"500 Error - Not a Valid Request" with Search Ads 360 (DCM) Redirects

When attempting to push destination URLs, you may encounter a variation of the following error message:

500 Error: Not a valid request -- invalid checksum - Invalid or broken Search Ads 360 redirect URLs due to missing/incorrect Search Ads 360 click tags

 

This error appears when a user attempts to push destination URLs which are missing Search Ads 360 click tags to the publisher. The platform's URL Builder can be set up to incorporate Search Ads 360 click trackers using dimensions (and their corresponding values) to keyword- or creative-level URLs automatically. These click trackers or click tags (i.e. the dimension values) can be set at Account, Campaign, Group, Keyword or Creative level. It is crucial that these values are populated correctly in the account to enable our platform to build functional redirects successfully.

What Causes The Issue?

This error occurs as a result of not adding Search Ads 360 click tags in the corresponding dimensions (e.g. ad-id, letter, placement-id and/or click_command). It causes the URL Builder to generate a broken redirect URL.

How To Fix The Issue

To fix the problem, populate the Search Ads 360-specific dimension values (e.g. dimensions ad-idletter and placement-id on publisher account or campaign level) that are missing these values before the platform can successfully generate keyword and creative URLs for objects in the accounts.

To achieve this, follow these steps:

  1. For publisher accounts, navigate to the Publishers grid (Accounts > Publishers), then use the checkboxes to select the publisher account name and click Edit above the grid.
  2. Next, enter the correct values in the corresponding dimension text fields and click Save.
  3. If you want to set dimension values at campaign level instead of publisher account level, you can set them for multiple campaigns via multi-edit or bulk upload. Alternatively, you can set them for one campaign at at a time with steps 1) and 2) in the Campaigns grid and campaign settings page respectively.
  4. Next re-upload the affected keywords including their Click Through URLs.
  5. Review the account to ensure that the URLs have been built as desired (including the dimension values) and that they are working.
  6. Next post these URLs to the publisher.

A correctly rebuilt URL should contain the desired Search Ads 360 dimension values as below:

http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;123456789;98765432;w;u=ms&sv1={MatchType}l9bf91kN&sv2={AdId}&sv3=1917kd1234&sv5=kword_{keyword}_match_{MatchType}_plid_{placement};?http://www.powpowsports.com/

Important Notes

Written by Marketing @ Marin Software

Last published at: December 18th, 2023