Changes to placement, keyword, and category targeting for YouTube & partners line items
We are making improvements for YouTube & partners line items to simplify management and optimization of contextual inclusion targeting, and provide a comprehensive and consolidated view of your contextual targeting.
Starting in late May, placement, keyword, and category contextual targeting will be consolidated to a single contextual targeting dimension in YouTube & partners line items. Your ads will target any context you include. For example, if you target “bikes” as a topic and “cycling” as a keyword, your ads will show on content that matches either. With this new contextual targeting setup, advertisers can combine multiple contextual dimensions without restricting reach. These updates do not impact exclusion targeting or non-YouTube & partners line items.
If you currently target two or more dimensions, act now to ensure your line items continue to serve. We will pause any YouTube & partners line item targeting two or more of placement, keyword, and category contextual targeting dimensions. To minimize disruptions, shift your line item targeting to only use a single contextual targeting dimension per ad group.
Similar audiences will no longer be supported starting May 1, 2023
Display & Video 360 is evolving its audience targeting toward more durable solutions:
- From May 1, 2023: You won’t be able to generate similar audiences for new audience segments or add similar segments to new or existing ad groups or line items. Any ad group or active line items already using similar audiences will continue to serve until Aug 1, 2023.
- After August 1, 2023: Similar audiences will no longer be available and will be removed from all ad groups and line items.
You’ll continue to be able to access historical reporting for similar audiences from previous segments.
To prepare for this deprecation, make sure to review and update your targeting for your YouTube & partners line items:
- Product and brand consideration line items: If you’re targeting similar audiences, your line item will automatically migrate to use audience expansion. If you’re targeting first-party audiences with a separate similar audience seed list, you’ll need to manually turn on audience expansion.
- YouTube video action campaigns: If you're targeting only similar audiences, your line item may pause unless you update your targeting. To use optimized targeting, you’ll need to update your targeting to use another type of audience targeting.
The following alternatives can help you give your campaign the flexibility to reach more potential customers even in a cookieless environment:
- Audience expansion for YouTube brand campaigns: Audience expansion provides a similarity-based first party audience expansion experience generating look-alike audiences.
- Optimized targeting for display and YouTube video action campaigns: Consider using Optimized targeting (coming soon to display campaigns) to find new and relevant audiences beyond your manually-selected audience segments. Learn more about Optimized targeting.
Outcome based buying will be deprecated on August 1 (previously communicated as July 1), 2023
Starting August 1, 2023 you’ll no longer be able to create new outcome based buying entities and line items using outcome based buying will stop serving August 1, 2023.
Display & Video 360 is evolving how you optimize your campaign’s performance to use advancements in AI, customization, and transparency. To prepare for the upcoming deprecation, you can use the following to optimize your campaign’s performance using automation:
- Automated bid strategies: You can use automated bidding strategies to optimize your bids using the power of Google’s AI.
- Line items using outcome based buying to pay-per-view (PPV) can use bidding strategies that maximize viewable impressions or conversions.
- Line items using outcome based buying to pay-per-click (PPC) can use bidding strategies that maximize clicks or conversions.
- You can further optimize your line items by using automated bid strategies that target viewable CPM or target CPA.
- Custom bidding: You can improve the cost efficiency of your bids by using custom bidding to define how much an impression is worth to allocate more value to impressions that align closer to your campaign’s goals.
- Enhanced automation pool: You can leverage a collective set of historical automation data to help improve how your algorithm makes decisions.
Optimized targeting: You can reach more potential customers by finding new and relevant audiences beyond your manually-selected audience segments.
Rollout of optimized targeting extended through early May 2023
The period for when optimized targeting replaces targeting expansion has been extended to early May instead of April as previously announced.
The following are key dates for this migration:
- Starting March 2023: You can prepare for the migration to optimized targeting by reviewing your fixed bidding line items and turning on automated bidding to be eligible for optimized targeting.
- Early May 2023: Optimized targeting will be available for all partners and will be replacing targeting expansion. Fixed bidding line items using targeting expansion will only serve using manual targeting. Some fixed bidding line items using targeting expansion may pause if they targeting first-party audiences with seedlist exclusion.
Learn more about how to prepare for optimized targeting if you’re using targeting expansion.
Triggers will be disabled and removed
Triggers will be deprecated and line items using them will stop serving from May 17, 2023. These line items can be edited and duplicated until June 1, 2023. If you’d like to continue using the line items switch to dated flights instead.
Tag Guaranteed Deals will no longer be supported
Beginning June 1, 2023, Display & Video 360 will begin a phased deprecation of Tag Guaranteed as a transaction method when setting up new inventory sources. Users of Tag Guaranteed transactions should prepare for transitions to other transaction types.
- Beginning June 1, 2023: No new Tag Guaranteed inventory sources will be permitted. Tag Guaranteed as a transaction method will no longer be a selection when creating new inventory sources. Existing Tag Guaranteed inventory sources will continue to spend for a limited time.
- From June 30, 2023: Any existing Tag Guaranteed inventory sources that are still live will end and will no longer spend. Please ensure any Line Items targeting Tag Guaranteed inventory sources have alternative transaction methods targeted before this date.
Customers who have live Tag Guaranteed deals should set up a replacement deal (e.g., Programmatic Guaranteed deal) to replace the current Tag Guaranteed deal or work directly with the publisher to continue spending on this inventory if a programmatic deal is not an option.
Proximity targeting for YouTube & partners line items
Proximity targeting will be available for YouTube & partners line items, excluding YouTube Programmatic Guaranteed and Instant Reserve deals. With this feature, users can leverage Display & Video 360 to reach customers when location matters most.
Proximity targeting allows you to use real-world location as a context signal to reach customers that may be most interested in your message. You will be able to define a radius around individual points of interest, street addresses, and latitude/longitude coordinates, allowing ads to appear around the selected geo locations. Display & Video 360 uses exchange-provided coordinates along with its geolocation technology to predict user location to determine whether or not to serve an ad.
