Campaign
Retargeting with placeholders
Author
Tom Wendt
30 Apr 2026
Find out how to use placeholders in dynamic ads and retargeting campaigns, automatically integrate product information from your feed, and make optimal use of fallback texts.
What are placeholders?
Placeholders make it possible to automatically fill ad texts with information from your product feed.
Instead of creating a separate ad for each product, you define dynamic fields once, which are automatically replaced with each delivery.
This allows thousands of products or offers to be individually advertised with just a few ads.
Requirement: A correctly configured product feed.
Where can placeholders be used?
Placeholders can be used in the following fields:
Headline (max. 35 characters)
Description (max. 80 characters)
Display URL
Final click URL
How does replacement work?
Depending on the length of the finished ad text, the system behaves differently.
Scenario 1
The finished text does not exceed the maximum number of characters.
➡️ All placeholders are automatically replaced.
Scenario 2
The finished text is too long.
There are two options:
Default
All placeholders are replaced by their defined fallback texts.
Forced replacement
If you add
[...]
at the end of the text, the text is automatically shortened instead and ended with an ellipsis (…).
This preserves as much dynamic information as possible.
Fallback texts
Every placeholder requires a fallback value.
This is used if:
no feed value is available
the finished text becomes too long
no replacement is possible
Syntax
{placeholder:Fallback}
Example
{product_name:Holiday}
Fit placeholder
Fit placeholders are specifically intended for short areas such as headlines.
Unlike normal placeholders, the fit placeholder replaces the entire text.
If the value is too long, words at the end are automatically removed until the maximum character limit is reached.
Syntax
{product_namefit:Fallback}
Only one fit placeholder can be used per ad text.
Available placeholders
Which placeholders are available depends on the fields in your product feed.
Product information
Placeholder | Description |
|---|---|
| Product name |
| Category |
| Price |
| Price without decimal places |
| From price |
| Sale price |
| Shipping costs |
Travel
Placeholder | Description |
|---|---|
| Departure city |
| Destination |
| Check-in |
| Check-out |
| Adults |
| Children |
| Rooms |
Custom fields
Custom feed fields can also be used:
param1param2param3param4param5
Examples
Standard placeholder
Book {product_name:holiday} now
Feed:
Mallorca
Result:
Book Mallorca now
Fallback:
Book holiday now
Force placeholder replacement
Book {product_name:holiday} now [...]
If the product name is very long, it will be automatically shortened.
Example:
Luxury Hotel Mallorca Playa Deluxe ...
Fit placeholder
{product_namefit:Book holiday now}
For short product names:
Mallorca
For long product names:
Luxury Hotel Mallorca Playa ...
If even the first word is too long or there is no feed value, the fallback is used automatically.
Best Practices
Always use fallback texts in such a way that a complete sentence is created even without product data.
Preferably use fit placeholders in headlines.
Only use placeholders for information that is actually maintained in the product feed.
Keep product names as concise as possible so they can be used without abbreviation.
Test ads with different product lengths before campaigns go live.
Conclusion
With placeholders, dynamic ads and retargeting ads can be efficiently personalised. In combination with a product feed, individual ads are automatically created that adapt to product data and user interests – without having to create separate ads for each offer.