Create and apply custom dimensions

Custom dimensions add extra information to your campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords that you can use to create reports that are tailored to your business. This article explains how to:

• Create custom dimensions using the UI, apply them to entities like campaigns and ad groups in various ways, including through bulk upload, and use the UI to add new values
• Create secondary dimensions and add values to those dimensions
• Update multiple campaigns with new values for existing custom dimensions using bulk upload
• Update existing custom dimensions with new values using bulk upload

Before you begin

Learn more About custom dimensions.

Create a custom dimension

If you're creating a custom dimension that has only a few values, or if you're adding a value to an existing custom dimension, it's faster to work directly from the Search Ads 360 interface instead of using a spreadsheet to upload new values.

In the UI, you can add one value at a time to a custom dimension.

You have two options for creating a custom dimension in the UI:

• Select the entities (campaigns, ad groups, ads, or keywords) you want the custom dimension to apply to. When you create the custom dimension, it is automatically applied to those entities.
• Create the custom dimension without applying it to any entities and afterward use bulk upload to apply it to the relevant entities.

Create a custom dimension and automatically apply it to an existing entity

1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
2. From the page menu on the left, click Campaigns, Ad groups, Ads, or Keywords.
3. On the page you clicked, select the checkbox next to each campaign, ad group, ad, or keyword you want to add a custom dimension to.
4. Click Edit, point to Custom dimensions, and then click Create.
5. Add a name and description for your dimension.
6. If you are scoped to a sub-manager account, select an owner account.
7. Enter a value for the custom dimension.
8. Click Apply.

The custom dimension and value are applied to each campaign, ad group, ad, or keyword you selected.

The custom dimension you just created is now visible in the custom-dimension table.

Create a custom dimension and apply later

1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
2. On the toolbar, click Tools and settings.
3. Click Custom dimensions.
4. Click .
5. Add a name and description for your dimension.
6. Click Save and continue.
7. Click Skip downloading, then click Leave.

Your new custom dimension appears in the custom-dimensions table. At this point, it doesn't have any values. For more information see Add a value to an existing custom dimension below.

When you're ready to apply your new custom dimension, follow the steps in Update campaigns with values for existing custom dimensions.

Create a secondary dimension

You can create one secondary-dimension value for each custom-dimension (primary) value. For example, one Airport value for each City value:

Custom dimension (primary)	Custom-dimension (primary) values	Secondary dimension	Secondary-dimension values
City		Airport
	Los Angeles		LAX
	San Francisco		SFO
	London		LHR
	Paris		CDG

To add secondary dimensions to a custom dimension (for example, add the secondary dimension "Airport" to the custom dimension "City", do the following):

1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
2. On the toolbar, click Tools and settings.
3. Under "Setup," click Custom dimensions.
4. In the table, click the name of the custom dimension.
5. On the "Settings" tab, click the Secondary dimensions row.
6. Enter a name for the secondary dimension.
7. Choose the data type (text, integer, decimal).
8. Click Add.
9. Click Save.

To define values for secondary dimensions:

1. After you create the secondary dimension, open the "Data" tab (above the "Settings" tab).
2. To add a secondary-dimension value for an existing custom-dimension value (e.g., add "LAX" to "Los Angeles"), hover over the custom-dimension value and click the edit icon. Enter the secondary-dimension value, then click Save.
3. To add both a new custom-dimension value and an associated secondary-dimension value, click . Under "New dimension value", enter the new value for the custom dimension (for example, "Los Angeles"). Under "New secondary dimension value", enter the new value for the secondary dimension (for example, "LAX"). Click Create.

Add a value to an existing custom dimension

1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
2. On the toolbar, click Tools and settings.
3. Under "Setup," click Custom dimensions.
4. In the table, click the name of the custom dimension.
5. Click .
6. Under "New dimension value", enter the additional dimension value.
7. Click Create.

Learn how to Upload custom dimensions using bulksheets.

Update campaigns with values for existing custom dimensions

If you created custom dimensions without applying them to campaigns (for example, if you had not yet created any campaigns), you can use bulk upload to apply them to campaigns after the fact.

1. Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
2. On the toolbar, click Tools and settings.
3. Under "Setup," click Custom dimensions to open the custom-dimensions table.
4. In the row for the custom dimension you want to apply to your campaigns, click Apply to campaigns.
5. Click campaigns.csv to download your campaigns. Leave the Search Ads UI open to this page.
6. Use a text editor or spreadsheet application to edit the CSV file you downloaded. Enter a dimension value for each campaign that you want to update in your account.
7. To upload the edited file, click Choose file.
8. Click Upload.

The campaigns.csv file you download will look something like the following example:

Custom dimension campaign template

All time

Row Type,Action,Campaign,Campaign status,Campaign ID,Campaign type,Customer ID,cd:City:City [2041583562]

Campaign,Edit,SummerDestinations,Enabled,12345678,Search,5051525354, --

 

Replace the "--" value with the custom-dimension value you want for each row:

Custom dimension campaign template

All time

Row Type,Action,Campaign,Campaign status,Campaign ID,Campaign type,Customer ID,cd:City:City [2041583562]

Campaign,Edit,SummerDestinations,Enabled,12345678,Search,5051525354, Los Angeles

Associate custom dimensions with entities using templates

You can associate your custom dimensions with campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords using templates when you configure template settings.

Learn more about configuring:

• Campaign templates
• Ad-group templates
• Responsive-search-ad templates
• Keyword templates