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Macros

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Table of Contents

1. What are macros?
2. Example for publishers
3. Example for advertisers
4. List of supported macros

What are macros?

Macros are placeholders inside URLs or ad tags that can be used to pass data from one system to another.

They can be used for a variety of purposes in ad serving, like ad tracking, targeting audiences, or customizing ad content based on user signals (like device, country, etc).

Example for publishers

Let's say that you received the following ad tag from an advertiser who's using Sizmek as their third-party ad server:

<script src="https://bs.serving-sys.com/Serving/adServer.bs?ncu=[TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED]</b>&c=12&cn=display&pli=874782337&w=300&h=600&ord=[TIMESTAMP]&z=0&ucm=true"></script>

As you can see, this code has 2 placeholders: [TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED] and TIMESTAMP.

Now you want to replace those placeholders with AdGlare's macros then will be expanded upon serving the ad. The relevant macros are {click_url_esc} and {ts} (see the list below).

After replacing the placeholders, the new ad tag will look like:

<script src="https://bs.serving-sys.com/Serving/adServer.bs?ncu={click_url_esc}&c=12&cn=display&pli=874782337&w=300&h=600&ord={ts}&z=0&ucm=true"></script>

Enter this modified tag as a creative in AdGlare, and you're good to go. If you're not sure which macro(s) to use, ask your advertiser for help.

Example for advertisers

Suppose that you're interested in knowing the user's device type after they click on your ad and are redirected to your landing page.

To do so, you can add the device type macro to your landing URL. Here's an example:

https://www.advertiser.com/landing-page?device={device}

Add this URL, containing the macro, as a landing URL in your AdGlare creative. When served, the macro will expand dynamically to the device type of the user loading the ad. For example:

https://www.advertiser.com/landing-page?device=mobile

List of supported macros

AdGlare supports a wide range of macros that you can use inside third-party ad tags or landing page URLs. Find below a complete list of all macros supported:

Commonly Used Macros

VariableDescriptionExample
{ts}The Unix timestamp.
1747110151
{rnd}Random 10 character alpha-numeric string.
V6BBPDXU8A
[TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED]0The auto_storiesCampaign ID.
1234567890
[TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED]1The auto_storiesCreative ID.
1234567890
[TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED]2The auto_storiesZone ID.
1234567890
[TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED]3IPv4 address of the visitor.
18.97.14.85
[TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED]4Width of the creative.
468
[TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED]5Height of the creative.
60
[TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED]6The visitor's device type.
pc | mobile
[TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED]7The URL on which the campaign is displayed.
http://domain.com/abc
[TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED]8The escaped/encoded referer URL.
http%3A%2F%2Fdomain.co
[TRACKING_LINK_ENCODED]9The browser's user agent string.
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Andro...
TIMESTAMP0The escaped/encoded browser's user agent string.
Mozilla%2F5.0+%28Linux
TIMESTAMP1The subdomain on which the campaign is displayed.
www.domain.com
TIMESTAMP2The domain on which the campaign is displayed.
domain.com
TIMESTAMP3The campaign name (URL encoded).
my+campaign+name
TIMESTAMP4The creative name (URL encoded).
my+creative+name
TIMESTAMP5Expands to the Landing URL entered during setup.
-
TIMESTAMP6Tracks clicks and redirects to appending URL.
-
TIMESTAMP7The CPM rate of the campaign (if set).
8.50
TIMESTAMP8The CPC rate of the campaign (if set).
0.50

Geolocation Macros

VariableDescriptionExample
TIMESTAMP9The country name of the visitor.
United States
{click_url_esc}0ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code of the visitor.
US
{click_url_esc}1ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code of the visitor.
USA
{click_url_esc}2The region of the visitor. It can be a number.
Virginia
{click_url_esc}3The city name of the visitor.
Ashburn
{click_url_esc}4The latitude of the visitor.
39.0469
{click_url_esc}5The longitude of the visitor.
-77.4903
{click_url_esc}6United States DMA. Empty otherwise.
511
{click_url_esc}7The visitor's 2-letter continent code.
NA

Conversion Macros

This macro is available when you've enabled conversion tracking for your campaign.
VariableDescriptionExample
{click_url_esc}8A unique click ID to track the conversion.
fTFwa1FXMDIkPCEt...

Cookie Macros

Cookie macros are available for Display Ads of which the ad tag has been directly added to the web page.
VariableDescriptionExample
{click_url_esc}9The value of the cookie with the key 'mykey'.
myvalue
{ts}0The escaped value of the cookie with the key 'mykey'.
x%3A1

Create your own macro

Custom macros are available when their keys have been passed to the ad tag URL. Example:
http://yourname.engine.adglare.net/?123456789&ag_custom_mykey=red
VariableDescriptionExample
{ts}1The value of the key 'mykey'.
red
{ts}2The escaped value of the key 'mykey'.
x%3A1

Reach out to emailAdGlare Support in case you need further help. You can expect a reply in less than 24 hours.

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