How do you block URLs?
You can use keyword or URL lists to block content for competitive exclusion purposes and also for content that is deemed inappropriate. Keep in mind that Microsoft pubCenter does review the content of the ads it serves to help prevent inappropriate content from being displayed. Both automated (software) and manual (human) processes are applied to the ads. This helps prevent generally inappropriate content from appearing on your pages.
If you don’t want your competitors’ ads to appear on your site, their URLs can be entered into a filter, and that filter can be applied to a channel. Additionally, you can enter keywords associated with your competitors' products or services to help ensure that their ads will not appear.
One step in blocking URLs and/or keywords is to create Competitive Ad Filters. A filter is a list of URLs and keywords that you want to block; it lists the things you do not want to see on your site.
In order to take effect, a filter must be associated with a channel. Name your Channel, and attach all ad units and filters that you want associated with it. (Note: There is a limit of 50 URLs and 50 keywords per filter.) Attaching all ad units to a filter will give you the affect of an account filter. One caveat to note is that global filters do not need to be associated to a channel. By definition, a Global filter will be applied to all ad units.
A channel is a method used to group together similar URLs or ad units. For example, you may want to group together all of the technology related ad units or URLs under one channel and all other ad units into a second channel.
Channels have the additional benefit of allowing you to run performance reports that track individual ad unit performance. For more information on running reports please review the article on how to run a report.
To create a new Channel, follow these steps:
1. Log in to Publisher and navigate to Setup. Click Channels and select URL channels (to block by URL) or Custom channels (to block by ad units).
2. Name your channel and enter the URLs you want to track.
3. Associate the channel with any of the competitive filters you may have previously created and click Save. The URLs and keywords you selected will now be blocked.
Follow the steps below to create a Competitive Ad Filter:
1. Log into your Publisher account and navigate to Setup, and Competitive ad filters.
2. Verify that you are in the correct account that you want to change by viewing the Current Account: box in the top right of the page.
Name your new filter. Add the URLs/keywords in the Blocked Competitors or the Blocked Keywords box and click Save.
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