Pretty much any traffic source offers the option to pause/block specific placements that are not performing for us and/or use Black lists or White lists. A placement can be a site, app or a specific ad spot, depending on the network and traffic type.
In this article, we would like to explain what White and Black lists are, why and how to use them, whether one is better than the other and why that is the case.
You have basically two options when targeting and optimizing placements:
1. Target all the placements that are available and block the ones that are not performing for you from one reason or another. Blocking the placements is actually the process of creating a Black List. Usually, you start with this option, when testing a new source or campaign/offer.
2. Target only a specific set of placements, or even a single placement. The chosen placements are actually representing the White List. You can only build a whitelist when you know something about the traffic source you are working with. You can use your past data and pick the best performing placements, or you can acquire this whitelist from someone else. One way or another, you cannot just “blindly” create it, it has to be based on some data.
Let’s take a closer look at the Black List option.
You will see two ways of handling the blocking of placements – there will either be a list of placements with some “checkbox” next to their name that you can tick, in order to block that placement. Or you will have to enter the ID’s of placements into some box one by one and then submit that form.
You need to set some rules for what placement should be blacklisted. Here are a few ideas:
– Any placement with a very high % of bots should be blacklisted. It’s true that even placements with a lot of bots can still be profitable, but once the % reaches 70% or 80%, the chances are really tiny.
– Very low or very high CTR on Landing Pages. Both cases signal some problem with the traffic, very low CTR means too expensive LP clicks, very high CTR signals possible bot placement.
– Poor Performance. Not every placement can work with every offer. In case you don’t see a conversion from a placement after a certain amount has been spent on it, block that placement.
White List, how to build and handle them?
White list is basically the opposite of a Black list, so instead of blocking placements, you are now telling the source what particular placements you want to buy traffic from. In this case, you can either browse the available placements and choose the ones to target, or you can submit the IDs again, it all works in a similar way as with the black list.
There are many reasons for building whitelist campaigns, some examples:
– Limited Blacklist Size. In some sources, you can’t just black list as many placements as you want to. The only way around is to select only sites that you have had good results with – in other words, creating a white list.
– With some sources, the bids are very different on various placements. In case they offer smart CPM bidding, you can partially handle it within one campaign, but it’s often better to take out the more expensive placements and target them in separate campaigns. This way, you can bid more on them, without overpaying on the less expensive placements. You will also be able to better optimize the particular campaigns, reach the desired winrate % and get more quality traffic for a reasonable bid.
– Categorized Placements. When promoting niche offers that appeal to a specific audience, you also need specific placements that are on sites/apps related to your niche. This is a common tactic with native traffic sources, many of them will even provide you with a whitelist that caters to certain interests.
What should be using, Black or White Lists?
As always, there are both pros and cons to either approach. Let’s take a look at some of them.
– Traffic sources prefer Black lists but not too big ones. The reason is simple, when you block too many placements, they can’t sell you traffic from the other ones. Same situation happens when you do white list campaigns only, you are basically cherry picking the best traffic, leaving the crap to them.
– Both a White list and Black list are transferable from one campaign to the next to some extent. In other words, if you compiled a whitelist by running some offer, chances are that the same placements will work well with another similar offer. Same goes for the black list, if the placements really sucked before, they won’t improve overnight. However, I personally find white lists to be more universal than black lists. A better offer can turn a loosing placement into a profitable one, so it’s not a good idea to black list every single placement that didn’t work well with your past campaigns.
Starting with a proven white list on the other hand, is a very good starting point for any new campaign, at least you know that you are buying real traffic that was already proven to convert.
Summary
Both white lists and black lists are an important tool for anyone working with paid traffic. Each of them can really help you when utilized properly. As always, it’s not wise to over-do things, so don’t blacklist everything just like that, set your own rules for what defines a placement to put on a blacklist.
Keep in mind that traffic sources prefer less optimized campaigns and will reward them with more volume again. Stick to reasonable blacklisting for maximum volume and utilize whitelists to “exploit and dominate” the best placements or to achieve most effective bidding.
Consider using past black/white lists for future campaigns, crappy placements won’t improve magically, so you might as well block them in your future campaigns. And obviously, already proven placements should also perform decently in the future so stat by targeting them!