Introduction
The Unique ID column is found in both the Keywords and Creatives tabs. To bring it into your view:
- Click on the View Builder.
- Select Advanced under Columns in the left-hand menu.
- Select the checkbox next to Unique ID.
How Is The Unique ID Column Populated?
The column is populated only for keywords and creatives generated in the platform for which the URL Builder and Tracking ID parser settings are set up correctly.
- For more information about the URL Builder, please read our article here.
- For more information on setting up parsing in the Tracking IDs section, please read our article: URL Tracking with Multiple Parameters.
Once keywords and creatives are created in the platform, the system will look for the Tracking ID designated in the parser settings and populate this value in the Unique ID column for that object.
When Are Unique IDs Are Created/Updated?
- When a keyword URL is first created (either on bulk upload or sync).
- If there is a duplicate found and Auto-Correct is kicked off.
- If the "Keyword ID" section of the Tracking IDs page is updated.
Reasons Why The Unique ID Column Might Be Blank
The Unique ID column will be blank if:
- Keywords or creatives were first generated on the publisher side and then synced to the platform.
- URL Builder or Tracking ID parser settings are not configured correctly.
- Microsoft creative URLs use {param1}
How To Fix The Issue
If the Unique ID column is missing its value but the Unique ID can be seen in the URL, no fix is required, however, if you need the column to be populated for reporting purposes, you can edit the Unique ID column manually using a bulk upload. Additionally, you may find that you need to rebuild your URLs if you're trying to assign a different Unique ID or if the Unique ID is not populating in your URL.
In order for the platform to apply a unique ID in both the Unique ID column, and in the URL, you will need to upload a bulksheet with the following headers:
- For keywords: Account, Campaign, Group, Keyword, Match Type, Landing Page, and Custom Parameters
- For creatives: Creative ID, Account, Campaign, Group, Landing Page, and Custom Parameters
Note that in order for the platform to detect that changes are being made to the objects that require a unique ID, you will need to change something small. For example, you can add / at the end of the Landing Page URL before the ? .
Once uploaded, objects should now have a Unique ID and a Tracking ID in the URL as expected.
How To Manually Insert A Unique ID Value For A Keyword Or Creative
If the Unique ID column is missing its value but the Unique ID can be seen in the URL, no fix is required, however, if you need the column to be populated for reporting purposes, you can edit the Unique ID column manually using a bulk upload. Additionally, you may find that you need to rebuild your URLs if you're trying to assign a different Unique ID or if the Unique ID is not populating in your URL.
Note: This process now only applies to non-Google publishers, following Upgraded URLs. For Google-specific instructions, please read our help center article.
- Generate a report of objects that are missing the Unique ID value (including columns: Destination URL, Unique ID).
- Open the report and remove all the report detail rows (detail rows should be Rows 1-9) so that only the column headers and values are included.
- Copy the Tracking ID within the Destination URL into the Unique ID column.
Example: http://www.example.com?mwkid=abc123de&pcrid={creative}
In this example, the Tracking ID parser settings indicate that the Tracking ID is the mkwid value (abc123de).
- Insert abc123de as the value under the Unique ID column for that object.
- To do this easily for many items, you can use a formula in the Unique ID column to populate it with the mkwid value in Excel.
For example: To extract the mkwid value from the URL mentioned above, you can use the following formula:
If the destination URL is in cell A1: =MID(A1,FIND("&pcrid",A1)-8,8)
If all URLs have the same format, you can simply drag this formula down for all other items, e.g. row two formula would be like this: =MID(A2,FIND("&pcrid",A2)-8,8) etc.
- Re-upload this report back into the platform.
