Everything [Placeholders]

If you are familiar with dynamic ad creative tools and interfaces like Facebook and Google, you might be familiar with the term Placeholders or Variables. If you are new to these types of systems, it might be a bit confusing, so we created this document to help explain what they are and how to get the most out of them in our application.

Think of a placeholder that is a variable that will be assigned a value at a point in the future. In the terms of our application these values are usually assigned during one of the internal processes our system performs. In most cases this is the processing of a Search or Video Template.

In most cases the source of the data for these placeholders comes from an attribute. An attribute is a unique data descriptor or object. In simplest terms think of a column heading as an Attribute and the information listed in the column and the variable that fills a placeholder. 

In this example above the column heading for “Name” is the attribute, Hoot Interactive is the Variable.

Once we have filled the data, we can then use a placeholder [Name] inside an internal process to extract that data and present it in a desired output.

My Company is [Name], and we are located on [address].

My Company is Hoot Interactive, and we are located on Bee Ridge Rd.

Clear? OK good we got that out of the way…..

There are a few different types of [placeholders] found or that can be used within the platform. The primary difference is the source of where the variables come from.

Base Placeholders

Available when using Prebuild templates and an available library.

• [year]

• [make]

• [model]

Account Level Placeholders

These are placeholders that can pull in data from the advertiser settings page. These are used to help improve the scalability of your templates across your accounts. These include the following:

• advertiser_website] – The website URL listed int eh advertiser settings, not SRP or VDP

• [advertiser_dba] – When this field is included in the settings this will pull in the advertiser DBA. If this field is blank and you attempt to place in a template the template will fail to save. This must be in the settings prior to starting the template.

• [advertiser_city] – The city of the advertiser provided in the setting tab.

• [advertiser_state] – The state of the advertiser provided in the setting tab.

Indexed Attributes

These are the available attributes that are derived from the indexing of a website. These can vary by advertiser, but the standard available attributes include:

• [Color]

• [Condition]

• [Description]

• [Doors]

• [Drivetrain]

• [Fuel Type]

• [Image Type] – Review our Machine Learning and Image Classification Documentation

• [Make]

• [Mileage]

• [Model]

• [Price]

• [Title]

• [Transmission]

• [Trim]

• [Type]

• [URL] – This is the product VDP/PDP. This is not an SRP URL Link Can only be used when using [VIN] in the ad group naming.

• [VIN]

• [Vehicle Type]

• [Year]

Derived placeholders

There are Additional placeholder that you will see in documentation or active in the application that are calculated or derived fields from that indexed data. These placeholders can be used in lieu of utilizing Google Ad Customizers for count and price, but they should only be used in very specific circumstances. These variables are not dynamically updated inside templates. These values are derived when the indexing occurs, so the values are pre-determined before template creation.

Hoot side variables are available within Auto Templates to accomplish the same goal as standard ad customizers, but without the integration of data feeds into Google Ads and ad customizer calls. To insert Minimum Price and Count data via variables, open your desired auto template and replace your existing ad customizer calls with the variables listed below. These values will dynamically update your RSA at the same time as the rest of your campaign content from the Hoot side, this results in a simple integration of dynamic ad copy.

These include the following two groups:

• Non-Condition Variables:

  • [min_price_make]

  • [min_price_model]

  • [min_price_year]

  • [make count]

  • [model count]

  • [year count]

  • [type count]

Count and Minimum Price variables can contain “condition“ modifiers, these allow the variables to take your campaign filters into account when pulling data into the variable. Placeholders that do not contain “Condition” count all matching product selections. In other words [min_price_make] identifies the lowest price for “All Fords” regardless of condition

• Condition Variables

  • [min_price_condition_model]

  • [min_price_condition_year]

  • [Type Count Condition]

  • [Model Count Condition]

We recommend these when the template filters contain “Condition” as these provide values where condition is applied to the respected values. Filter must be “New” or “Used”&”Certified” 

Product Alias/Alternates

These are placeholders that can be used to alter the values within a library or within indexed data that you either need an alternate version or to correct values for consumer view-ability. A simple example of this is Chevrolet. In some cases, a user might also want to include or replace the Chevrolet term with Chevy. When Alias values are entered into the Alias files or Library these can be used to include these alternate values within different areas of the templates.

These are:

• [Make_alt]

• [Model_alt]

• [Trim_alt]

External Data Placeholders

Within our search auto templates users have the option to utilize an external data file. The headers of the data contained within these files can be used as a [placeholder]. This means that any file the user creates can become dynamically inserted into the system templates.

Placeholder Implementation

To utilize variables using placeholders you simply add the column header wrapped inside []. You then place the [placeholder] inside ad group names, final URL’s, ad copy, keywords and custom parameters.

It is critical you understand the data within the sources of these placeholders. Our system by default will “skip over” any object that contains a placeholder where the source data is empty. For example, if an ad headline contains the following placeholder:

• Headline 1: [year] [make] [model] [trim]

We will look for every combination of these placeholders and create an ad in its respective ad group. However, let’s say there is a vehicle (2016 Ford Mustang) listed with no trim, we will “skip” creating that ad. We do this because there are many scenarios, we cannot account for decision rules, so the best result is to skip.

Should you know there are scenarios where data might be missing, and you still want to use the placeholder but you can tell us a common variable to use as a replacement rule you can include that in the placeholder. Think of this the same as using ad customizer default text. This is referred to as “Placeholder Default Text”.

For Example: Assume we are using the same example as above but now we re-write the headline as:

• Headline 1: [year] [make] [model] [trim:Base]

The static variable “Base” now becomes our replacement for any missing attributes for the trim placeholder. So, the headline would read:

• “ 2016 Ford Mustang Base” 

Alternative use placeholder inclusion:

Now let’s introduce the concept of Alternate variables. In general, these placeholders work the same as a standard placeholder. The same skip rules apply so the implementation would be the same as above just with the alt placeholder values.

[year] [make_alt] [model_alt] [trim_alt]

Now let’s add some decision rules into your placeholders.

In this scenario I want to always use the short version of the manufacturer “If” I have one. I’ll use Chevrolet and Ford both for this example.

The vehicle references are:

• 2016 Ford Mustang – For Ford I have no alternate values listed.

• 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 - For Chevrolet I have “Chevy” listed as an alternate.

• So, I am going to write my placeholder so there is a decision. This is me telling the system That I want to use the Make Alternate Values if there is one, if not then use the original value.

Headline 1: [year] [make_alt:make] [model]

My results for the two vehicles look like this:

• 2016 Ford Mustang

• 2017 Chevy Silverado 1500  

Now let’s use the same idea but let’s apply it to trim. In this case I am going to use the same behicle but include a trim for the Silverado.

• 2016 Ford Mustang (No Trim) - no alternate trim

• 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 King Ranch - no alternate trim

Headline 1: [year] [make] [model] [tim_alt:trim:Base]

• 2016 Ford Mustang Base

• 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 King Ranch

You will see that even though I have no alternate trim. I now have values for all placeholders in the headline.

We encourage you to explore placeholders for scalability and the creation of dynamic insertion of data. That said please remember there are some rules that could impact the system performance and accuracy. We always encourage you to contact the support team should you have any questions on the best implementation of these variables.