Skip to content
Toposort Logo
Knowledge Base

Keywords

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the keyword targeting capabilities within the Topsort platform. Keyword targeting is a fundamental feature that allows advertisers to connect their products and brands with relevant user search queries, ensuring ads are shown to shoppers with the highest intent.

Keyword Assignment Methods

Topsort offers both manual and automatic methods for assigning keywords to campaigns, providing advertisers with a balance of granular control and automated efficiency.

Manual Keyword Targeting

Manual targeting gives advertisers direct control over which search terms will trigger their ads. This can be configured at two different levels:

Campaign-Level Assignment

Advertisers can assign a list of keywords directly to a campaign. All products included within that campaign will be eligible to serve ads for those specified keywords. This method is ideal for broad targeting or for campaigns focused on a specific theme or event.

Product-Level Assignment

For more granular control, keywords can be assigned to individual products. This ensures that a specific product appears for highly relevant, niche search terms.

Pro-Tip: Product-level keywords can be set up in advance by providing a mapping of product_id to a list of keywords. This allows for bulk management and easy integration with existing product information systems (PIM).

Example Mapping (JSON format):

JSON

{
  "product_123": ["red running shoes", "men's sneakers", "lightweight athletic shoes"],
  "product_456": ["women's yoga pants", "black leggings", "high-waisted activewear"],
  "product_789": ["protein powder", "vanilla whey protein", "post-workout supplement"]
}

Automatic Keyword Targeting

To maximize campaign reach and improve fill rates, Topsort offers an intelligent, automated keyword targeting method.

  • How it Works: The system analyzes the most frequently used search queries on the platform that lead to conversions and automatically links them to relevant products in active campaigns. This helps discover new, high-performing keywords that might have been missed during manual setup.
  • Control: This feature can be easily turned on or off at the campaign level, giving advertisers the choice to rely on their manual keywords exclusively or to augment them with automated targeting.

Negative Keyword Targeting

Negative keywords are a powerful tool to prevent ads from appearing for irrelevant search queries. Using them effectively reduces wasted ad spend and increases the campaign’s overall Return on Investment (ROI) by focusing on the most qualified audience.

Product-Level Negative Keywords

For highly specific exclusions, assign negative keywords directly to an individual product. This prevents a product from appearing in searches that are related but not relevant to that specific item.

Like positive keywords, product-level negative keywords can be managed in bulk via a product ID mapping.

Example Mapping with Negative Keywords (JSON format):

JSON

{
  "product_123": {
    "keywords": ["men's running shoes", "lightweight athletic shoes"],
    "negative_keywords": ["women's", "hiking", "wide fit"]
  },
  "product_456": {
    "keywords": ["women's yoga pants", "black leggings"],
    "negative_keywords": ["cotton", "low-rise", "kids"]
  }
}

Supported Keyword Match Types

Topsort provides flexible match types to control how closely a user’s search query must match an assigned keyword.

Configuration: Match type settings are configurable at the retailer level (to set a global default) and can be overridden at the campaign level for more specific control.

Exact Match

The ad is only eligible to appear if the user’s search query is an exact match to the keyword, including word order. This offers the highest level of control and relevance.

  • Keyword: [blue handbag]
  • Will Match: blue handbag
  • Will NOT Match: blue leather handbag, handbag blue

Phrase Match

The ad is eligible to appear if the user’s search query includes the keyword phrase in the correct order, but may contain other words before or after it. This provides a balance between control and reach.

  • Keyword: "blue handbag"
  • Will Match: blue handbag, small blue handbag, blue handbag for sale
  • Will NOT Match: blue leather handbag (as it breaks the phrase), handbag in blue

Ad Format Compatibility

Keyword targeting is a core feature of the Topsort platform and is available for all ad formats. This ensures consistent targeting capabilities whether you are running campaigns for:

  • Sponsored Listings

  • Banners

  • Brand Ads

  • Videos