Keyword targeting is used to target ad placements based on the contextual content of the publisher’s website that matches your custom set of keywords.

For the Keywords targeting option in Zemanta, we consider textual content that we get from the crawler (mostly body textual content) and we find the exact match with keywords provided in your custom lists. We do not use any third-party information from ad exchanges to power keyword targeting.

You can apply this targeting by inclusion or exclusion, using custom keywords lists on your ad groups to either target content relevant to your brand, or avoid targeting placements within publishers’ content not relevant to your brand, product, or services (for example, blocking COVID-19 related topics).

Keyword inclusion enables you to reach people on the open web who engage with content containing specific keywords, while keyword exclusion puts you in the best position when considering brand safety and when you need to reach the right audiences to drive engagement and increase conversions.

PLEASE NOTE: Zemanta will still bid and potentially serve ads on publishers' websites where content has not been yet examined by our crawler.

To start applying keywords to your ad groups, you’ll need to prepare and upload a custom list of keywords you’d like to target.

1. Navigate to the Inventory Management tab of the main menu located on the left side of your screen.

2. Click on the + Add new list in the Keywords section to start.

3. Give your new custom list a name.

IMPORTANT: We recommend including information on the topic of the keywords in the name for better viewability and uploading separate custom lists split by topics.

4. Select whether this list will be used for targeting inclusion, exclusion or both.

5. Prepare the file containing the keywords list:

IMPORTANT: More than one word can be included in one line but it shouldn't exceed 256 characters. Add at least 25 relevant keywords to the list and never exceed 5,000 keywords. Keywords shouldn't include symbols . ! @ % ^ () = {} ; ~ ` <> ? \ | “ [] {} +

If your keyword list includes special characters, we recommend uploading your file in a .xlsx format, instead of .csv.

IMPORTANT: Manually enter alternate forms as Zemanta does not automatically pluralize or canonicalize the keywords. Keyword Targeting works on the exact match rule condition but it is not case sensitive. Make sure to double-check misspellings.

Example: If you would like to include the keyword “custom” as a traditional and widely accepted way of behaving or doing something and “customs” as the official department that administers and collects the duties levied by a government on imported goods, you need to insert both keywords each in a separate line.

5. Choose the file to upload or drop it into the File option.

6. Select which level you will let the custom list be used on: Agency or Account. For the latter, define the right Account.

7. Click on the Save button to finish uploading the list.

Once you have at least one custom list of keywords ready and uploaded to Zemanta, you can navigate to the campaign where you would like to apply Keywords targeting.

1. Add a new ad group or edit an existing one and scroll down to find the Targetings section and add the Keywords targeting option by clicking on the + Add button.

2. Select to either Include or Exclude your custom keyword list from the drop-down menu. The logic between lists applied to targeting is OR.

PLEASE NOTE: Zemanta will target or prevent ads from serving when the keywords provided in your custom lists are exactly matched with keywords detected on the publisher’s website. We do not consider contextual relevance in this case.

EXAMPLE: If your custom list contains the keyword “gambling”, we will also prevent serving ads on placements where the surrounding context is not necessarily promoting gambling activities. We always consider the exact match of the word when excluding from targeting.

3. Click on the Save button to apply new settings to the ad group.

Applying lists to your targeting strategy will narrow down your audiences. Be careful when setting up excluded Keyword lists since this action can noticeably impact your reach.

The Keywords targeting option applies only to ads served in website placements across Native, Display, and Video channels. For example, Keyword targeting is not available on CTV placements.