indicates whether Sponsored Search is on or off. This field may be filled out for rows with the component type specified as either “campaign” or “ad group.”
M Match Type Indicates whether the standard match type or advanced match type for Sponsored Search is on.
Advanced means the advanced match type.
Standard means the standard match type.
This column may be filled out for rows with the component type specified as “campaign,” “ad group,” or “keyword.”
N Content Match Bid (USD) This column is used when campaign optimization is OFF and will be blank if optimization is ON. The values include Default, {BID VALUE}. Default means the default bid is in use.
{BID VALUE} is the custom bid you specified. Please do not use "$" or "{" in the template file. Example: 1.35
This column may be filled out for rows with the component type specified as “ad group.”
O Content Match Bid Limit (USD) This column is used when campaign optimization is ON and will be blank if optimization is OFF. The values include Default and {BID LIMIT VALUE}. Default means the ad group is using the default bid limit.
{BID LIMIT VALUE} is the custom bid limit you specified. Please do not use "$" or "{" in the template file. Example: 1.35
The campaign bid limit will not appear in this column. This column may be filled out for rows with the component type specified as “ad group.”
P Content Match Min Bid (USD) Displays the Content Match minimum bid for your ad group.
Q Content Match Status Indicates whether Content Match is On or Off. This field may be used in rows with the component type specified as either “campaign” or “ad group.”
R Ad Name Unique name that identifies an ad, for use in rows with the component type specified as “ad.”
S Ad Title Title that appears in the ad. Maximum length is 40 characters. This field may be filled out for rows with component type specified as “ad.”
T Ad Short Description Short description of the ad used in certain ad formats. Maximum length is 70 characters. This field may be used for rows with the component type specified as “ad.”
U Ad Long Description Long description of the ad used in certain ad formats. Maximum length is 190 characters. This field may be used for rows with the component type specified as “ad.”
V Ad Display URL The Display URL designated to appear with the ad, instead of the destination URL. Maximum length is 250 characters. This field may be used for rows with the component type specified as “ad.”
W Ad Destination URL The Destination URL is the landing page that is displayed when the ad is clicked. Maximum length is 1024 characters. This field may be used for rows with the component type specified as “ad.”
X Watch List A list of campaigns, ad groups, and keywords that may be of particular interest to you. The Watch List can be viewed from the Dashboard page. Values include On and Off.
Y Campaign ID A number that uniquely identifies a campaign. Please do not edit this value, as it is used when editing an existing campaign, ad group, ad or keyword.
Z Campaign Description Brief summary of the campaign. This appears in rows with the component type specified as “campaign.”
AA Campaign Start Date The first date that a campaign is scheduled to run, formatted depending on your market (e.g. MM/DD/YYYY).
AB Campaign End Date The last date that a campaign is scheduled to run, formatted depending on your market (e.g. MM/DD/YYYY).
AC Ad Group ID A number that uniquely identifies an ad group, included in rows with the component type specified as “ad group” and its associated ad and keyword rows. This column must be filled out for every row except those with the component type specified as “campaign.” Please do not edit this value.
AD Ad Group: Optimize Ad Display Indicates whether Optimize Ad Display is On or Off.
AE Ad ID A number that uniquely identifies an ad, for use when editing or deleting rows with the component type specified as “ad.” Please do not edit this value.
AF Keyword ID A number that uniquely identifies a keyword, used when editing or deleting rows with the component type specified as “keyword.” Please do not edit this value.
AG Checksum Internal value used to determine whether a row has been updated. Please do not edit this value.
AH Error Message This column may contain a system message returned in the Feedback File after an import is processed. Please do not edit this value.

Learn more about importing campaigns


Next: Creating and Working with Campaigns – The Campaign Details Page

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