Help Center Manage Your Account Ad Targeting using Restrictions

Restrictions for an ad, zone, campaign or group

Restrictions can be applied to any ad, zone, campaign or group to target a specific audience. For example: Ad "Test123" should only be displayed during Monday, from 9-5, for visitors from Canada. See a full list of available restrictions. Restrictions should not be added if the ads can always be showed. For example: if you want this ad to display all days, you do NOT need to create a restriction to show in all 7 days (Mon-Sun).

Multiple Level Restrictions

If there are restrictions on ad, zone, group and campaign. The ad restrictions will be evaluated first. If ad restrictions pass, then restrictions from all linked zones, groups and campaigns will be evaluated next in that order.

AND vs. OR

You can set up multiple restrictions together. They connect with each other via a logic conjunction (AND) or a logic disjunction (OR).

• A OR B is true when either A or B is true
• A AND B is true only when both A and B are true

Combining Multiple Restrictions

Ad targeting with multiple restrictions can be very powerful but it can also be challenging to get it right. When combining multiple logic operators, AND has a higher priority than OR.

For multiple "Do Show" restrictions, OR should be used instead of AND (with exceptions).

• Example: You want to show this ad to visitors from these countries: USA, Canada
• Problem: Do show to visitors from USA AND Do show to visitors from Canada is impossible because a visitor cannot be in both USA and Canada at the same time
• Solution: Do show to visitors from USA OR Do show to visitors from Canada

For multiple "Don't Show" restrictions, AND should be used instead of OR (with exceptions). This is similar to a double-negative sentence.

• Example: You want to hide this ad from visitors from these countries: USA, Canada
• Problem: Don't show to visitors from USA OR Don't show to visitors from Canada will still show to a visitor from USA/Canada because one condition passes and one fails means that the final result passes
• Solution: Don't show to visitors from USA AND Don't show to visitors from Canada

Priority Group

You can break restrictions into groups, which will have the same priority during the evaluation of multiple restrictions. When editing a restriction, you have the option to change the priority group. For example: A or B or C and D and E is difficult to understand. You can group A, B, C into one group and D, E into another group. The final evaluation would be: (A or B or C) and (D and E).

Preview

Under the control panel, you can view the list of active restrictions. Under the evaluation column, you can see "SHOW", "DON'T SHOW", or "N/A". The column is only an example with your current data and it will be different for different visitors depending on his/her browser, IP, originating country and other per-visitor conditions.

Conflicts

Please verify the restrictions for potential conflicts. For example: Ad X should show to visitors who speak English or Vietnamese. At the same time, there is another restriction to hide from visitors who speak Vietnamese. Our system does not check for these logical conflicts and such evaluations often result in your ads being restricted from showing to the right audience.

Set up Restriction(s) for an Ad

• For a new Ad: After you have created and saved a new ad, you would want to choose the option "Apply targeting/restrictions to this ad" to add restriction(s) to this ad.
• For an existing Ad: Click on the ad name, click on the "Restrictions" tab, and then "Add" tab to create a new restriction for this ad.

Other Articles in Ad Targeting using Restrictions

• Companion & Competitive Positioning
• Demographic Targeting
• Frequency Capping
• Maximum/Target Quotas
• Over-delivery above the maximum impression limit
• Restriction Status Notification
• Showtime/Date Restrictions
• Start/End Date
• Target ads by placement URL or referring URL
• Target ads by visitor city
• Target ads by visitor country
• Target ads by visitor language
• Target Keywords
• Time Capping

Cannot find an answer for your question? Ask our Customer Care team

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