Google AdWords has a feature called “Dynamic Keyword Insertion” that automatically inserts the keyword into the ad. Real useful for being able to show an ad that says “Brooklyn Computer Repair” or “Queens Computer Repair” or “Manhattan Computer Repair” without writing three ads.
It often causes goofy things to show up in ads. Marilyn Adamson sent this to me, it’s probably the funniest example I’ve ever seen.
Here’s the ad you see when you type “evil and suffering” into Google:
(click for bigger screen shot)
By the way, here’s the syntax for using this feature in AdWords, straight from Google’s website:
In the ad group ‘Puppies,’ you create the following ad using two instances of the keyword insertion code:
| Buy {Keyword:Puppies} From an Award-Winning Breeder Satisfaction Guaranteed! www.Example.com |
| destination URL: http://www.Example.com/?kw={keyword:nil} |
Depending on which keyword a user searches on, your ad will show in one of the following ways:
| Search query: | poodles | yorkies |
| Ad: | Buy Poodles From an Award-Winning Breeder Satisfaction Guaranteed! www.Example.com |
Buy Yorkies From an Award-Winning Breeder Satisfaction Guaranteed! www.Example.com |
| Destination URL: | http://www.example.com/?kw=poodles | http://www.example.com/?kw=yorkies |
The default text is used in the ad’s title if a user searches on ‘west highland terriers,’ since the keyword is too long to fit. However, ‘west highland terriers’ is inserted in the destination URL, since there’s no character limit there.
Seriously, use this feature carefully, ‘cuz accidents can happen.
Meanwhile, have fun with it.
Perry Marshall
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
4 Comments on “"Dynamic Keyword Insertion" goofiness – Classic Example”
Use of DKI can make or break the Game. You need to be very careful while using DKI or you’ll end up screwing things.
dynamic keyword insertion is best way when we need huge traffic from ppc on variety of keywords.
But be smart choosing keywords otherwise you may loose you hard earn money
Been using it for years – sometimes it works better, sometimes not, so as always you have to test it. Response can vary even just between ad groups.
Only keywords you actually have in your list show up – Google tell me that “expansion” (like in Broad match) doesn’t apply.
Strange that Amazon should have “evil and suffering” in it’s keyword list…? Actually (in the uk anyway) they do carry many dozens of books containing these keywords in their title.
So perhaps they could have just written a better ad if they weren’t so much dependent on mechanisation…
Thanks for the tip Perry. I was always afraid of using feature. But it might be useful in certain situations.
I like the ‘/?kw=’ feature to track conversions to the keywords also.
I guess one can use negative keywords for puppies that you do not sell or have in stock.