AvantLink API - Main

Affiliate Modules:

Data Retrieval Subscription Configuration Used By AvantLink Tools

Merchant Modules:

Data Input Data Retrieval Used By AvantLink Tools

Merchant Parent Modules:

Data Retrieval Used By AvantLink Tools

Avantlink API Module: AdSearch

Access:

Affiliate access, no authentication required.
Frequency limitation(s): 7200 request(s) per hour. 150000 request(s) per day.

Description:

This module provides access to merchant banner and text link campaigns configured in the AvantLink Affiliate Network. Several filter options plus a keyword search option will allow you to retrieve the campaigns you want directly without needing to log into the AvantLink web interface.
 
The AdSearch module can be used to select context-sensitive ads for pages, when configured for the JavaScript output mode. This works by passing a URL along with your API request (as the "context_url" parameter). The API module then performs a key-phrase analysis of the HTML returned by that URL, and uses the results to target the selection of appropriate ads. In such cases the usage of the following parameters are slightly different than normal:

  • context_url - Specifying a value in this parameter toggles the API module over to contextual search mode, forcing it to perform a key-phrase analysis on the specified URL before searching for ads.
  • search_term - When utilizing the contextual search feature of this module, the "search_term" parameter is used only as a "default" search term, if no results can be found that match the key-phrase analysis of the requested page.
  • search_results_layout - This parameter is only applicable in HTML or JavaScript output mode, and controls how to arrange the ads in the HTML that is returned from the API request.
  • show_contextual_analysis - This parameter is only applicable in HTML or JavaScript output mode, and it should only be specified for testing/debugging purposes.

Supported Output Formats:

  • csv
  • html
  • js
  • tab
  • xml
  • json

Parameters:

  • affiliate_id
    • Type: integer
    • Required: true
    • Description: An AvantLink assigned affiliate identifier.
  • module
    • Type: string
    • Required: true
    • Description: For this module, specify "AdSearch".
  • website_id
    • Type: integer
    • Required: true
    • Description: An AvantLink assigned affiliate website identifier.
  • ad_type
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: The type of ads you would like returned in your result set. Current options are: "dotd-html" (Deal of the Day - Dynamic HTML), "dotd-text" (Deal of the Day - Dynamic Text), flash, html, image, text, and video. The default is to return all ad campaigns.
  • app_id
    • Type: integer
    • Required: false
    • Description: The AvantLink assigned identifier for an App Market application. When specified, this will trigger the construction of customized click-through URLs that track back to the particular app for any resulting sales.
  • context_url
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: Specify a URL in this parameter to force the API module to perform a keyphrase analysis on the content returned by this URL. The results of the analysis will be used as search terms for retrieving ads.
  • coupon_codes_only
    • Type: boolean
    • Required: false
    • Description: When using the "Coupons Only" option, specify whether or not to only return coupons that have a coupon code.
  • coupons_only
    • Type: boolean
    • Required: false
    • Description: A boolean value to indicate whether you would like the results to contain only ad campaigns flagged as coupons (1 = yes, 0 = no).
  • custom_tracking_code
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: A custom string to be appended to AvantLink click-through URLs, for use with your own personal tracking mechanisms.
  • exclude_ad_group_ids
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: A pipe-delimited list of affiliate ad group identifiers to exclude from the search, e.g. "2|11". No ads within the specified group will be returned as results.
  • exclude_term
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: One or more words or phrases to use as a stop-list; ads that match this list of keywords will NOT be included in the results. You can specify multiple terms by separating each with a pipe delimiter, e.g. "mopeds|vespas" would skip over any ads with keywords matching either "mopeds" or "vespas".
  • image_height
    • Type: integer
    • Required: false
    • Description: When searching for image ads, you can restrict the results to images of just one particular height (in pixels).
  • image_max_height
    • Type: integer
    • Required: false
    • Description: When searching for image ads, you can restrict the results to images less than the provided height (in pixels).
  • image_max_width
    • Type: integer
    • Required: false
    • Description: When searching for image ads, you can restrict the results to images less than the provided width (in pixels).
  • image_orientation
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: An optional argument to specify the orientation of image ads, e.g. "portrait | landscape"
  • image_width
    • Type: integer
    • Required: false
    • Description: When searching for image ads, you can restrict the results to images of just one particular width (in pixels).
  • include_ad_group_ids
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: A pipe-delimited list of affiliate ad group identifiers to restrict the search to, e.g. "74|101". Only ads within the specified groups will be returned as results.
  • integration_type
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: One of: standard or dynamic. Can be used to control whether to retrieve static HTML source information (e.g. text, URLs) when possible, or only dynamic JavaScript source information (e.g. script includes) for ads. The default is "standard".
  • merchant_category_ids
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: A pipe-delimited list of AvantLink assigned merchant category identifiers, e.g. "2|11"
  • merchant_id
    • Type: integer
    • Required: false
    • Description: An AvantLink assigned merchant identifier.
  • merchant_ids
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: A pipe-delimited list of AvantLink assigned merchant identifiers, e.g. "123|456".
  • output
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: The specific output format you wish to receive results in. Possible values include: csv (comma-separated text), html, js (javascript document.write statements), rss, tab (tab-delimited text), and xml (the default). Individual modules may not support all output methods.
  • search_results_count
    • Type: integer
    • Required: false
    • Description: How many records to show in the results; the default is 10.
  • search_results_layout
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: How to format search results: "list", "grid", or "minimal". For "list" output the results are arranged in a single vertical column. For "grid" output an additional numeric value can be appended to indicate how many columns should be used in the layout, e.g. "grid2", "grid3", etc. The "minimal" option removes all formatting/arrangement HTML from the output.
  • search_results_merchant_limit
    • Type: integer
    • Required: false
    • Description: The maximum number of results to return for each merchant.
  • search_results_options
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: Miscellaneous search result display options. For HTML or JavaScript output (and image or text ads only), specifying "_blank" will add a target="_blank" attribute to all ad links, while specifying "window.open" will add an onclick="window.open(this.href); return(false);" attribute to all links.
  • search_results_quotes
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: One of: escape or encode. Allows you to escape with double quotes (e.g. This is a "great" deal becomes "This is a ""great"" deal") or encode (") double quotes in text ads when returning results in csv format.
  • search_results_sort_order
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: A pipe-delimited list of information about how to sort the results, e.g. "Merchant Name|desc". The first part of the string should be the field to sort by, and the second should be the order (asc = ascending, desc = descending).
  • search_term
    • Type: string
    • Required: false
    • Description: One or more words or phrases to search for.
  • show_ad_relevance
    • Type: boolean
    • Required: false
    • Description: Whether or not to query for ad association/relevance information, i.e. what brand names, categories, or specific products the merchant has designated each ad to be relevant for. Only usable for CSV, tab-delimited, or XML output.
  • show_contextual_analysis
    • Type: boolean
    • Required: false
    • Description: When performing a contextual search of a page, you can request the keyphrase analysis of the targeted HTML to see review what phrases are being targeted.