Guide to dynamic keyword insertion with Adwords

March 12th, 2007

There isn’t much information about on this in forums or in fact on the AdWords site (In fact i’ve heard it isn’t an officially supported feature!) so I’ve put together this quick guide to DKI and how to use it effectively. Please add your own tips or comments!

What is Dynamic Keyword Insertion? (DKI)

DKI is a feature of AdWords which allows you to dynamically use the keywords that users search for to be displayed as part of your advert. This can be useful for the following reasons:

• Words in your ad copy that match keywords users type in are highlighted in bold, helping your ad stand out from the competition
• Your adverts will appear more relevant to the user as they use the keyterms that triggered the advert, which will usually increase CTR.
• You can use one adgroup to cover a range of slightly different but related keyterms, therefore maximising your ad relevance without having to type an advert for each keyword variation

Where can I use Dynamic Keyword Insertion?

You can use DKI anywhere in your adverts.. in the title, description line 1 or 2, display url and in your destination url (Usually for tracking purposes, be careful not to break your links with this method!)

Ok, how do I use Dynamic Keyword Insertion then?

You specify how you’d like the dynamic keywords displayed, and give a default phrase which will be displayed if your dynamic keywords cannot for whatever reason. The format is below:

{keyword:defaulttext}

You can also use the following capitalization on the work ‘keyword’ to get different effects:

• keyword - no capitalization
• Keyword - First word is capitalized
• KeyWord - Every Word Is Capitalized
• KEYword - EVERY letter in first word is capitalized
• KEYWord - LIKE Above But With Each Word Capitalized
• KEYWORD - EVERY LETTER IS CAPITALIZED

Code:

Example

{KeyWord:Widgets}
Buy your {Keyword:Widgets} here
{KEYword:Widgets} with free delivery!

Keyterm in your adgroup: ‘blue widgets’

Blue Widgets
Buy your Blue widgets here
BLUE widgets with free delivery!

FAQ’s

What if my dynamic keywords are too long?
Maximum character limits still apply, so if the dynamic keywords push your ad text over the line limit, the default text will be used instead. Make your default text short enough to comply with maximum character limit.

Will using dynamic keywords effect my quality score?
I’ve not seen any adverse effects to quality score by using DKI, and neither have other people I’ve spoken to.

Is using dynamic keyword insertion the best solution?
Ideally, no. If you have the time, it’s best to write an individual advert for every keyword/term in your campaign. In practicality though, with a huge range of keywords and/or lack of management time (or budget), dynamic keyword insertion can be a quick way to make your adverts appear more relevant and achieve a higher CTR.

My dynamic keywords aren’t showing up! What’s wrong?
Check that your keywords are short enough to comply with the maximum character limit on the line you’re using them on.
Also remember that dynamic keywords must comply with the same guidelines that normal text must - For example whilst you can bid on copyright words, they cannot appear in your ad text so will not appear as dynamic keywords.

What about dynamic keyword insertion on the content network?
From AdWords Advisor 2 (WMW):

We will insert the most relevant keyword from your Ad Group into the creative, space permitting. The deliver of your ad on the content network is determined by the overall theme of your Ad Group, but the system will select the most relevant term within the Ad Group for insertion. It will also use that keywords maximum CPC and destination URL settings as well.

Can I use dynamic keyword insertion on my display url to increase CTR? (E.g. www.example.com/dynamic-keyword)
Yes, but be aware that if your display url does not actually work as a real url, then your adverts may be disabled after a manual review. Use .htaccess or similar methods to rewrite the display url to your real landing page if you want to try this tactic.

More tips:

Shoemoney claims to be able to increase CTR by making an ‘arrow’ with bolded dynamic keywords. Whilst the experiment is flawed in several key ways, it’s worth a read.

If the quality score of your keyword is low, it will not be used as a dynamic keyword, even when that keyword triggers display of your advert. Make sure your default text is effective, and ideally don’t run low quality keywords/work on improving them.

IMPORTANT:
The dynamic keyword used is what you have bid on, not what the user types into the search box. For example:

Ad Title: {KeyWord:Buy widgets}
In your keywords (broad match): Buy red widgets
User search query: “I want to buy red widgets from an online shop”
Your displayed ad title: Buy Red Widgets

Shoemoney interviews Adsense project manager

February 1st, 2007

Mr. Shoemaker was lucky enough to get Brian Axe, a Google Adsense product manager to take part in an interview on his radio show, Net Income. Google normally keeps itself to itself, especially when it comes to Adsense, so this podcast is well worth listening to. They go over some interesting stuff, such as the reasons behind the recent Adsense TOS change and YouTube revenue sharing.

Google Adwords Delivery

January 16th, 2007

As (hopefully) most paid search managers will know, the position of your Google Adwords advert is determined by factors from your quality score and your maximum bid. However, something not often discussed is the issue of the Google Ad rotation system. When the question was put to Google regarding their ad rotation, they responded:

Regarding the serving, this actually is a common question that we receive. The system tries to equally rotate ads but there are other factors that weigh into this rotation. In your case it does look fairly even for the most part, however the system may be looking at the one ad as one with a less quality score than the other, thus not serving it as often. Although you have it opted into rotate more evenly it isn’t guaranteed that the system will functionally work to an exact science. I know this isn’t the answer you were hoping for, but this is what we have been told by engineering!

Another reason to make sure your ads are great.

Quick Lesson on AdWords Copy

January 8th, 2007

I want to buy a car polisher. Well, I don’t but I did a search today which I’m going to use as an example. The search term “car polisher” triggers a whole bunch of Google Adwords to life.

Here’s the first two Adwords at I was shown

One of these adverts is written very well, the other is terrible. Can you guess which is which? The Godfreys advert provides me with 4 pieces of information in 8 words. From this advert I can see the price, I can see this price includes p&p, I can see it’s in stock and it can be sent right away.

This “cut to the chase” ad copy is a perfect example of how to hook an information hungry surfer, everything I need to know and the advert is deep-linked to the exact product.

The Teng Tools advert “Online all the time Discounted Prices”, is terrible. “Online all the time” ? Does this mean it’s not one of those annoying websites that shuts down at 5pm and reopens in the morning? Discounted prices? Sounds a bit salesman to me, why the hell not just tell me the price! None of the terms I searched for are even in the advert! (Notice in the Godfreys advert, they cleverly matched the ad copy to the search term, so these are bolded too). If you’re suckered into clicking on the Teng Tools advert, it doesn’t even take you to the product you were searching for! I won’t even comment on their website.

Winner: Godfrey DIY

Paid Search is both a science and an art, if you don’t have the time to learn to do it properley, or pay somebody to do it for you, don’t bother!

Google AdWords click fraud under 2%?

December 13th, 2006

MarketingPilgrim.com have an interesting article on click fraud, where Andy Beal managed to get an unprecedented look into the internal workings of the Google click fraud team and statistics never before seen outside of Google HQ.

Shuman Ghosemajumder - Google’s business product manager for trust and safety, revealed that the invalid clicks that Google report account for less than 2% of all traffic through it’s network, which means that unnoticed, genuine click fraud most likely makes up a fraction of a percent. That’s good news for businesses worried about wasting money on scammers and unscrupulous competitors, and means that for the average business, third party click tracking solutions are not as essential as the main players make out by publishing figures of 20%+ click fraud. Financial sectors, which make up around 70% of the click fraud that does make it through Google’s systems, should still ensure they are doing what they can to track clicks themselves - 0.5% of a £100k budget is still a lot of money for any business!