Uploading campaigns from CSV files

Using CSV files, you can upload ad texts, keywords, and negative keywords at the campaign level to Yandex Direct.

  1. How to prepare and upload a CSV file
  2. Transfer and convert data
  3. Points and restrictions
  4. Have questions?

How to prepare and upload a CSV file

Prepare to download a CSV file. You can use a template to fill in the file correctly.

Make sure that capital letters are only used at the beginning of sentences in the file. If you use capital letters in other places, moderators may reject your ads. Use Unicode encoding. If you change the encoding, the file extension might change (to TXT, for example). In this case, you can manually change the file extension to CSV.

In Yandex Direct, go to the Upload from CSV section on the Managing campaigns with XLS/XLSX page and upload your campaign from the CSV file. Keep in mind that there are restrictions on files that you upload. When ads are uploaded to the campaign, these are assigned the “Draft” status. Then you need to send them to moderation.

Download CSV file template

Transfer and convert data

The following information can be carried over from CSV files to new Yandex Direct campaigns:

  • campaign type and name

  • ad group name

  • keywords and negative keywords

  • keyword match types: broad, phrase, exact

  • ad texts and ad headers

  • ad types: common and mobile

  • link that displays and final URLs (links to landing pages)

  • sitelinks, along with their texts and descriptions

Ad status in the CSV files is not taken into account while the file is uploading.

Keywords

Keywords uploaded from a CSV file are split into three types:

  • keywords for ad groups

  • negative keywords for keywords

  • negative keywords for campaigns and ad groups

Keywords must meet these requirements:

  • maximum of 200 keywords per ad group

  • up to seven words and up to 4096 characters in keywords along with their negative keywords

If an ad group contains more than 200 keywords, several groups with identical ads will be created, between which keyword data is distributed, when uploading a campaign.

Keyword match types

The + operator is added to all prepositions and conjunctions in keywords and negative keywords. Keyword match types are formed in the following ways:

Match type

Conversion

Source keyword

Result

Broad match

No changes, apart from prepositions and conjunctions

work from home

work from home

Exact match

Fixed number of words (by using " ") and fixed form of each word (by using !), apart from prepositions and conjunctions

work from home

"!work +from !home"

Phrase match

Fixed form of each word (by using !), apart from prepositions and conjunctions

work from home

!work +from !home

Ads

All ads that meet the following criteria will be uploaded:

  • title length of up to 33 characters including punctuation and spaces

  • ad text length of up to 81 characters including punctuation and spaces

If an uploaded ad has two titles (an expanded text ad), the first title becomes the ad title in Yandex Direct, and the ad text combines the second title and text of the original ad. The resulting ad must also meet the length requirements for titles and texts.

Additional links

Additional links at the group level are added as sitelinks to all ad groups. Additional links at the campaign level are added as sitelinks to all of a campaign's ads, apart from those groups that have their own sitelinks set.

The first four sitelinks that meet the following requirements are uploaded for each ad:

  • link text length of up to 30 characters including punctuation and spaces

  • URL length up to 1024 characters (without http:// or https://)

If the total length of texts of all uploaded links for an ad is more than 66 characters, then only the first few links that fit the limit will be added to an ad.

Sitelink descriptions are displayed only in ads displayed in expanded format on desktops and tablets. Descriptions longer than 60 characters including spaces and punctuation will be partly uploaded.

Points and restrictions

You can manage campaigns using CSV files for free, but there are certain limitations due to the technical peculiarities of Yandex Direct. The number and type of operations available during a 24-hour period depend on how many points are on your account. Your balance is recalculated every 24 hours. All points not used up in the past day are removed.

Several factors affect how many points are available to use: the number of ads rejected during moderation, number of keywords with low CTR, average ad campaign CTR, and average ad campaign budget.

Points are debited for the following operations:

Adding a new ad 12 points
Editing an ad 4 points
Adding a new keyword 2 points
Editing a keyword 1 point

The number of points used for one loading is displayed on the loading confirmation page. The points are deducted only if data is successfully imported. If there are errors during loading, the points are not deducted.

Attention.

Yandex reserves the right to suspend the option to manage campaigns using CSV files for certain users without explanation.

Have questions?

Attention. Our customer service department can only help you with the campaigns created under the same username you use to contact us. You can see your current login in the upper-right corner of the screen. Our team can access your data only when processing your request.

You can contact us from 10:00 to 19:00 (UTC+3) by phone:

Moscow: +7(495)780-65-20

Toll-free within Russia: 8(800)234-24-80, ext. 9

Attention.

To access campaigns, a customer service specialist will need your PIN.