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Optimizing by Traffic Source
Maya avatar
Written by Maya
Updated over 9 months ago

Your campaigns will most likely have different results with different audiences. In other words, some clicks may be worth more to you than others. The sections below will describe how to optimize by traffic source and how we help to automatically optimize by traffic source for you.

Optimizing by Traffic Source

One way to take advantage of traffic that is performing better for you is by optimizing by traffic source. This means you can increase or decrease your cost per click (CPC) by traffic source, depending on campaign performance. You also have the option to block a traffic source completely if it is not driving results for your campaign.

For example, if your conversion rate is higher than the campaign average on a specific traffic source, you can increase your CPC on that traffic source. This will make your campaign items more competitive, thus leading to more traffic from that particular traffic source.

Assessing Performance by Traffic Source

Before changing your CPC by traffic source or blocking a traffic source completely, it’s important to assess your campaign performance by traffic source. You can find performance by traffic source by taking these steps:

In order to compare conversion rates and CPA by traffic source in Backstage, you’ll need first to set up and implement your conversion tracking code.

  1. Go to the Campaigns tab in Taboola Ads

  2. Find the campaign you’d like to optimize using the campaign picker on the left, then navigate to the Sites report

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On this page, you can see the conversion rate and CPA by traffic source. This information can help you decide how to change your CPC when optimizing your bids by traffic source.

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Changing CPC by Traffic Source

Once you have assessed your campaign performance by traffic source, you can start making optimizations.

To change your CPC bid by traffic source, do the following:

  1. Go to the Campaigns tab in Taboola Ads

  2. Find the campaign you’d like to optimize using the campaign picker on the left, then navigate to the Sites report as above

  3. Here you can review your campaign performance by traffic source, and change your CPC in one of two ways:

    a. Set a Custom Boost by clicking on the CPC Bid column for a specific traffic source. The CPC Bid column contains the current CPC bid for that traffic source. Clicking on the current bid will open a window that allows you to choose between the default campaign bid value and a Custom Boost. You can set the Custom Boost to be anywhere between +150% and -99%.

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    b. Modify your CPC using the “Quick CPC" modifiers. With this option you can easily increase or decrease the CPC bid of the campaign on a specific traffic source by intervals of 10%, by using the "-10%" and "+10%" buttons to the right of the CPC Bid column.

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Blocking Traffic Sources

In addition to changing your CPC by traffic source, you also have the option to completely block a traffic source. This means your campaign will not appear on that traffic source until you manually undo the block.

Expert Tip!

Even if your campaign is performing below average on a particular traffic source, it’s recommended that you lower the CPC for that traffic source instead of removing the traffic source completely. This way, you are still getting traffic that helps you hit your campaign goals instead of cutting off a traffic source completely.

In order to block a traffic source from showing your campaign, do the following:

  1. Go to the Campaigns tab in Taboola Ads

  2. Find the campaign you’d like to optimize using the campaign picker on the left, then navigate to the Sites report as above

  3. Select the traffic source you’d like to block and click on the

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    icon at the start of the corresponding row. By moving the toggle left, you will be able to block the traffic source.

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