Setting Up Tracking For Yahoo! Japan Creatives

Yahoo! Japan creatives need to utilize unique ID custom parameters for tracking since Yahoo! Japan does not support the use of a creative publisher ID like with Google and Microsoft. In addition, the process of adding new custom parameters for Yahoo! Japan requires the re-creation of creatives.

The reason is due to a Yahoo! Japan limitation where ads cannot be edited. When adding tracking at the creative level, editing ads is required in order to add the {_mkwid}=[uniq_id] custom parameters for tracking.

If you need to track at the creative level, please continue with the steps outlined in this article.

Note: This process does not apply to Yahoo! Japan keywords if you are only tracking at the keyword level. Custom parameters for keywords can be created and synced normally like other publishers.

How To Re-Create Yahoo Japan Creatives In The Platform 

  1. Create a new Dimension named “Old YJ." This can be created by clicking on Admin and selecting the Dimensions sub-tab. To learn more about using Dimensions, check out our dedicated article.
    This Dimension will be used to help keep track of your old creatives.
  2. Next, navigate to the Creatives tab. From here, tag existing ads with the "Old YJ" Dimension using the value 'old' for all creatives you plan to recreate. 
  3. While still on the Creatives tab, use the View Builder to add the following columns to your grid:
    1. Headline
    2. Headline 2
    3. Account
    4. Campaign
    5. Group
    6. Landing Page
    7. Custom Parameters
  4. Next, click the Report button to create a report of your current grid view. You can then navigate to Reports in the upper right-hand corner to download your report. 
  5. From your report, you should QA tracking. Remove any old tracking from the landing page that is already in the Tracking Template.
  6. Then in URL Builder, ensure that there’s a “?” separating the landing page “{lpurl}?” from the tracking parameters.
  7. In your report, delete the entire Creative ID column, including the header. This will allow the system to create new ads. Also, remove any existing {_mkwid}= custom parameters, making sure to leave the Custom Parameters column header in place.
  8. Upload your creative bulksheet to the platform. Your creatives will enter the editorial process in Yahoo Japan. To learn more about processing bulk uploads, check out our dedicated article
  9. Next, confirm the creatives have completed the editorial process by logging into your Yahoo! Japan account. 
  10. Run a campaign sync from Marin and wait for it to finish in the Activity Log. To learn more about kicking off a manual sync, check out our dedicated article
  11. Once everything looks good, you can identify old ads using the 'Old YJ' Dimension and delete them.
  12. During this process, if you hit Yahoo! Japan's limit of ads per group, you will need to delete old ads before creating new ones.

Written by Marketing @ Marin Software

Last published at: June 27th, 2023