Use the Tracking URLs page to turn Tracking URLs on or off.

• About Tracking URLs
• Turning Tracking URLs On or Off
• Troubleshooting Tracking URLs

About Tracking URLs

Tracking URLs append text to the end of the destination URL of your ads to provide information such as the source of the click, the search query used, the keyword that was matched to the search query, and the distribution tactic or match type associated with the ad. Tracking URLs can be used to understand the types of search queries related to your keywords and to help you refine your keyword selections.

To use Tracking URLs, you must set up your web log tracking system to monitor and record the information provided by the Tracking URLs.

Tracking URLs return information as tracking parameters. There are two types of tracking parameters:

• Standard tracking parameters. Turning on Tracking URLs automatically appends information to all destination URLs in your Yahoo! Search Marketing master account.
• Enhanced tracking parameters. You can optionally enter and rename parameters directly in a destination URL and include two additional parameters to get campaign IDs and ad group IDs.

Using Standard Tracking Parameters

When you turn on Tracking URLs, we automatically append parameters (and a value for each parameter) to destination URLs. We add tracking parameters to the destination URL in this order:

• ?: A question mark indicates the start of the Tracking URL information.
• Raw search query: The first parameter of the Tracking URL denotes the raw search query; that is, the text that the prospective customer typed in a search box. For example, "buy%20plasma%20television" indicates that the user entered "buy plasma television" (%20 represents a space in the search query).
• Keyword: The second element of the Tracking URL denotes the keyword associated with the raw search query. If the Content Match tactic led to the click, the keyword is not returned.
• Match type: The third element of the Tracking URL denotes the match type of the clicked ad. This information enables you to identify the traffic coming from Standard and Advanced match types for a specific keyword.
• Ad ID: The ID of the ad that led to the click.
• Keyword ID: The ID of the keyword that led to the click. If the Content Match tactic led to the click, the keyword ID is not returned.

Here are the tracking parameters and the information added to your destination URLs:

Table 1.

Note: To see ad and keyword IDs, download a campaign.

To use Standard tracking parameters, simply turn on Tracking URLs. Turning on Tracking URLs automatically appends tracking parameters to every destination URL (ad destination URLs and custom destination URLs) for every account in your Yahoo! Search Marketing master account.

For example, if the destination URL for your ad is:

http://example.yahoo.com/television

A Tracking URL for the destination URL might look like this:

http://example.yahoo.com/television?OVRAW=cheap%20television&
OVKEY=television&OVMTC=advanced&OVKWID=4317717511
&OVADID=7306185511

Note: URL appears on one line.

This Tracking URL shows that the raw user query was "cheap television," the keyword was "television," and the Advanced match type led to the click and returns the keyword ID and ad ID.

Using Enhanced Tracking Parameters

Enhanced tracking parameters allow you to define the names and order of the parameters that are appended to the destination URL. Enhanced tracking parameters can be placed throughout the ad's destination URL or custom destination URL. We do not add them automatically to your destination URLs, unlike Standard tracking parameters.

In addition to the Standard tracking parameters, two other parameters are available to add to your destination URLs when using Enhanced tracking parameters:

Table 2.

Note: To see ad, keyword, campaign, and ad group IDs, download a campaign.

To append Enhanced tracking parameters to a URL, follow these rules:

• Add a ? (question mark) following the destination URL.
• Enclose the parameter name in curly brackets { }.
• If you are appending more than one parameter, separate the parameters with an ampersand (&).

For example, if the destination URL for your ad is:

http://example.yahoo.com/television

A Tracking URL that returns both campaign and ad group IDs would look like this:

http://example.yahoo.com/television?{YSMCAMPGID}&{YSMADGRPID}

Following a click that leads to the destination URL, the Tracking URL will look similar to this:

http://example.yahoo.com/television?YSMCAMPGID=123456&YSMADGRPID=654321

Combining Standard and Enhanced Parameters

Tracking URLs can include both Standard and Enhanced parameters so that your Tracking URLs return just the information you need. You can enter the parameters that will return the information you want at the end of the destination URLs that you want to track. That way, you get only the information you want for the destination URLs you are interested in.

To use all Standard parameters and add Enhanced parameters:

• Append the Enhanced parameter(s) to the destination URLs.
• Turn on Tracking URLs.

Renaming Parameters

You can rename any parameter so that it is more meaningful to you when data is returned. For example, you might rename the OVRAW parameter to "rawuserquery" or OVKWID to "keywordID."

To rename a parameter, use this general format:

user_specified_name={PARAMETER_NAME}

And follow these rules for renaming a parameter:

• Enter the name you want to give the parameter to the left of the equal sign.
• Enclose the parameter name in curly brackets { } following the equal sign. Be sure to use all capital letters for the parameter name.
• Make sure there are no spaces in the name you give the parameter, before and after the equal sign, or in the parameter.

Here are two examples of renamed parameters:

rawuserquery={OVRAW}

keywordID={OVKWID}

Appended to a destination URL, renamed parameters might look like this:

http://www.example.yahoo.com/?yahookeyword={OVKEY}
&rawuserquery={OVRAW}&yahoomatchtypestandard=
{OVMTC: std}&yahooadid={OVADID}&yahookeywordid=
{OVKWID}&yahoocampaignID={OVCAMPGID}
&yahooadgroupid={OVADGRPID}

Note: URL appears on one line.

And after the ad is clicked, the destination URL would look similar to this:

http://www.example.yahoo.com/?yahookeyword=dvd&rawuserquery=dvd
&yahoomatchtypestandard=std&yahookeywordid=43187717511
&yahooadid=7306185511&yahoocampaignID=926880011
&yahooadgroupid=1242231

Note: URL appears on one line.

Summary of Tracking Parameters

Here is a summary of tracking parameters and how you might use them to track the source of clicks for your ads:

Table 3.

Turning Tracking URLs On or Off

Note: Before turning on Tracking URLs, make sure you have set up your web log tracking system to monitor and record the information provided by the Tracking URLs.

You can turn Tracking URLs on or off at any time.

To turn Tracking URLs on:

1. Click the Administration tab > Tracking URLs subtab. The Tracking URLs page opens.
2. Do one of the following:
   
   • To turn on Tracking URLs, click the Tracking URLs On button.
   • To turn off Tracking URLs, click the Tracking URLs Off button.
3. Click Save Changes.

Troubleshooting Tracking URLs

Tracking URLs may not be appropriate for all advertisers. While Tracking URLs can work with a broad set of technologies and platforms, we recommend that you test your links and closely monitor your traffic after turning on Tracking URLs.

Here are some reasons why Tracking URLs may not work:

• The destination URL includes a parameter with the same name as a Yahoo! tracking parameter (such as OVKEY, OVRAW, or OVMATC).
• The resulting URL may be too long. Adding this extra information may exceed the URL length that your system can handle. (The URL limit for ads served by Yahoo! is 1024 characters.)
• Your system may only function with a single source variable.
• Your URL may require "non-standard" formatting to work. For example, your system uses a "#" symbol instead of a "?" to indicate the start of the query string. Check with your ISP or webmaster if you are unsure of your formatting requirements.