Ad placements, frequency, hours and attribution
Where Sikhami can show your ads and in which picture shape, how search keywords and match types work, and the delivery settings of an ad set: the frequency cap, days and hours, and the attribution window that decides which purchases, enrolments and follows your ad gets credit for.
Updated 28 October 2026
These settings are part of the Ad set step when you create an ad campaign: Placements decides where the ads may appear, and Frequency, attribution and hours decides how often one person sees them, at what times they run, and how results are credited. The shapes of your pictures and videos are set in the Ad step.
All of these can be changed while an ad set is running, and changing them does not send its ads back to review.
The five placements
A placement is a place on Sikhami where an ad can be shown. Every ad is marked Sponsored with your advertiser name.
| Placement | Where people see it | Best shape | Reserve price per 1,000 impressions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home feed | Between posts in the home feed, one ad after every six posts. | Portrait (4:5) | ₹50 |
| Clips | Full screen on the Clips page, one ad after every five clips. | Full screen (9:16) | ₹60 |
| Stories | Full screen between people's stories, one ad after every three people. A picture stays 5 seconds; a video plays for up to 15 seconds. | Full screen (9:16) | ₹40 |
| Search results | One result above the search results, only when the search matches one of your keywords. | Square (1:1) | ₹80 |
| Explore | A sponsored tile between groups of 12 tiles in the Explore grid. | Square (1:1) | ₹40 |
The reserve price is the lowest price at which an ad can be shown in that place. How prices are set is explained in The ad auction, performance goals and bidding.
Automatic or chosen placements
- Automatic placements (recommended): the ad set can take part in auctions in all five places, so it wins where results are cheapest. New ad sets start with this.
- Choose placements: tick only the places you want: Home feed, Clips, Stories, Search results and Explore. You must tick at least one.
Fewer placements mean fewer auctions, which can raise your costs or leave budget unspent. Choose placements yourself only when you have a reason, for example a video made only for full screen.
In the Ad step, the Preview has a tab for each placement. A placement your ad set does not use is crossed out.
In the Android app
Under Placements, choose the Automatic or Manual chip. With Manual, tap the placement chips you want.
Search keywords and match types
When search results are among your placements, a Search keywords box appears. Your ad is shown above search results only when someone's search matches one of your keywords.
- Add up to 50 keywords, one per line. Each can be up to 80 characters. Capital letters and punctuation are ignored, and the same keyword twice is kept once.
- With Choose placements and Search results ticked, at least one keyword is required.
- With Automatic placements, keywords are optional. Without them the ad set never appears in search results, but still runs in the other four places.
| Match type | Rule | Matches | Does not match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broad match | Any word of the keyword is in the search. | biology notes; neet 2027 | chemistry notes |
| Phrase match | The keyword appears as a phrase inside the search. | neet biology notes | biology for neet |
| Exact match | The search is exactly the keyword. | neet biology | neet biology notes |
Broad match reaches the most searches; Exact match the fewest. Start broad and narrow it if your ad shows for searches that do not fit.
In the Android app
Type the keywords separated by commas, then pick the match type chip under the box.
Picture and video shapes
Each placement crops the ad to its own shape. In the Ad step, under Media, a single image or video ad has a box for each shape:
- Home feed: Portrait (4:5).
- Clips and stories: Full screen (9:16).
- Search and Explore: Square (1:1).
Upload a version for each shape, or upload one and choose Use in every shape. Each box shows exactly how that placement crops your file, and says when your file's own shape is different, so keep text and faces away from the edges. A purpose-made full-screen version looks better in clips and stories.
- Images can be up to 10 MB. Videos can be up to 200 MB and 60 seconds long.
- Stories play only the first 15 seconds of a video.
- Video ads play without sound, so make sure yours works on mute.
- A Carousel uses square cards (2 to 10), one picture or video each.
In the Android app
Under Media you can add up to three versions, one per shape, from Home feed, Clips and stories, Search, explore, carousel and Wide (16:9). Each placement uses the shape that fits it best.
Frequency cap
The frequency cap is the most times one person can be shown the ads of this ad set. It counts all the ads in the ad set together.
- Under Frequency cap, fill in the two boxes in the line At most … times per person every … days: from 1 to 20 times, every 1 to 30 days.
- A new ad set starts at 3 times every 1 day.
- Apart from the cap, one ad is never shown to the same person more than 3 times in a day.
A low cap spreads your ads over more people and avoids tiring them. With a small audience, a low cap can stop the ad set from spending, because everyone has already seen the ads enough times.
In the Android app
The cap is under Delivery, as two boxes: times, and days.
Days and hours
Under Days and hours you can limit when the ad set runs. All times are Indian Standard Time. If you leave everything empty, it runs every day, around the clock.
- Time of day: a quick choice: Mornings (06:00 to 12:00), Afternoons (12:00 to 18:00), Evenings (18:00 to midnight), Late nights (midnight to 06:00) or Daytime (09:00 to 18:00).
- Days: pick the days of the week. Empty means every day.
- Hours: pick exact hours. Each hour is the hour it starts, so 18:00 means 6 pm to 7 pm. Empty means every hour.
A daily budget is paced over the whole day. If the ad set runs only a few hours a day, it may not spend all of its daily budget. See Budgets and pacing.
In the Android app
Under Ad schedule (dayparting), tap the day chips and choose Hours (IST). Nothing chosen means all the time.
Attribution window
A conversion is something a person does after your ad: buys from the advertiser, enrols free in their course, or follows them. The advertiser is the owner of the course, notes, club or meetup that the ad opens, or otherwise the ad account's owner. Payments for ads and for ad balance are never conversions.
The Attribution window decides how long after seeing or tapping your ad a conversion still counts for it:
| Attribution window | Credits a conversion within |
|---|---|
| 7-day click or 1-day view | 7 days of a tap on the ad, or 1 day of seeing it. New ad sets start with this. |
| 7-day click | 7 days of a tap on the ad. |
| 1-day click | 1 day of a tap on the ad. |
- If the person tapped several of your ads, the most recent tap inside its window gets the credit. A view gets the credit only when there was no tap.
- Each purchase, enrolment or follow is credited once, to one ad.
- A conversion is counted as a result only when it matches the ad set's goal: purchases and free enrolments for Purchases and enrolments, follows for Follows. Other conversions still appear in the Conversions column.
- A lead needs no window: it is always credited to the ad whose form the person sent.
- Conversion value adds up what the credited purchases were worth, and ROAS divides it by the amount spent.
How to read these numbers is explained in Ad results, reports, A/B tests and rules.
In the Android app
Choose the window under Delivery, Attribution window.
Questions
Should I choose placements myself?
Usually not. Automatic placements gives the auction the most places to find results at a low price. Choose them yourself only when your ad suits just some places.
Why does my ad never appear in search results?
Search ads need keywords. Add keywords that people really type, and try Broad match. With Exact match, the whole search must be exactly your keyword.
What happens if I upload only one picture?
Every placement crops that one file to its own shape. Check each box in Media: if the crop cuts off something important, upload a version made for that shape.
Can I run ads only in the evening?
Yes. Under Days and hours, choose Evenings (18:00 to midnight) in Time of day. Remember that a daily budget may not be fully spent in a few hours.
Which attribution window should I use?
Keep 7-day click or 1-day view unless you only want to count people who tapped. A shorter window credits fewer conversions; it does not change who sees the ads or what you pay.
Related articles
- Create an ad campaignStep by step: choose an objective, set up the campaign, the ad set (budget, schedule, bid, audience and placements) and the ad, then review and publish. Also how to edit, add to and pause a campaign.
- The ad auction, performance goals and biddingHow Sikhami decides which ad is shown and what it costs: who takes part in the auction, how the winner is chosen, what a result is for each performance goal, paying for impressions or clicks, the three bid strategies, quality ranking, the learning phase, and why an ad set may not spend.
- Ad budget, balance and billingHow ads are paid for: the prepaid ad balance, adding funds, how the auction prices impressions and clicks, budgets and pacing, the account spending limit, low balance alerts, transactions and invoices.
- Ad results, reports, A/B tests and rulesRead your ad results, export them, get them by email, test ad sets against each other, let automated rules pause or change things for you, and manage the ad account's settings and team.
- The Ads ManagerWhat the Ads Manager is, how it is organised into campaigns, ad sets and ads, who can advertise, what you can promote, where ads appear, and how every ad is reviewed before it runs.
- Sponsored posts, clips and storiesHow ads look in your home feed, clips, stories, search and Explore, why you see a particular ad, and how to hide an ad, hide an advertiser or report an ad.
Still need help?
Write to us at help@sikhami.com. Tell us what you were trying to do, what happened, and add a screenshot if you can.