Under the Search Keywords subtab, you’ll find all the keywords you’ve added to your campaign when you set it up, and any additional keywords you’ve added along the way. There is a lot of information we can gather and changes we can make under this tab.
You can filter your view of the keywords so you just see enabled, or enabled and paused keywords. To edit a keyword, simply click the pencil icon beside it, tick the box next to it, or select the green circle beside it. This will allow you to edit the text of the keyword, change the match type, and pause or enable it.
Pausing a keyword is the best option for removing it from the live campaign, as this halts it from delivering new ad viewers, but you can still view its results in the future and unpause if necessary. Removed keywords cannot be recovered.
Reviewing Match Types:
Under match type, you can view how your keywords are being matched with searches that bring users to your campaign. There are three match types: broad match, phrase match, and exact match.
Exact match gives you the most control over who sees your ad, but reaches fewer searches than both phrase and broad match, as the Google search must match the keywords exactly.
Phrase match is a keyword matching option whereby Google matches your ad only against keywords that include a phrase you designate.
Broad match is a keyword matching option that allows your ad to match the widest range of possible keyword searches that are still somewhat related to your keyword.
When we set up a campaign, Google automatically assigns a broad match designation to all of our keywords. This means Google users who search using terms that contain some, all, or a similar portion of our keywords are seeing the ads we have created.
Generally, a broad match keyword is best because it casts the widest net and catches the most results. However, we want to ensure these results are of good quality and match what we are looking for.
When we review match types as part of our optimization work, we are judging the quality of results each keyword brings in. The best way to do this is to check under the Search Terms tab and combine this work with your search term audits.
Here you’ll see every search that has brought a Google user to this campaign, exactly as they typed it. Under the Keywords column in the Search Terms, you'll see how each Google search was matched to one of your campaign’s keywords. Use this information to inform your optimization work.
Don’t see the keywords column? Modify your column! (click columns - modify columns - attributes - tick keywords - apply)
Do you see a lot of searches that don’t fit your campaign? Check to see if there is a common keyword capturing these searches and consider changing the match type! Complete this work for all of your top-performing keywords.
While doing this audit work, you can also experiment with pausing keywords if they're generating a lot of bad searches for the campaign from a specific keyword.
EXAMPLE: You are running a campaign for Tina Biggs using a Vancouver Realtor - Broad Match keyword. This keyword is bringing in searches for Amy Smart Realtor, Derrick Holmes Realtor, Tony Fan Realtor, Happy Home Realtors, New Westmindste Realtors, Royal LaPage realtor, and relator reviews. These searches do not fit our realtor's campaign, and you've spent a large portion of the budget bidding to have our ad show for these results.
If we change Vancouver Realtor to a phrase match or exact match, we can reduce the number of results coming in for specific realtors, or searches that don't fit our campaign, and focus more on people searching for a realtor in Vancouver.
Reviewing Keyword Status:
Under the Search Keywords tab, you’ll see a Status column with a value for each keyword. Ideally, we want the status of all of our keywords to be Eligible. This means the keyword has been reviewed by Google and is eligible to show ads. However, some keywords may be assigned a different status, and this can affect the quality of your campaign.
The status of keywords will most often change after the campaign is initially set up or when a new keyword is added. But the status can also change down the road as search patterns change. When reviewing keyword status, we ensure that all keywords are eligible, and if not, we must make adjustments.
Some common statuses other than Eligible that you may find are:
Low search volume: The keyword is temporarily suspended because it's associated with very little search traffic on Google, indicating that it's not very relevant to most customers' searches. Using a keyword like Townhomes in a rural area might render this result as not a lot of townhomes or apartments exist in these areas, so searches aren’t coming in. Pause any keywords with this error.
Rarely shown due to low-quality score: The keyword's Quality Score is very low and is preventing your ad from showing very often. This is an error we want to address with urgency as it can prevent our ads from showing! If you have other keywords that are similar to the one with this error, pause or remove this keyword. You can also try editing the keyword by selecting a different match type, or editing the keyword text and including more or less detail.
To boost the keyword score you can also edit the text on ads to contain more phrasing using this keyword.
Below first-page bid estimate: This means the keyword is active and can trigger your ad to appear, however, its cost-per-click (CPC) bid is lower than the amount that's likely to place your ad on the first page of Google search results. These situations are rare, but when they do occur you can always try increasing the CPC bid. However, due to the small budget sizes for our campaigns, CPC bidding is not recommended.
If you see this error, it's likely best to pause the keyword.
Identifying Keywords That Are Not Performing Well
Cost:
If you scroll down the bottom of your keywords list in the Search Keywords subtab, you’ll see a row titled Total: Keywords in your current view, which will give you a total of the performance of all your keywords for the time range you have selected. It’s a good practice to look at campaign costs on a weekly basis.
When examining cost, first look at the Total: Keywords row to note the average CPC (cost per click) and the average Cost /Conversion. You’ll want to see these averages for the campaigns because these will help us determine how keywords are performing.
Take the averages for CPC and Cost/Conversion and compare them to the performance of each keyword (note: not all keywords will have performed in your time range). Compare the average CPC from the total to the average CPC for a specific keyword. Is it lower than the average? That's a good thing! Is it higher? That can be an indicator of poor performance.
If the average CPC of a keyword is going well above average, look at the overall cost for that keyword. You may consider pausing it, particularly if the search terms being generated by this keyword do not fit out campaign. See the Search Terms subtab for this information. Remember, you always want to make an informed decision. The keyword costing the campaign a lot, having a high average CPC, not delivering leads, and delivering poor search results are all indicators of an issue.
Similar to examining CPC, when you are reviewing the Cost/Conversion for each keyword, you want to compare all the Cost/Conversion of each keyword that has generated leads. Look for the Costs/Conversions that are the highest. Keep an eye on them over time and decide if they might need to be paused.
If there are keywords with Cost/Conversion figures that are double or triple the average cost, consider pausing these keywords. But before you pause them, expand the timeframe to a month or two months, did the Cost/Conversion figure for this keyword decrease a lot? If it's more in line with the other keyword Cost/Conversion then leave it. If it's still double or triple the average, consider pausing it.
Remember, optimizing is all about making informed decisions that are supported by data in the campaign. If you can see a reason to pause a costly keyword, do it! Just remember to come back and check the performance after some time compared to the previous performance. If the campaign is not getting any leads, costly leads are better than none.
