Search Monitoring Violations for Partners

Search Monitoring violations are notifications from brands alerting you for violating their paid search policy in a specific country and language across search engines. If impact.com discovers any partners bidding on a brand’s keywords, impact.com automatically creates a violation and can have a violation email sent to you, the partner. These violation notices are found in the Tasks section on your dashboard.

Note: impact.com sends two email reminders for violations 24 hours and 8 hours before the due date. Refer to the emails you receive to understand the specific violation and the action you'll need to take.

Understand the violation fields

When you open a search monitoring task, the violation details tell you what was flagged and where. Refer to the table below to understand each field.

Field	What it refers to
Violation ID	The unique identifier impact.com assigns to this violation. Quote it when you add comments or contact support.
Status	The state of the violation: New, In Progress, Blocked, or Completed. (The expanded view labels this field Violation.)
Severity	How serious the violation is, as set by the brand when it logs the violation (for example, Medium).
Due Date	The deadline to action the violation. impact.com sends reminders 24 hours and 8 hours before this time.
Ad Display URL	The URL shown in the text of the flagged paid search ad.
Ad Destination URL	The full URL a user lands on after selecting the ad, including tracking parameters. It contains the irclickid (or im_ref) value used to identify a sub-affiliate (see Identify the sub-affiliate behind a violation below).
Keywords	The monitored keyword or phrase the flagged ad appeared for.
Search Engine	The search engine where the ad was detected (for example, Google).
Location	The country or region where the ad was served, shown as an ISO country code (for example, SG for Singapore).
Screenshot	A link to an image capture of the flagged ad as it appeared in the search results.
Reporter	The source that reported the violation, with its account ID in parentheses.
Attachments	Any files attached to the violation by the brand or by you.
Created / Updated	When the violation was created and when it was last updated.
Description	A summary of the violation that combines the details above.

Action your search monitoring tasks

There are several actions you can take as a partner when dealing with search monitoring violation tasks.

1. On your dashboard, locate the Tasks widget and select View All.
2. On the Tasks screen, set the SubType filter to Search [Checkbox].
3. Hover over a task with the New status.
4. Select [More] to see the following options:

   • Select Start to let the brand know you’ve begun the task.

     • This option lets the brand know you started working on a violation task. If the task was assigned to “Anyone,” it will now be assigned to you.
   • Select Blocked to let the brand know you've experienced a blocker on the task.

     • This option can be selected if there are other factors preventing you from completing this task. Add an attachment and leave a comment to help the brand identify the blocker.
5. Optionally, select a task and add a comment and attachment to communicate directly with the brand about the task.
6. Once you've completed a task marked In Progress, select [More] → Complete.

Identify the sub-affiliate behind a violation

If you're on a sub-affiliate network, you can trace a violation back to the sub-affiliate whose traffic generated it.

1. In the violation, copy the Ad Destination URL.
2. In the URL, find the irclickid (or im_ref) parameter and copy its value. For example, in https://www.pelago.com/?afsrc=1&irgwc=1&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=419134_VibrantAds%20LLC&utm_source=impact&irclickid=UsuUuCw1vxyZWk9XPzyuaRziUkuykRTlqSbUwI0&gad_source=1, the value is UsuUuCw1vxyZWk9XPzyuaRziUkuykRTlqSbUwI0.
3. Pass that value as the {Id} path parameter in the Retrieve a Click API call: GET /Mediapartners/{AccountSID}/Clicks/{Id}.
4. In the response, check the SharedId field and the SubId1, SubId2, and SubId3 values (under PartnerRelated) to identify which sub-affiliate drove the click.

Note: For request and response details, see the Retrieve a Click reference. To learn what these values represent, see Sub ID & Shared ID Parameters Explained for Partners.