Fun With the Google Adwords Keyword Insertion Tool

First off, what is it?

Google Adwords Keyword Insertion tool allows you to use your users search query as text in your ad text.  So, if you’re a Google Adwords client, and in the market for selling “organic dog food”, you likely have a large list of broad, and narrow search keywords that you’re hoping will trigger your ad.  With the Google Adwords Keyword Insertion Tool, you can gear your ad text to exactly match your potential visitors search query.  For example, if someone search “organic puppy chow” and your ad is triggered based on your keyword selection – you could use the keyword insertion tool to add “organic puppy chow” directly into your ad copy.

Here’s how to do it, have a look at this sample ad:

{Keyword:Find a Realtor}

Looking for a Realtor? Get the
Best Service & Great Rates Now!
www.realtor.ca

Now, say a customer searches “Edmonton Based Realtors” and this matches some of your keywords.  For this unique visitor, the ad will be displayed as this:

Edmonton Based Realtors

Looking for a Realtor? Get the
Best Service & Great Rates Now!
www.realtor.ca

Alternatively, if your user searches a query that would trigger your ad but is too long for a Google Adwords title, such as “Realtors Based out of Edmonton”, your default text will appear in your ad.  In this case, your ad will look like this:

Find a Realtor

Looking for a Realtor? Get the
Best Service & Great Rates Now!
www.realtor.ca

The Challenges

This tool has great benefits, but it’s not for everyone.  You have to have a pretty keen eye to ensure that your ad makes sense depending on the search query of your customers.  Also, it’s very important to have a very refined keyword list that trigger your insertion based ads.  Without it, your ads could appear for irrelevant terms, which will cost you in conversions, clicks and quality scores.  Utilizing exact match, phrase match and broad match modifier tools are a good place to start – you may want to consider staying away from broad match until you have a better handle on the keywords your customers are using to find your business.

Without refined keywords, and using our above ad as an example, this tool may miss-represent your brand and company.  For example, if you simply targeted the word “realtors” as a broad term, your ad may display for someone searching “realtors to avoid”, and your ad will also reflect this search query. Oops!

Have fun with this tool, but be careful!

The coding required is below:

{Keyword:default text}

Simply fill in your default text, build a custom list, and get advertising!