What is a direct commander. Direct commander is a necessary tool. Sending data to the poison server

V Yandex.Direct a new long-awaited application has appeared Direct Commander, which allows you not to get confused and streamline your work at the same time with a large number of advertising campaigns and ads.

Here are some of the features of the new updated interface:
- allows you to instantly find the necessary campaigns, customers and ads for specified keywords and phrases;
- create new advertising campaigns by loading ads from files;
- make changes to many campaigns at once
You can work in Commander offline, without downloading web pages, the Internet will be needed at the beginning of work, when you need to download and synchronize all available data. Commander allows you to work much faster than in a regular web interface, which is convenient, so it is especially necessary for those webmasters who have Yandex.Direct a large number of advertising campaigns.

Direct Commander - details

Direct Commander is a Direct interface designed to make it easier to work with large advertising companies.

DK makes it possible:

• Deal with tons of keywords, ads, campaigns and customers without any problems.
• Create advertising campaigns by downloading RO from any files.
• Make large-scale modifications to the Republic of Kazakhstan.
• Find a keyword among thousands of others in a couple of clicks.
• Find a keyword that refers to various RK and RO grapps.
• Find an ad among many other ROs.
• Find all ROs that may belong to different campaigns or groups.
• Perform parallel editing of a large number of keywords.
• Make similar, similar modifications to a large number of phrases.
• Change links and text in a large number of advertisements.

The principle of operation of the DC

For the Commander's work, the API technology from YAD is used. If we talk about the user, then we can say that the work through the DC is performed as follows:

• First, we download campaign and customer data from Yandex.Direct.
• We create or edit the RC. All this is saved on your PC.
• We send the entered data to the Yandex Direct server.

Remember that the DC's work with the server is not performed automatically. It is imperative to use a command from a person.

Getting started: you are an agency

During the first launch of the DC, you will need to enter the account data in the YD. Upon completion of the authorization process, all panels in the DC will be empty, since no information has been received from the server. To get information, you need to click on the button "Get a list of clients", when this is done, you need to click on the button to get advertising clients for the selected client. After receiving the RC, you need to "Get groups".

Getting Started: You Are an Advertiser

The sequence of work is the same as for the agency. Only by default, people who are clients of agencies cannot use the YaD API.

DK window for agency

All data that you can work with in YD is displayed in the Commander. The choice of the client in the first panel, displayed in the adjacent panels, its AC and parameters. If you choose not a client, but a representative of an advertising agency, then you will see all the campaigns that this representative can work with.

DC window for advertiser

Groups, ROs and keywords

The Ads tab allows you to look at a thumbnail of the RO, and the ad group tab shows a thumbnail of one of the ads in this group.

By double-clicking on the thumbnail, you will see a table where you can edit the RO.

The Phrases tab gray out those that are inactive:

• keys that have been disabled for low click-through rates.
• keys that are included in the stopped or not started RO and RK.

Selecting a large number of items in the Commander

If you hold down either Ctrl or Shift, you can select several ads, groups, keys and advertising campaigns at once. To select all the elements that are on the tab, click on the first one, and then use the Shift + End key combination.

To determine where (to which campaign and group) the key or RO belongs, the links that can be seen at the top of the tab help.

This tool is commonly used for:

• quick search for keys or ROs that are included in different ACs or groups;
• bidding en masse;
• editing keys and RO en masse using f-Iu replacements.

Quick search tool

At the bottom of the tabs are filters that allow you to quickly select items.

You can use filters like this:

• Text filter.
• Lightning. Used to select modified objects for sending to the Yandex Direct server.
• An asterisk. Using the corresponding button, you select all objects that are marked with a star.
• Funnel. This button hides or shows inactive objects.

Setting up columns in tables

Tabs Ad groups, Campaigns, as well as Phrases and Ads allow you to customize the display of the table columns:

• you can change the order of the columns by dragging with the mouse.
• you can show and hide columns using the context menu. To call it, you need to right-click on the column heading.

We receive data in the DC from the Yandex Direct server

To download data from the server, you need, as mentioned above, to work with handles. If you are a representative of an agency, you must first select the desired client, and then, using a click on the gray down arrow key, download the information. If you are an advertiser, then immediately click on this arrow. After that, you need to download the data using the same keys for all campaigns with which you want to work.

Sending data to the poison server

All the settings made will start working after you send them to the Poison server. You can send the entire AC, but you can only send its parameters. Individual ad groups cannot be submitted.

After selecting the required advertising campaigns (the required campaign), you need to click on the gray up arrow key. Campaigns that can be sent to the server have a lightning bolt next to their name. If there is a red circle with a white "brick" next to a campaign, then this advertising campaign contains errors and cannot be uploaded to the server. If you hover the cursor over this icon, a tooltip will show what kind of mistake was made.

Creation of an advertising campaign

To create an AC, you need to do the following:

• Select a client (if you represent an agency).
• Click on the "Create a campaign" button in the corresponding tab.
• Set the required settings on the AC parameters tab.
• Create the required RO groups on the ad groups tab.
• Configure ad options.
• On the Phrases tab, configure the keywords: enter the required keywords and write down the priority and cost per click for them.
• Upload the created RK to the Yandex Direct server.

Note... To set up a business card or add an image, you need to double-click on the Business card field or the Image name field, respectively.

Adding keywords

To add keys, you first need to select a group, and then click on the button for creating "new phrases". This will open a window where you can enter or paste keywords.

To specify new phrases, you can use the following methods:

• write them in a line using a comma as a separator.
• enter keywords into a column one at a time.
• use the principle of generation, for example, (repair | renovate) (house | apartment).

Generating keywords

If you use the above example to create keywords, namely: "(repair | repair) (house | apartment)", then as a result you will receive the following key phrases: repairing a house, repairing an apartment, repairing a house, repairing an apartment.

Importing keywords from external files

To import data from files with XLS, CSV or TXT extensions (in general, a document that has tabular markup), you need to press the import data from file button, and then select the required document.

If the file does not have table markup, then you need to use the key for importing keywords from the buffer.

This will open the window for importing ads from the table. If as a result of these actions you see unreadable text, then you need to configure the used encoding on the Language tab. After that, click on "Apply" and indicate the types of information that are in the columns. If there are incorrect values ​​in one or another column, they will be highlighted in pink.

If everything is configured correctly, in your opinion, then you need to create a new AC for these keywords. If the import was not correct or not correct, then you will see the familiar red icon with a white "brick".

After correcting the noted errors, you need to configure the parameters of the RK and send it to the YAD server.

An important detail. Any user of Direct Commander can import all (or selected) RCs into one file with the CSV extension. In this file, you can make the desired settings and then import it back.

We copy advertising campaigns in the recreation center

Sequencing:

• Select the client whose RC you want to copy.
• Select RK.
• Activate the copy key combinations for your OS (for Windows it is Ctrl + C).
• If the RK is to be copied for another client, then it must be selected on the “Clients” tab.
• Activate the insert key combinations for your OS (for Windows it is Ctrl + V).
• Make changes in the created copy.
• Upload the campaign to the Yandex Direct server.

We start, stop and send for moderation an advertising campaign using DC

After sending an advertising campaign to the Yandex Direct server, it receives the "Draft" status. After that, it can be sent for approval to the YAD moderators. The advertising campaign will start working when the moderation is successful and the payment is made. You cannot pay for an advertising campaign through the DC; this can only be done using the Yandex Direct web interface.

To send a campaign for moderation, start it, stop it, archive or unzip it, you need to change its state:

• First, select the required RK.

To send an ad> for moderation, start it, stop it, archive or unzip it, you need to change its state:

• We select the required advertising campaign (or several). The "Ad groups" tab will show the groups of all ACs.
• In the "Ad groups" select a group (or several).
• In the "Announcements" tab you need to select RO (or several).
• Right click on the selected advertising campaigns. Next, select "Change state", and then the required action.

For both ads and campaigns, the selected modifications must be uploaded to the server.

Paste and copy ...

Advertising campaigns

DC allows to perform operations of copying and moving RC, together with groups, keys and RO. For this you need:

• select the required advertising campaigns on the Campaigns tab.
• use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + C and Ctrl + X to copy and move, respectively. These actions will be referred to below as OP_COP.
• to insert into the required place of the RK, you need to use the key combination Ctrl + V. These actions will be further referred to as OP_VST.

Ad groups

To copy and move ad groups to DC, you need:

• Select the required RK.
• Execute OP_KOP.
• Select the ad campaign where you want to paste the copied ad group.
• Execute OP_VST.

Advertisements

• Select the required RK.
• Select the ad groups you want.
• Select the advertisements you want.
• Execute OP_KOP.
• Select the group where you want to paste the copied ads.
• Execute OP_VST.

Phrases

For operations of copying and moving keywords in DC you need:

• Select the required RK.
• Select the ad groups you want.
• Select the desired key phrases.
• Execute OP_KOP.
• Select the ad group where you want to paste the copied keywords.
• Execute OP_VST.

Inserting and copying column content in DC

Direct Commander has the ability to copy and paste everything contained in a column. This allows you to quickly transfer information between DC and other programs and in the middle of the Commander himself.

Selecting the columns

• To select a column, you need to right-click on the header and select the context menu item titled "Select Column".
• If you need to select several columns, you need to select them sequentially by LMB, and then perform the operations, as for one column.

Copying information in a column

• First, select the columns to be copied.
• Right-click on the title and select the context menu item titled "Copy Columns". This data ends up on the clipboard, from where it can already be pasted into a messaging program, word processor or spreadsheet.

Insert data into columns

To insert data, you can take an array of data from a different number of lines and columns. Data for copying can be taken directly to the DC or in an external file. How does this happen:

• Data is inserted only into columns that are being edited.
• Before inserting data, you need to select the required columns. If this is not done, then the data will be inserted into the columns that follow one after the other (in a row).
• Blank lines at the end are not inserted.

Saving data from DC to file

It is possible in DC, RO groups and campaigns, export to a file with the XLS extension. You just need to remember that the information for export is taken not from the poison, but from the DC, therefore, before exporting, you need to take the latest data from the Yandex Direct server.

Find and replace functions ...

When working with the search and replace functions, you can substitute a new fragment after, before and instead of the found fragment.

You can make changes without performing a search. To do this, in the search field, you need to select "All values".

To refine the parameters, use the fine-tuning block. Replacement is carried out both for one element and for all at once.

in advertisements

Using DC, you can almost instantly correct errors, change the text, links and titles of advertisements, even when they belong to different campaigns or groups.

• First, select the RK.
• Select an ad group.
• For search and replacement, you can use the entire ad in the group, or select some of them.
• After selecting the ads you need to edit, click on the corresponding button ( gray pencil in the gray rectangle).
• We register the parameters for the replacement.

in keywords

• Select the required advertising campaigns.
• Select ad groups.
• If you need to work only with individual keys, then you also need to select them. If you do not select anything, then the search and replace procedure will be performed in all keywords.
• After selecting the keywords needed for editing, click on the corresponding button (gray pencil in a gray rectangle).
• We register the replacement parameters.

We set up several advertising campaigns in the DC

If you want, you can set the same display strategies, geo targeting and time targeting, for several advertising campaigns at a time.

To do this, first select the advertising campaign, and then write down the required values ​​on the tab of the advertising campaign parameters.

We work with pictures in the recreation center

Using the DK, you can massively edit RO images for display on YAN pages.

Using the "Image Masters" button on the advertisements tab, you can work with graphic data. Here you can upload pictures in standard Internet settings: GIF, JPEG or PNG.

Setting up business cards in the DC for ...

advertisement

On the ads tab, double-click on the Business card field. This will open the Virtual Business Card window, where you can:

• create a new business card;
• copy a business card using a different PO;
• edit the settings;
• delete the virtual business card.

several ROs

• Next, select RO.
• Call the context menu for the selected advertisements. In it, you need to select Business Card → Edit.

In the window for editing virtual Yandex Direct business cards, you can:

• make the same modifications.
• create identical business cards for selected ROs.
• copy BB to selected advertisements.
• remove explosives from all ROs.

How to place bids in Direct Commander?

In DC, you can work with the cost of clicks for a set of selected keywords, which can be in different campaigns, groups, ads.

• First select the required RCs.
• Then select the RO groups you require.
• Now you can work with the cost per click for the keywords you need.
• To do this, click on the button with the "magic wand" (button for bidding).
• The window for the cost of bets will open. You can specify bids only in search, only in the Yandex advertising network, or both.
• After setting all prices, click on the "Install" button.

Separating keywords in DK by words

Separation of keywords by words, one keyword divides into two keywords:

• The selected word is added to one key phrase.
• For another phrase, this word becomes a negative keyword. If you take the key phrase "sell a house" and divide by using the word "price", then, in the end, there will be two phrases "sell a house price" and "sell a house - price"

Service parameters in quick links

Direct Commander has two things: Parameter 2 and Parameter 1, which you will not find in the standard interface of the poison. These parameters are automatically added to quick links. The subsequent analysis of these parameters allows you to follow the transitions by keywords and show users additional data, and so on.

Limitations of Direct Commander

Technical restrictions

• Any actions with campaigns are limited to 100 per day.
• You can add or modify RO only 1 thousand times for the AC per day.
• The number of all transactions is limited to 50 thousand per day.

If you exceed these limits, then you can carry out all subsequent actions at intervals of ten minutes.

Let's talk about Direct Commander in this video transcription.

Direct Commander is a free program from Yandex, created specifically for Yandex.Direct. If you have a lot of advertising campaigns or you work with a large number of keywords, then it is better to have this program on your computer. Why? Because Commander significantly speeds up work with Direct. Available for Window and Mac Os.

First you need to install Direct Commander on your PC by downloading it on the official website www. direct. yandex. ru/ commander/ .

After you download Commander, you only need an Internet connection in two cases to make changes to your Yandex.Direct account. Firstly, when you need to download data from your account to your PC, and secondly, when you upload edited advertising campaigns back to the Yandex server. The rest of the time, working with the program does not require an Internet connection.

Download Direct Commander

Commander benefits

• Working in the program allows you to make an easy search,
• quick replacement and copying of keywords,
• error checking, etc.
• You can also copy the entire advertising campaign at once to make advertising campaigns for different regions (from November 2016 you can do it in the web interface).

Work in Direct Commander

Let's move on to practice and small life hacks.

Go to the website site www. direct. yandex. ru under your username and password. At the bottom of the page, in the TOOLS section, select the DIRECT COMMANDER link. On this page you can find out about the main advantages of this program, about those that I have not mentioned. On the right, click on the INSTALL button.

After installation on your PC, you can log into your Ya.Direct account via Direct Commander only if you have at least one advertising company, even a test draft. After that, the program interface will open, a window divided into 3 main tabs.

You can enter your Ya.Direct account via Direct Commander only if you have at least one advertising campaign

1. Campaigns... In the campaign tab, you can easily load campaigns by clicking the arrow button on the toolbar. Also configure the settings in the Settings tab.
2. Ad groups... In the second tab, you can configure the Parameters already at the level of the advertising campaign.
3. Ads and phrases.

If you have an agent account, there will be another tab with a list of clients.

In the toolbar, the last button PANEL SIZES, I usually choose a view in which only the last two tabs are visible in the window, because I do not need the Campaign level for editing. And I make the ANNOUNCEMENT AND PHRASES window larger to make it more convenient to work.

For example, let's copy the existing ad group and paste it using the right mouse button. Then we will remove all keywords from the last tab. I already have a prepared list of keywords. On the toolbar, select the icon with the image of a new document and add new phrases to the window that appears. (Editing keywords a bit before adding)

In my example, it turned out that there were more characters than allowed by Coammander. And so an error icon appeared next to the ad group. It can be corrected by clicking on the SPLIT GROUP button.

But before that, let's try to make a cross minus one.

To do this, find the icon with the image of a document and a pencil (editing), select in the pop-up window CORRECTION OF PHRASES, then CORRECT INTERCESTS AND DELETE DUPLES, OK. Then APPLY.

After that, I got an error in the PRICE PER CLICK column. To fix this, find the icon with the MASTER PRICE magic wand, click, set the click price, for example, 3 rubles. and no more than 3 rubles. Check the box for ALL PHRASES. Then INSTALL.

The error has now been fixed. The only thing left to fix is ​​to capitalize all keywords. to do this, select the icon with the image of a document and a pencil (editing), then CHANGE THE REGISTER OF PHRASES, the action HEADED PHRASES, APPLY.

After these changes, return to the AD GROUPS tab, click on your ad group, next to which there is an error icon and select BREAK AD GROUP. This creates several more ad groups with the same ads and bids, which is very convenient.

Today I told you about some of the features of this program. Now you can see that this program is necessary because we figured out the key phrases pretty quickly. And if you want to work just as quickly in Yandex.Direct, be sure to download this program and indulge a little with the functions, explore all the possibilities.

Until then, see you soon! Good luck!

Yandex Direct Commander makes it easy to work with large campaigns. We have described several situations where it is simply irreplaceable.

Features and benefits of Direct Commander:

• This is not an online service, but a program that is installed on a work computer.
• The program needs to be updated from time to time. Yandex itself will offer you to click a button and update the program when needed.
• Commander allows you to quickly edit hundreds of ads.
• Allows you to load campaigns from Excel files and make uploads of different formats.
• Supports work with multiple Yandex.Direct accounts.

How Commander helps a PPC specialist.

Loading campaigns with a lot of ads.

This situation is typical for online store advertising with extensive semantics. Direct has a restriction on uploading and editing ads from a file. As a standard, each account is assigned 64,000 points per day in the interface. This is usually not enough to load a large campaign file.

The number of points for each operation can be found in Yandex Help:

• adding an ad - 12 points;
• editing an ad - 4 points;
• adding a phrase - 2 points;
• editing a phrase - 1 point.

When working with Direct Commander, the number of points can differ tenfold. This functionality is also implemented in some contextual advertising automation systems, such as GetDirect from CPA admitad.

Strategy for getting maximum conversion.

If there are a lot of campaigns and in the distribution of bids you use the strategy of getting the maximum conversion by goal, you need to check from time to time if you have accumulated enough statistics for this. If you check using the Yandex.Direct interface, you need to go to each campaign, it will take a lot of time:

In Commander, you simply switch between campaigns:

Disable keywords.

There are times when a specialist mistakenly uploads non-targeted queries to a campaign. If we created a separate ad group for each request, it will be difficult to disable or delete them. Especially if there are no common words in the queries. In the Commander, you can open all the keywords of your campaigns at once and, by analyzing their list, disable unnecessary ones.

Placement of negative keywords in the campaign.

This is useful in search campaigns - the program analyzes all keywords and refines them using negative keywords. Everything is done by correcting phrases, in the same window where requests are disabled:

After the correction, the table looks like this:

Removing duplicates.

This function allows you to remove implicit duplicate requests. Such as permutation of words and duplicates of word forms:

Bulk search and replacement of keywords.

This can be very useful if you need to edit a large campaign in a boilerplate. For example, you generated a campaign in Excel and misspelled the word. Let's say you sell Hyundai cars, but your keywords are “Hindai”. You need to perform a search and replace for all keywords:

The same actions should be carried out with the text of the ads, if necessary.

Bulk keyword matching change.

To change the match from wide to phrasal, you need to enclose each keyword in quotation marks. One of the options is through search and replace in the Commander. We need to check the box "Use substitutions" and, one by one, first add the quotation mark at the beginning, and then at the end of the phrase:

Everything is pretty simple and transparent. When you have made changes to the campaign, you need to send it to the server.

Errors when working with Direct Commander:

• Editing a campaign without loading recent changes... Before you change anything in the campaigns, you should download the campaigns themselves and separately the data with which you will work from the server.
• Violation of Yandex.Direct rules when creating a campaign from a file: ad texts and headlines are longer than the allowed limits, prohibited characters in ads: anything that does not apply to the alphabet, numbers and punctuation marks.
• Incorrect encoding of the Excel file (it must be in UTF-8 encoding).

If there is an error encoding, the file looks like this when loaded:

Conclusions.

Using Direct Commander, it is convenient to:

• upload campaigns with a large number of ads and groups;
• implement strategies for getting maximum conversion;
• disable keywords;
• place negative keywords in the campaign;
• delete duplicates;
• massively search and replace keywords;
• massively change keyword matches.

Commander allows you to quickly work with bulk operations: simplifies routine work and saves time. Of course, these are far from all the functions of the program, but the most popular ones.

Direct Commander is a free program that allows you to make massive changes to your advertising campaign. Let's imagine a situation where you have collected a lot of keywords, wrote a title and ad text. You have spent a lot of time for this. In your ads you have indicated a special offer, for example, “15% discount until April 28”. After some time, you will have to change the date in the ads. If you have a large advertising company, then manually it can take a huge amount of time. How to be in such a situation?

It is for this situation that there is Direct Commander... Let's take a closer look at this program. Direct Commander is a free application from Yandex, which makes it much more convenient to make massive changes to your advertising campaign. Compared to the Yandex Direct interface, its huge advantage will be ease of use and faster access to all settings.
Using Direct Commander, you can:

1. Make massive changes to your ad campaigns.
2. Create new ad campaigns by uploading from any file format.
3. It is easy to navigate a large number of companies, ads and customer phrases.

Basic functions in Direct Commander:

1. If you have an agent account, then you need to select the desired client in the client tab.
2. In the Campaigns tab, select the advertising campaign you need. To do this, you can use the shortcut keys Ctrl + A.

1. In the "Ad groups" tab, you need to select one or all ad groups
2. Now go to the "Phrases" tab
3. At the bottom there is a search line where you can enter a phrase. In my case, I want to see all the phrases in which the word “buy” appears.

You can find the ad among all the others.
For example, you want to search for ads with a specific text that are related to completely different advertising campaigns. In my case, I found all ads that contain the word “Generous Promotion”. As the statistics showed, this USP (unique selling proposition) has shown itself poorly, and I want to see how many ads have this phrase in their text or title.

For this:

• In the "Clients" tab, select the required advertising campaign.
• Next, we do the same in the "Campaigns" section.

• In the "Ad groups" section, select all groups.
• In the last tab, in the "Ads" section, go to the very bottom and enter the key phrase you need. In my case, it will be "Generous Promotion"

If you remove this search criterion, then we will show all ads.

As we can see, this allowed us to quickly sort the desired ads. If we tried to do these actions through the interface, it would take a long time.
In real time, we can set bids for keywords.

Another advantage of Direct Commander is the ability to set bids for keywords. You can set bids for both search and the Yandex advertising network. Unlike the interface, you will have access to such information as the cost of a click on the search (the amount that you will be charged for clicking on the ad), as well as the minimum bid for keeping keywords in certain positions. For example, if you want to show words only in warranty displays (at the bottom of the search), you can set this in the settings.
In order to place bets, you need to go to the "Phrases" section. We repeat the previous points: Customers tab - Ad group - Phrases.
Now that we have moved to the section with phrases for convenience, we must expand this block. To do this, click on the box that is highlighted in the screenshot below.

In this Direct Commander interface, we see:

1. Tab "Words". All the keywords that are on our account are displayed here. Thanks to the Direct interface, we can view all keywords from one place.
2. State. This tab shows the status of your ads. Let's imagine that you have uploaded an ad campaign and want to quickly see which ads have been moderated and which have not. This tab is ideal for this purpose. There are five types of status in it: active, paused, rejected, under moderation and will be launched.
3. Online bet. Shows how much you have set for your advertising campaign in the Yandex search network. It is important to separate search campaigns and YAN campaigns. You can read more about the nuances and correct settings of advertising campaigns in this article.
4. CTR indicator. Shows the click-through rate of your ads, that is, how many people who viewed your ad clicked on it. In other words, the higher this value is, the more likely people are to click on your ad. You can read more about CTR in a separate article. As you can see in the screenshot, my ads have a high parameter - this allows you to significantly save costs for an advertising campaign. However, it should be understood that for each topic, CTR will be individual and even 4% can be a good indicator.
5. on the search. Shows the amount that will be debited from your advertising campaign upon clicking.

• Bid. In this tab, we see the amount that was set earlier. It is important to understand that this is not the amount that will be debited from our account when you click on the advertisement! Speaking in simple words: By setting a high price on search, you show Yandex that you are ready to invest in advertising. For example, setting a price of 1300 rubles on a search, the cost of a click can be less than 50 rubles.
• 1st CP, etc. Here we can see how much you need to set in order for your ad to be shown in a particular position. There are currently four special placements.

• Impressions tab. Shows how many impressions your ad has had. However, you need to understand that this indicator, unfortunately, is inaccurate. For more accurate statistics, see the "Advertising campaigns report" section.
• Network coverage%. Shows what percentage of coverage your ads will receive. It makes sense to look at this parameter if you have made an advertising campaign in Yandex YAN.

About there, how exactly to set the correct rates, read below in the article.
We can use Direct Commander to change the text and links in all ads.
This can be done using the “multi-edit” tool. To do this, go to the ad section and click on the icon in the upper left corner.

Why do you need to start with unloading campaigns in Direct Commander?

Getting started with Direct Commander

The first thing we do is load data for the next tabs.

Loading data for the Campaigns tab

Loading data for an ad group

Loading data for ads

Windows in Yandex Commander

1. Campaign
2. Ad group and settings
3. Ads and keywords

Ad groups and phrases

As we can see, the ads have changed their appearance. This feature is very useful if you want to see how your ads will look. However, do not forget that not all extensions will be displayed in this interface.

Multiple choice in Direct Commander

Multiple choices can be used:

• For mass bidding.
• In order to massively change certain ads and phrases using search and replace.
• Using in conjunction with a filter, you can quickly find ads or phrases that relate to different groups or campaigns.
• Quick search in Direct Commander.

Text filter

Now let's look at what we see in the screenshot:

1. Thanks to this line, we can understand that the filter is currently active.
2. We can customize the filter so that only featured ads are shown.
3. A string for searching words.
4. Turn off the filter.

Archive filter

Advanced or filter by columns

1. In order to enable the advanced filter you must click on the symbol in the lower left corner of the screen.
2. Each column has its own filter criteria: enable / disable filter.
3. Selection of selected objects. You can show search results that only consist of strings marked with an asterisk.
4. Filter for objects that have changed and are ready to go to the server.
5. Text filter, we have already talked about it above.
6. State filter. Shows ads with specified conditions.
7. Filters with numeric values.

Do not forget that you can use several filters at the same time. If you have enabled several filters, then the tabs will display only those objects that match the specified filtering conditions.
You can reset all filter settings at any time. To do this, just right-click on the enabled filter in the lower left corner and select "Reset"

Configuring windows in Direct Commander

Let's see what we can change in the interface:

1. If you have made adjustments to the appearance of Direct Commander and they did not suit you, then using this button you can return the base view.
2. Choose a ready-made option from the proposed ones. We will talk about them in more detail below.
3. Sliders used to move the panels.
4. With the help of these buttons you can either collapse or expand the panel of your choice.

For the convenience of working with one specific tab, you can enlarge it.

Below in the screenshot we see:

1. Collapsed panel.
2. A button with which you can restore the normal state.
3. Expanded panel.

Customizing columns in tables

It is important to remember that for the "Phrases" tab, the display of the "Rate", "Rate in networks and priority" columns can be enabled or disabled only at the same time. Depending on the display strategy, it will depend on which columns will be displayed on the campaign parameters tab.

Server communication

Receiving data from the server for Direct Commander

In order to receive changes from the server, you need to press the button located at the top of the screen. You can get information for all campaigns in which you want to make your changes.

Get auction data, statistics and productivity

Sending data to the server

Also in Direct Commander you can send parameters for selected campaigns to the server. To do this, go to the "Parameters" tab and click on "Send campaign to server".

Campaign management in Direct Commander

1. Create new campaigns.
2. Add key phrases.
3. Import from files.
4. Copying campaigns.
5. Alteration.
6. Launching, sending for moderation and stopping advertising campaigns.

Creating new advertising campaigns using Direct Commander

Now we need to add an ad group, come up with a name, and add geotargeting.

1. Adding ads. We can add unlimited ads.
2. We register the headings. If you plan to display on YAN, then there is no point in filling out the second heading, because it is not displayed in the Yandex Advertising Network.
3. Add a link. The final page where the user will go to after our ad.

1. To do this, go to the Phrases tab
2. Click on the button "Add a key phrase"
3. In the new window “New phrases” that appears, enter the key phrases you need and then click “Add”.
4. Now, in the Phrases tab, it remains to specify the parameters of the phrases. Namely, rate or priority.

Adding key phrases to Direct Commander

Add new key phrases as shown in the picture.

In the window that appears, we can add new key phrases. We have three ways to enter keywords:

1. Entering words in a line separated by commas.
2. Entering words in a column.
3. Generate using operators.

Import from file to Direct Commander

Copy campaigns

Changes to the advertising campaign

You can:

1. Add a new ad group
2. Change geotargeting
3. Remove ad group

You can add ads from a file from the section with "campaigns". In this section you can:

1. Import ads from file.
2. Import ads from clipboard.

How to stop, start, or submit an ad for moderation

You can launch an advertising campaign only after successfully passing the moderation and paying for it. At the moment, you can pay for an advertising campaign only through the web interface.
In order to send a campaign for moderation, you must be in the "Campaigns" tab. Then select the campaign with the right mouse button, go to the section to change the state and select the item "Submit for moderation"

Additional features of Direct Commander

• Copy and paste.
• Saving to file.
• Search and replace.
• Query language.
• Campaign settings.
• Images.
• Business cards.
• Key phrases.
• Control from the keyboard.

Copy and Paste

• Copying groups, ads and phrases.
• Copying the contents of the columns.

Bidding in Direct Commander

In Direct Commander, you can quickly set bids for a large number of phrases, even if they refer to different campaigns or ad groups. In order to place bets, you must do the following:

1. In the "Campaign" section, we choose the advertising campaign we need. Or select all ad campaigns if we want to make adjustments for all keywords.
2. In the "Ad groups" tab, you need to select the groups in the keywords that we want to make changes to.
3. Choosing the phrases you want.
4. Click on "Bidding".

Click on the "Betting Wizard" icon.

In the window that appears, we see:

• Entry rate. It should be used if you have a search advertising campaign. In turn, you can set the rate from the first to the fourth place, as in the special. permission and warranty.
• With a flat rate, you can set one price for all ads. You will also have the choice to set a single price for search, web or web and search.
• Set a price that will depend on the number of sites covered in the Yandex advertising network.
• Written off price (no more). This parameter is responsible for maximum amount, which can be charged for clicking on your ad.
• The final rate is no more than 15 rubles.
• Then we can choose: make changes for all phrases or only selected ones.

Query language

Composing a request

When entering values ​​it is worth paying attention:

It is not case sensitive.

If the value consists of several words, which are separated by spaces, for correct processing of the request, you need to add quotation marks to the expression

Title = "wholesale costumes"

Heading = "\" wholesale costumes \ ""

If you want to specify multiple values, use square assemblies:

Title = ["costumes"; "wholesale"]
or
= heading = [costumes wholesale]

If a field can contain a fixed set of values, such as moderation, [status, priority, etc., then use the ~ and! ~ Operators with square brackets.

Queries from multiple conditions

Example
= Words ~ suit | Words ~ jacket
This query selects phrases that contain the keywords "suit" or "jacket"
Example 2
= Words ~ suit | Words jacket & bet> 1
this request selects phrases that meet two parameters:
Contain the word "suit" or "jacket".
I have a search bid greater than 1.
Example 3
= Words ~ suit | (Words Jacket & Rate> 1)

1. Contain the word "suit".
2. Contain the word "jacket" and have a search rate greater than 1.

Query language operators

Conclusions:

Direct Commander is a program that will make it easier to work with advertising campaigns in Yandex.Direct. With its help, you can configure new and edit existing ACs in one window. An indispensable tool for software professionals contextual advertising.

Direct Commander will be useful for specialists who run dozens of large-scale campaigns in Yandex.Direct. The program will allow:

• quickly find specific key phrases from different advertising campaigns and ad groups;
• find ads with a given text in a matter of seconds;
• manage bids for an array of key phrases in a few clicks;
• make changes and add negative keywords for hundreds of ads at once;
• find overlapping phrases and remove duplicates, even if they belong to different ad groups or campaigns;
• change the text and links of landing pages in dozens of ads;
• create new campaigns in one click, loading information for ads from files of any format.

In this article, you will learn how to download, install and start working in Direct Commander. The article will be useful for contextual advertising specialists and marketers.

How does the new Direct Commander differ from the old one?

In October 2017 Yandex announced about open beta testing of the new version of Direct Commander. It lasted for about a year. In September last year, the company announced that a revised version of the program is available for download. Both versions of Direct Commander will exist until April of this year, after which the old one will be deleted forever.

Yandex specialists have added many useful functions to the new version of the program. Among them:

• work with clarifications - the ability to customize sets of clarifications for several ads from different groups and even campaigns;
• adjusting rates for socio-demographic characteristics and for mobile devices;
• work with video ads;
• optimization of a set of key phrases - cross-backing and gluing of duplicates;
• setting field values ​​of one object to many other objects on the tab.

In addition, file import and export is faster and more stable. The program stopped freezing while working with large data sets.

According to Yandex representatives, in the near future Direct Commander will have an English version, adjusting bids for the retargeting list, the ability to copy and paste columns, and change the case of phrases.

How to download and install Direct Commander

To use Direct Commander, download and install the program, and then log in using your Yandex.Direct username. This is not difficult.

Downloading

To download Direct Commander, go todownload page programs and click on the button with the name of your OS. You can download a version for Windows or macOS.

The download will start instantly. The file size is about 110 MB.

Install

When the file is downloaded, install the program on your computer. Find it in the list of downloaded files and double-click on it with the left mouse button.

If you are installing the Windows version, operating system will ask for permission to run the file. Give it and wait about a minute for Direct Commander to get up on your PC.

After 1–1.5 minutes, a welcome window will appear with the text of the license agreement.

Read it, click on the button "I accept the terms of the license agreement" and log in

We pass authorization through the required account

You can get to work.

Before starting work, familiarize yourself with the Direct Commander interface. On the top toolbar, you can set the settings for the program itself.

Here you can add a new login, switch between saved logins, exit the profile or the program, view the hotkeys for undo and redo operations, highlight and delete data. You can also change the interface settings right there - adjust the width of the working columns, hide or expand the main, additional panel and "Inspector", switch to full screen mode, etc. If you have any questions during your work, click on the "Help" section and read the help or submit an appeal to the support service.

Myself interface represents three columns. The first, left, column is the main panel. Information about advertising campaigns will be displayed here - their names, statuses, statistics.

Center column is an additional panel. Here you will see data about ad groups, ads, and keywords.

Right column - "Inspector"... It consists of three blocks - a navigation block, an editing block and an information block. In it, you will edit advertising campaigns, get detailed information on them, move from ads to groups or campaigns, etc.

Above the columns is a panel for exchanging data with the server. Through it, you can upload campaigns from your dashboard to Yandex.Direct and get statistics on them.

Now let's take a closer look at how to work with advertising campaigns in Direct Commander.

In a minute, the interface will display all the ACs that you created in the Yandex.Direct web interface.

For campaigns uploaded to Direct Commamnder, you can upload short or detailed statistics - information about clicks, CTR, expenses, etc. Click on the RC you are interested in in the list, click on the “Get” button again and select “Basic data” or “All data”.

After unloading the campaign and obtaining statistics, proceed to creating text or image ads. To do this, click on "Add" in the center column to create an ad group.

You will have a new ad group.

Name it something, set the display region, set negative keywords per group ads. To view all settings, use horizontal scrolling, and to change the data, double-click the left mouse button on the desired column of the ad group and edit the information in the pop-up window. The same can be done in the "Inspector" - the right column of the Direct Commander.

Be sure to save all changes in the "Inspector" by clicking on the "Save" button. After that, proceed to creating ads.

To add a new text ad, switch to the Ads tab in the secondary central panel and click Add. From the pop-up menu, select Image & Text Ad.

The new announcement will be displayed in the additional panel, and fields for editing will appear in the Inspector.

Edit the new ad. Write down Heading 1 and 2, add the ad text, provide a link to the landing page, add a business card if needed, upload an image (with a link to a picture or upload from a computer), etc. Save all changes by clicking the "Save" button in the Inspector.

After saving, the new announcement will appear in the list of the additional panel, and you can edit it if you forgot to write something, or add another announcement to the group.

To quickly replace an image, click on "Images" in the column of the additional panel. And if you want to remove an ad, click on the unnecessary ad and click on "Remove" in the same place.

Add a new ad or send the created one for moderation.

To add a new image ad, in the “Ads” tab of the additional panel, click on “Add” and select “Image ad” from the pop-up list.

Image ads have fewer fields to fill out. You can upload image and provide a landing page link.

An image will not load if its size or weight does not match the template. Check the service's recommendations by clicking on the question icon in the pop-up menu to upload images.

When your ad is ready, submit it for moderation - find the "Status" section in the "Inspector" and select "Submit for moderation" from the pop-up menu.

In order not to fill out an ad from scratch, right-click on the template and select "Copy" from the pop-up menu. Then right-click on the ad and click Paste.

In the copied ad, change the settings by going to the Inspectors tab. In multiple highlighted ads, you can change titles, description text, landing pages, and more. Don't forget to click on the Save button in the Inspector to save your changes.

Several announcements can be sent to one click moderation... To do this at the same time, select them in the list while holding down the Ctrl key, and if you need to select all ads at once, press Ctrl + A, and then change the settings in the "Status" section.

If the ads pass moderation, the "Run" item will be unlocked in the "Status" section. After clicking on it, your ads will start showing to your target audience.