Autotargeting

Autotargeting is an ad serving technology that is not based on keywords. It analyzes data in the ad and on the landing page and determines whether the ad matches the search query, user interests, or website content. Using autotargeting, you can attract additional targeted traffic by serving ads to an audience not easily reached through keywords.

How it works

For serving in search, autotargeting in real-time selects the ads that best match the user's query in terms of title, text, and landing page. Many factors are considered when selecting ads, including possible synonyms, word forms, related subjects, and negative keywords of the campaign and ad group.

For example, an ad with a text about space travel that leads to in-space.ru may be served when someone searches for tours to Mars.

Autotargeting runs in parallel with keywords and has the same priority with them. Statistics for autotargeting impressions are calculated separately.

Why do I enable autotargeting

Autotargeting doesn't rely on specific wording, but shows your ads for queries that have very similar meaning to the subject of your ad. It lets you cover a large number of long-tail keywords that are difficult to predict when creating your keyword list, because many of these are unique search queries.

Note. Autotargeting is more effective when used with conversion strategies. Install a Yandex Metrica tag on the website and configure its goals.

How to set up autotargeting in a campaign

Autotargeting is available for the following campaign types on search and in ad networks:

Site advertising

When setting up site ads in the Campaign Wizard, autotargeting is enabled by default. You can manage autotargeting categories, but you can't disable impressions for targeted queries.

To select autotargeting categories:

  1. Under Define audience, select Manual settings for the Audience parameter.
  2. Select the Targeting categories for which you want to display ads.
  3. Save your changes.
Ads for mobile apps

When setting up app ads in the Campaign Wizard, autotargeting is enabled by default. You can manage autotargeting categories, but you can't disable impressions for targeted queries.

To select autotargeting categories:

  1. Under Define audience, select Advanced audience settings.
  2. Select the Targeting categories for which you want to display ads.
  3. Save your changes.
Editing campaigns in expert mode

In the expert mode, you can only edit campaigns created before September 1, 2022. You can't create new campaigns there.

We recommend adding autotargeting to all ad groups along with keywords. When you create a new ad group, autotargeting is enabled by default. To enable autotargeting for your existing groups:

  1. Select the campaigns that host the desired groups.
  2. Select the groups that you want to edit.
  3. Click Actions → Edit.
  4. Enable the Autotargeting option in each ad group.
Unified performance campaign

Autotargeting is a mandatory condition for placement in search results or in both search results and ad networks. You must select at least one query category for each ad group. When you switch placement from Yandex Advertising Network to Yandex Search, autotargeting is automatically enabled for all query categories in each group. We recommend double-checking the settings when you change the placement location. You can only disable autotargeting for campaigns served in ad networks.

  1. To enable autotargeting in search results, select the query categories to apply it to.

    If ads are added to the group, examples of queries that would trigger autotargeting are shown for categories.

  2. Under Brand mention in Yandex Search queries, select the type of queries to serve your ads for. These can be queries mentioning your brand, mentioning a competitor brand, or not mentioning any brands. For example, you can use autotargeting in separate campaigns for brand search queries.

    To serve ads without filtering by brand, enable all options.

  3. Save your changes.

You can also enable autotargeting on the campaign page or on the Bids and keywords tab.

You can select query categories and brand mention settings in multiple ad groups using bulk actions, Direct Commander, or Yandex Direct API.

Dynamic ads

Autotargeting for dynamic ads is configured at the group level, on the campaign page, or on the Bids and keywords tab. When you create a new ad group, autotargeting is enabled by default. To enable autotargeting for your existing groups:

  1. Select the campaigns that host the desired groups.
  2. Select the groups that you want to edit.
  3. Click Actions → Edit.
  4. For each group under Query categories, select the groups for which you want to show ads in search results. You must select at least one category.
  5. Save your changes.
Text & Image ads

For campaigns created after September 28, 2023, autotargeting is a mandatory condition for placement in search results or in both search results and ad networks. You must select at least one query category for each ad group. When you switch placement from Yandex Advertising Network to Yandex Search, autotargeting is automatically enabled for all query categories in each group. We recommend double-checking the settings when you change the placement location. You can only disable autotargeting for campaigns served in ad networks.

To enable autotargeting in your active campaigns:

  1. Select the campaigns that host the desired groups.
  2. Select the groups that you want to edit.
  3. Click Actions → Edit.
  4. Enable the Autotargeting option in each ad group.
  5. To enable autotargeting in search results, select the query categories to apply it to.

    If ads are added to the group, examples of queries that would trigger autotargeting are shown for categories.

  6. Under Brand mention in Yandex Search queries, select the type of queries to serve your ads for. These can be queries mentioning your brand, mentioning a competitor brand, or not mentioning any brands. For example, you can use autotargeting in separate campaigns for brand search queries.

    To serve ads without filtering by brand, enable all options.

  7. Save your changes.

You can also enable autotargeting on the campaign page or on the Bids and keywords tab.

You can select query categories and brand mention settings in multiple ad groups using bulk actions, Direct Commander, or Yandex Direct API. You can only configure narrow queries in Yandex Direct.

Note. It may take up to 24 hours to apply any autotargeting changes (enabling, disabling, changing of query category). Until then, ads will be served according to the old settings.

Managing bids in a manual strategy

If you use a manual strategy, then set a bid. If you use separate bid management, set individual bids for autotargeting on search and in ad networks.

For autotargeting in search results, automatic bids are enabled by default. The automatic bid is calculated as the group's weighted average bid per click before any adjustments:

Bid = (Bid1 × Clicks1 + Bid2 × Clicks2 + ... + Bid(n) × Clicks(n)) / (Clicks1 + Clicks2 + ... + Clicks(n)), where

  • Bid is the bid for the keyword.
  • Clicks is the number of clicks.
Let's say a group has two keywords:
  1. Buy a trip to space with a bid of 50 rubles and 5 clicks.

  2. Buy a trip to Mars with a bid of 100 rubles and 10 clicks.

The automatic bid for autotargeting in this group will be: (50 × 5 + 100 × 10)/15 = 83.3 rubles.

The automatic bid can't exceed the maximum bid for any keyword in the group. This value is constantly updated, because it's determined not only by the bids themselves, but also by the number of clicks for each keyword in the group.

To set a bid manually:

  1. In the campaign list, select the campaigns and switch to the Bids and keywords tab.
  2. In the --autotargeting line, click the icon next to the bid value.
  3. Switch to “Manual bid”, enter your bid, and click Apply.

You can also change the bid using the Bid Wizard, Direct Commander, or the Yandex Direct API.

As with bids for keywords, all adjustments configured at the campaign or group level also apply to the automatic bids.

We recommend setting the autotargeting bid at about the same level as the keyword bid.

What to do after you enable autotargeting

After autotargeting is enabled, ad serving starts based on the campaign and ad group settings. To achieve the best results, the system conducts a detailed set of calculations that are used to optimize your settings regularly. This is why we recommend that you leave autotargeting turned on for a few weeks.
You can view autotargeting statistics in the Report Wizard and the Search queries report.
Report Wizard

Add the Impression criteria cross-section and the Impressions, Conversion (%), Goal cost, and Conversions columns. This shows you the total impression statistics. Note the Impression criteria column: if an ad was served through autotargeting, the column contains an icon.

Build a report using the Targeting categories cross section and the same columns (Impressions, Conversion rate (%), Goal cost, Conversions). You'll see statistics of impressions for the keywords selected in all categories.

To get the data for each query category, add to the report the Targeting categories filter criteria, and select the categories you need.

Compare conversions and goal cost for keywords and autotargeting in different categories. If the goal cost for autotargeting is too high, reduce the bid for it.

Search queries

Add the Impression criteria cross-section and the Impressions, Conversion (%), Goal cost, and Conversions columns. You will see which search queries triggered your ads. Note the Impression criteria column: if an ad was served through autotargeting, the column contains an icon.

Build a report using the Targeting categories cross section and the same columns (Impressions, Conversion rate (%), Goal cost, Conversions). You'll see statistics of impressions for the keywords selected in all categories.

To get the data for each query category, add to the report the Targeting categories filter criteria, and select the categories you need.

For obviously irrelevant search queries selected by autotargeting, we recommend disabling the category resulting in such queries, or find out negative keywords.

Learn more about evaluating campaign performance

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