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Frequently asked questions about the Yandex Direct API

What is the Yandex Direct API and what does it do?

The Yandex Direct API gives you programmatic access to data and can be used to create applications for managing ad campaigns. External applications use the API to create and edit campaigns, ads, and keywords, as well as to set bids.

The Yandex Direct API is intended primarily for advertising agencies and direct advertisers — commercial firms, companies in the service industry, and others. By developing custom applications, companies can fully implement their own approach to campaign management.

The features and options of the programming interface are described in detail in the documentation.

Is there a difference in managing an advertising campaign using the API and using the web interface?

All changes made via the API are reflected in your advertising campaigns.

Are there any programs available that use the Yandex Direct API?

Since each company has its own approach to ad management, many different Yandex Direct API–based solutions have come onto the market.

A lot of advertising agencies offer their clients tools for automated management of ads in Yandex Direct, and also use these tools to optimize their own processes. All of these solutions are based on Yandex Direct API methods.

Yandex also has ready-made solutions based on the Yandex Direct API:

The Direct Commander program is intended for management of large-scale advertising campaigns in a convenient interface.
Mobile Direct for iPhone and Android gives advertisers the ability to manage their campaigns as efficiently as possible.

Which technologies are supported in the API?

Requests to the Yandex Direct API are made over the HTTPS protocol using the POST method. Input and output data structures are passed in the body of the request and response.

The Yandex Direct API supports two formats: JSON and SOAP.

Authentication uses the OAuth 2.0 protocol: requests must specify the access token.

How much does it cost to use the API?

You can connect to and use the Yandex Direct API for free.

Why did the token become invalid?

A token might become invalid if, for example, the user's password changed on Yandex. For the complete list of reasons, see Revoking tokens in the Yandex OAuth documentation. In this case, a new token must be obtained.

How can I increase the number of points available to me?

Your daily limit of points depends on the activity of advertising campaigns — the number of impressions and clicks, and resulting expenditures.

The daily limit is re-calculated once a day.

How can I view the XML code of the request and the server response?

For detecting errors and debugging, sometimes you need to output the client's SOAP request and the server's SOAP response.

For Perl:

my $client = SOAP::Lite->service($client->on_debug(sub {print @_}));

How can I tell if there are active displays for a keyword?

Check whether the following conditions are met:

Make sure the keyword is active (the State parameter is set to ON) by using the Keywords.get method.
Make sure the group has at least one active ad (the State parameter is set to ON) by using the Ads.get method. Ads can be selected simultaneously by the group ID (the AdGroupIds input parameter) and the state (the States input parameter).
Make sure the campaign is active (the State parameter is set to ON) by using the Campaigns.get method.

If all these conditions are met, ad impressions for the keyword are possible. However, this does not guarantee that impressions will start immediately. Common reasons for why impressions don't start:

The campaign is currently being activated.
Displays are automatically suspended according to the daily budget settings or an automatic strategy.
Displays are automatically suspended according to time targeting settings.

For more information, see Display problems in Yandex Direct Help.

How can I find out about changes in the Yandex Direct API?

A list of changes by API version is provided in the following sections:

For the API version 5, see Changelog.

Where is the documentation for version 4 and Live 4?

The documentation for version 4 and Live 4 is at https://tech.yandex.ru/direct/doc/dg-v4/.

How does version 5 differ from version 4 and Live 4?

For information about changes in version 5 compared to previous versions and a list of equivalents for methods and their parameters, see the Migration guide.

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