Overview
Keyword targeting allows you to display ads only when specific keywords or key=values are passed in the ad request. You can build targeting phrases with multiple keywords and operators to have insertions/creatives only delivered if they match the targeting phrase.
Integration types
The table below indicates if this article is relevant for your type of integration with Equativ.
Keywords vs. key=values
Equativ's keyword targeting supports both keywords (e. g. "male" or "green") and key=values (e. g. gender=male or color=green). Using key=values is recommended since they are more convenient and scalable to manage clusters of keywords.
Passing keywords in ad calls
There are two methods to pass keywords: using the according parameter in ad requests or stored/read in/from a cookie and passed with the ad request (see
Cookie targeting for more details). The actual targeting process (in Equativ's UI) is the same for both methods.
Case sensitivity
Keyword/Key=value targeting is not case sensitive. For instance, if you pass "mykeyword" in the ad call, an insertion targeting the keyword "Mykeyword" is eligible for delivery.
Read more about the targeting parameter in the documentation for each integration type:
Separating multiple keywords in ad calls
In case of multiple keywords or key=values, use a semicolon (;) to separate them (e.g. “color=green;color=red;sport;football“).
The comma character (,) must never be used as a separator because this character will be considered as part of the key=value or keyword itself.
Keyword targeting on insertion level
Targeting string values
String values are values that consist of a chain of characters.
To target an insertion to a string:
- go to the Targeting section of the insertion and switch to the Keywords section
- enter the keyword in the Key field and click Add
- repeat the process to add additional keywords
- click on the Exclude toggle switch, to exclude a keyword (negative targeting)
- click on the yellow OR operator to change it to AND
- click on the blue AND operator to change it to OR (the OR operator is not possible if the keyword is excluded)
- to target key=values, enter the key in the Key and the value in the Value field; you can use the same operators and workflows as for simple keywords
Case sensitivity
Keyword/Key=value targeting is not case sensitive. For instance, if you pass "mykeyword" in the ad call, an insertion targeting the keyword "Mykeyword" is eligible for delivery.
Targeting numeric key=values
You can target exact numeric values or numeric value ranges; for instance, you could pass an age value and target your insertion to all ages between 18 and 25.
- enter the keyword in the Key field
- select from the operators: ≤ (less than or equal to), = (exact value) or ≥ (greater than or equal to)
- enter the numeric value in the Value field and click Add
- repeat the process to add additional criteria; numeric values can be combined with the AND operator only
- click on the Exclude toggle switch, to exclude a criterion (negative targeting)
Using the text mode
When targeting a large number of keywords, the
text mode is more convenient than the form-based mode.
Note that you can switch back and forth between the form-based mode and the text mode. However, if you have more than 100 keywords/key=values, the text mode is enforced automatically.

The table below explains which operators must be used in the text mode to express the relationships between keywords/key=values.
Operator | Operator description | Example targeting phrase | Example description |
---|
, (comma) | expresses "OR" | gender=male,color=green | targets gender=male OR color=green |
; (semicolon) | expresses "AND" | gender=male;color=green | targets gender=male AND color=green |
Not | expresses exclusion (negative targeting); the operator Not must be followed by a space, followed by the keyword/key=value to be excluded | Not color=green | excludes color=green |
| excluded keywords can be combined with included keywords with the AND operator only | name=george;Not color=green | targets name=george AND excludes color=green |
| excluded keywords can be combined with the OR operator | name=george;Not color=green,color=yellow | targets name=george AND excludes color=green OR color=yellow |
< <= > >= | for numeric values only; expresses: “less than” “less than or equal to” “greater than” “greater than or equal to” key length: max. 20 characters | age>=20 | targets age values greater than or equal to 20 |
| in case of decimals, use a dot (".") to separate the whole number from the decimal part. | distance>=12.5 | targets distance values greater than or equal to 12.5 |
| number key/values can be combined with “text" keywords/key=values with the AND operator only | name=george;distance>=12.5 | targets name=george AND targets distance values greater than or equal to 12.5 |
| a range of numeric values cannot be combined to another range of numeric values with the OR operator | distance>=12.5;age<15 | targets distance values greater than or equal to 12.5 AND targets age values less than 15 |
Targeting traffic without user consent
The European privacy legislation requires user consent to the processing of personal data. With keyword targeting, you can target traffic with negative or unknown consent — read section "Targeting insertions to traffic without consent" in GDPR compliance - technical implementation.
Keyword targeting on creative level

To define keyword targeting for individual creatives:
- go to the Creatives section of your insertion
- upload and configure your creatives
- click on the given creative for which you want to define the keyword targeting
- on the sidebar, under Targeting > Keywords, add one or multiple keywords/key=values in the text field
- If you are adding multiple keywords/key=values, use the operators explained in the table in chapter "Using the text mode" above.
Keyword targeting on creative level only works when passing the keyword as a parameter of the ad call (keywords stored in cookies cannot be used).
Case sensitivity
Keyword/Key=value targeting is not case sensitive. For instance, if you pass "mykeyword" in the ad call, a creative targeting the keyword "Mykeyword" is eligible for delivery.
Keyword groups
Keyword groups are convenient when certain keywords are targeted frequently. In case of keyword group targeting, a keyword always consists of a key=value (e. g. “name=bob”). Simple keywords (e. g. “bob”) are not supported.
To set up keyword groups:
- go to Inventory > Keyword groups
- click Add a group and define a Name (name displayed in the UI) and its Delivery name (name as passed in the ad request).
- to add values for the keyword group, select the keyword group, and click Add an item.
- enter a Name (name displayed in the UI) and a Delivery name (name as passed in the ad request)
- click the Save button
To get started with targeting keyword groups:
- go to the Targeting section
- expand the Keyword groups section
- click on + Add a keyword group
- from the Keyword groups tree, select the desired values
- click Apply
Combiner mode
By default, the selected key=values are displayed in the combiner mode: each row contains a single key=value and each key=value is connected with the OR operator.
- Click on the yellow OR operator to change it to an AND operator.
- Disable the green toggle to exclude items (AND NOT operator)
- Drag and drop key=values to the desired location using the ⋮⋮ button

In case of 100 or more key=values in the combiner mode, the mode is automatically switched to the grouped mode.
Grouped mode
The grouped mode is convenient when targeting many values, as it organizes them in a more structured format: one key per row with each of its values.
The values within a keyword group are combined with the OR operator. Keyword groups themselves are combined with other keyword groups with the AND operator.
In grouped mode, you can:
- add additional keyword groups using the + Add a keyword group button
- add additional values
- remove values
You cannot change operators between keyword groups in grouped mode. Switch to combiner mode to modify them.

Case sensitivity
Keyword/Key=value targeting is not case sensitive. For instance, if you pass "mykeyword" in the ad call, a creative targeting the keyword "Mykeyword" is eligible for delivery.
Combination limit
You can define a maximum of 50,000 targeting criteria combinations per insertion. This applies to keyword targeting and all other targeting types (e. g. browser targeting).
OR-combinations may significantly increase the amount of combinations. The table below provides examples of targeting criteria combined with OR and the resulting combinations.
Targeting_criteria___________ | Example targeting criteria | Number of resulting combinations | Resulting combinations |
---|
1 browser targeting criterion and 1 key=value | Firefox and name=george | 1 | Firefox + name=george |
2 browser targeting criteria and 1 keyword | Firefox or Chrome and car | 2 | Firefox + car Chrome + car |
2 key=values combined with OR and 2 cities | name=george or name=alice and Paris or London | 4 | name=george + Paris name=george + London name=alice + Paris name=alice + London |
If you need more than 50,000 combinations, you can
- duplicate the insertions
- define max. 50,000 criteria combinations in each insertion
- assign a shared impression volume (group volume) to all the insertions.