The first step to get started with the Excel Uploader is to Clone the Outbrain Google Sheets Template we have prepared, into your personal google account.
In the Google Sheets template you will find everything you need to build your campaigns and export them into an Excel file which you can then upload into TheOptimizer.
Column Notes
Each column in the Google Sheets document comes with a note explaining its functionality, the possible values you can use and the format of the values you can use. Hold the mouse over the column name to see the note
Extra Sheets
There are also extra sheets in the main Google Sheets document which you can use to access other values necessary to build your campaigns. For example: Countries, Regions, Browsers, Timezones, etc
Once you have build all campaigns that you want to launch, the next steps are:
- Export the Google Sheet to an excel file
- Go to the Campaign Creator on TheOptimizer, and from the menu chose Create from Excel
- Follow the steps and submit your file
How to Create Multiple Ads on the same campaign?
To create multiple ads for the same campaign, simply add more rows to the document having all the other campaign data exactly as the original row, and update the ad related columns (image url, headline, CTA etc). This will create the same campaign with multiple ads
✅ Succesfull Upload
If all the information in the excel file was correct, the upload process will be completed successfully and you will receive a confirmation email. At this point your campaigns are queued for being uploaded on Taboola, and you can follow the progress from the Campaign Creator page.
⚠️ Errors
If there are incorrect or incorrectly formatted values in the Excel file you just submitted, the upload process will fail and you will get back an email with a new excel file which highlights all the cells containing errors.
Download the file, fix the errors and re-upload.
Below you can find a description of all the Google Sheets columns.
| Traffic Source Account ID | 🚩 REQUIRED The Outbrain account ID from TheOptimizer, where these campaigns will be uploaded. You Can find the account ID in the Traffic Sources menu on the left. |
| Campaign Name | 🚩 REQUIRED The name of the campaign to be used during upload. |
| Objective | 🚩 REQUIRED 👆Double click on the cell to select an objective. Awareness – Increase brand awareness by maximizing views and clicks of your content. Traffic – Drive quality traffic to your website from audiences likely to engage with your content. AppInstall – Increase app installs by maximizing clicks of your content. Conversions – Drive conversions by optimizing conversions from your target audience. |
| Budget | 🚩 REQUIRED Minimum budget is: $20 The most you want to spend per day, month or campaign. When you choose ‘per day’, actual daily spend may be 20% higher. Daily and monthly budgets will replenish every period. ‘Per campaign’ will set a one time sum. |
| Budget Type | 🚩 REQUIRED 👆Double click on the cell to select a budget type. Possible values are: DAILY – campaign will try to spend this amount every day MONTHLY – campaign will try to spend this amount every month. The amount spent each day, will depend on the pacing type. CAMPAIGN – campaign will stop after spending this budget. The amount spent each day, will depend on the pacing type. |
| Budget Pacing | 🚩 REQUIRED 👆Double click on the cell to select a pacing type. Possible values are: AUTOMATIC – Outbrain will try to pace spending evenly until the end of the month. SPEND_ASAP – Your campaign will spend as quickly as possible, such that it may cap its monthly or campaign budget before the end date DAILY_TARGET – You can designate a certain amount to spend each day from the monthly or campaign budget you set |
| Budget Daily Target | 🟡 Only required if budget pacing is set to DAILY_TARGET. Everyday over the course of the month your allocated budget will spend until it hits its daily target. |
| Start Date | 🚩 REQUIRED The start date of the campaign in “YYYY-MM-DD” format. |
| Start Hour | 🚩 REQUIREDThe start hour of the campaign (e.g., 7 or 22). |
| Run Forever | 🚩 REQUIRED Whether the campaign runs continuously or not. |
| End Date | 🟡 Only required ifRun Forever is set to FALSE |
| Selected Locations | A comma separated list of locations to be targeted. For example: Italy, France, United States 👇 Check the Locations sheet in this document for a full list of supported locations. |
| Excluded Locations | Excluded locations from targeting. You can enter multiple choices, separated by comma e.g., “Italy, France”. 👇 Check the Locations sheet in this document for a full list of supported locations. |
| Platform | 🚩 REQUIRED Platforms to target. Multiple choices can be specified, separated by comma, e.g., “DESKTOP, MOBILE, TABLET”. Possible values: DESKTOP, MOBILE, TABLET |
| Operating System | 🚩 REQUIRED Operating systems to target. Multiple choices can be specified, separated by comma, e.g., “Android, MacOs, Windows”. Possible Values: Android, Ios, MacOs, Windows |
| Browsers | |
| Exclude Ad Block Users | 🚩REQUIRED 👆Double click on the cell to select an option. Whether to exclude or not adblock users. Possible values: TRUE. FALSE. |
| Msn Exclusive | 🚩 REQUIRED Run on Microsoft News (MSN) only. If left empty it defaults to FALSE Possible values:TRUE – target MSN network onlyFALSE – target everything |
| High Impact Placements | 🚩 REQUIRED Whether or not to run on Microsoft News (MSN) only Possible values: TRUE, FALSE |
| Optimization Type | 🚩 REQUIRED The optimisation type to be used for this campaign. TARGET_CPA_FULLY_AUTOMATED – Generate conversions while aiming for a specific cost-per-acquisition (CPA) goal. TARGET_ROAS_FULLY_AUTOMATED: Generate conversions while aiming for a specific return-on-ad-spend (ROAS) goal. Best for purchase-oriented campaigns |
| Creative Format | 🚩 REQUIRED The creative format to be used in this campaign. Possible Values: Standard, Clip, Carousel |
| Scheduling on air days | If you need your campaign to only run on specific days and hours, enter a list of days and hours here. Example:If you want the campaign to only run during the weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) enter:FRI-0-23,SAT-0-23,SUN-0-23 |
| Target CPA | 🟡 Only required if Optimization Type is set to TARGET_CPA_FULLY_AUTOMATED The Cost Per Action value to which Outbrain will be used to optimize your campaign. |
| Target ROAS | 🟡 Only required if Optimization Type is set to: TARGET_ROAS_FULLY_AUTOMATED |
| Conversions | 🟡 Only required if Objective is set to: Conversions, AppInstallsorOptimization Type is set to: TARGET_ROAS_FULLY_AUTOMATED, TARGET_CPA_FULLY_AUTOMATED Enter a conversion name, as shown on Outbrain, to be used for optimisation. |
| Audience Targeting | 🚩 REQUIRED 👆Double click on the cell to select audience targeting option. Possible values are: ALL – Target Outbrain’s entire audience. Let our algorithm identify the ideal audience to meet your goals IAB – Target publisher sections with the right context for your campaignContextual (IAB Categories) INTERESTS – Target users with particular interests based on Outbrain’s first-party data. |
| IAB or Interests Categories | 🟡 Only required if Audience Targeting is IAB or INTERESTS If Audience Targeting is IAB, then enter list of IAB Sub-Categories that you would like to target.👇 See IAB Categories tab for a full list. If Audience Targeting is Interests then enter a comma separated list of Interest Sub-categories.👇 See Interests tab for a full list of interests. |
| IAB or Interests Operation | 🟡 Only required if Audience Targeting is IAB or INTERESTS Specify whether you want to “include” or “exclude” the selected IAB or Interest Categories from your targeting. |
| Suffix Tracking Code | This code will be added to your landing page URLs so you will be able to track the campaign performance on other analytics platforms. |
| CPC | 🚩 REQUIRED Campaign level Cost per Click (CPC).Is the default amount you pay each time a user clicks on your promoted link. |
| Language | 🚩 REQUIRED Language targeting. 👆Double click on the cell to select a language. |
| Target URL | |
| Image URL | 🚩 REQUIRED if not using Media Manager Ads The image url to be used with this Ad. Leave empty if you are using Ads from Media Manager (see Media Manager Ads column) |
| Headline | 🚩REQUIRED if not using Media Manager Ads The Headline to be used during Ad creation. Max 100 characters.For best results, 90 characters or less is recommended. Leave empty if you are using Ads from Media Manager (see Media Manager Ads column) |
| Description | Add an optional description (up to 150 characters) with additional information about your content. Description may only appear in some placements and its position will vary.” |
| Site Name | 🚩 REQUIRED Your brand, business or product name, to be display below the ad. For example: theoptimizer.io |
| Call to Action | 🚩 REQUIRED Call To Action to be used in the Ad. 👆Double click on the cell to select a call to action. |
| Media Manager Ads | You can create a bundle of Ads, in Media Manager, and re-use them every time you launch campaigns. In order to use Ads from Media Manager, follow the steps below: 1. Select an existing group of Ads in Media Manager or upload new Ads2. Group the selected Ads by tagging them in Media Manager3. Use the Tags you have created in the “Media Manager Ads column Example:Lets say you have selected 10 existing ads and tagged them as “My Best Taboola Ads”.All you need to do now is list this and other tags in the “Media Manager Ads” column and TheOptimizer will automatically use these ads when creating your campaigns. Multiple tags can be specified, comma-separated values (e.g., “My Best Taboola Ads,My Old Taboola Ads2,tag3”). |
| Rules | A list of Rule IDs from TheOptimizer to add to the campaign after the campaign is created (comma separated). Rule IDs can be found under the Rules menu in TheOptimizer |
| Rule Groups | A list of rule groups from TheOptimizer, to add to the campaign (comma separated). All rules in the specified rule groups will be added to the campaign, once the campaign is created |