InsureMe Affiliate Blog: Dynamic Keyword Insertion: Have You Tried It Yet?

Dynamic keyword insertion (DKI) is an awesome tool that allows you to customize your Google ads to fit the searcher’s phrasing of key terms—exactly as he/she types them in. This makes your ads match specifically to the searcher’s query, a great way to help increase click-through rates.

If you've never used DKI, it's really simple. Here are the formulas (pick one):

{KeyWord:”default keyword phrase of your choice”} OR {keyword:"default keyword phrase of your choice"}

One tip fellow blogger James pointed out to me: capitalizing the "K" and "W" in "KeyWord" causes the first letter of each word in your ad to appear capitalized. This helps your ad stand out and, in my experience, seems to be best practice. However, if you'd rather keep everything lowercase, just choose the latter option instead.

So, using DKI your headline might read: {KeyWord: Auto Insurance for Teens}

Here's how it all works. The keyword term you place after the colon becomes your default term, meaning Google only displays it if the searcher’s term is too long to fit in the headline space. Otherwise, as long as you’re bidding on the specific term the searcher typed in, your ad will magically appear with that term directly in the headline.

Pretty cool, huh?

There are a couple other things you can do with this formula. You can insert descriptive words in front of your default keyword phrase, such as “cheap” or “discount,” to help it stand out. However, this does take up character space, further limiting the length of the actual search term. But terms like these do help you stand out from your competitors, so sometimes it’s a good idea to include them. Anything that grabs the searcher’s eye can contribute to better click-through rates.

You can also use the DKI formula in the description of your ad, as well as the headline. This gives you another option for directly matching your ad to the searcher's query.

DKI does have its downsides though:

You must bid on the searcher’s specific terms in order for your ad to be displayed.
You're limited to 25 characters in ad titles. If the searcher’s query is longer than this, Google will insert what you place in the brackets in your ad title instead.
You have to look at your keyword lists and ad text carefully before using it. If the searcher types in something really quirky and you’re bidding on that term, it will show up in your ad just like they typed it in—and that could be pretty embarrassing!
It may not work for misspellings. If the searcher misspells a word, Google may or may not choose to display your ad; and if they do, it will match the searcher’s query exactly—misspellings and all. This can make you appear unprofessional or lazy.
It doesn’t work for trademarked terms. Since Google’s policy is no trademarked terms in ads, your ad won’t even show up if it includes a trademarked term.
You can’t go against any of Google’s other advertising policies. If you do, your ads will be rejected.

If anyone out there has used DKI, let me know how well it has worked for you. And if you have any other usage tips, please...do tell! We all learn better together. :)

Comments

Great post Penny. DKI, when used properly, is one of those things that can really make a difference in an AdWords campaign. Good stuff!

Posted by: James Omdahl | October 31, 2006 08:06 AM

Thanks, James. And thanks for sharing on the capitalization issue, too!

Posted by: Penny Hagerman | October 31, 2006 10:09 AM

Hi Penny,

I've been using keyword insertion for some time now, both with Google and MSN, and my experience is that it often gives a slightly higher click-through ratio for the advertisement than most of the titles I can come up with myself.

One warning though - a high CTR doesn't always mean lots of commissions. Example: you may want to promote health insurance to someone searching for health savings account or hsa. With a standard title like Get free health insurance offers people will know what they get if they click on your ad. You may get a lower CTR measured on the advertisement, but your total advertising cost per dollar in commissions will be reasonable.

If you use DKI instead, the title for your ad may become Health Savings Accounts, which will give you lots of clicks from people who want to learn more about HSAs. If your site doesn't have that information, you will be paying for clicks that are unlikely to generate commissions. And you will probably make your visitors disappointed as well.

Another tip is that if your standard title contains an irresistible offer, it may give you a much better CTR than just having the search term as the title. As an example, imagine searching for skin care and seeing an advertisement with the title Get $30 off your first purchase or 40% off skin care clearance sale - the CTR for such ads is often difficult to match, in particular by an ad having just skin care as the title...

Posted by: Magnus Wester | October 31, 2006 11:27 AM

You make some great points, Magnus; thanks for your post.

In the case of your HSA example, I think this is where negative keywords are really important. By entering negatives such as "information" or "articles," in with your campaigns, this should help sort out consumers who are simply surfing for information but aren't yet ready to take advantage of what we have to offer.

We could also tailor our headline better by placing modifiers around our keyword default phrase, such as "Get [keyword phrase] Offers," which helps keep it specific, too (as long as we don't go over the set character limit).

You're definitely right about making our offers irresistible. Don't we all just love getting a great deal?

Thanks so much for sharing, Magnus. Hope to see you around again soon!

Posted by: Penny Hagerman | October 31, 2006 11:45 AM