Dynamic Keyword Insertion – What is it and how (exactly) does it work?

Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) is an advanced feature of AdWords that can potentially improve the relevance of your ad by dynamically inserting keywords directly into your ad copy. More relevance in your ad can lead to better CTR (click through rate), which means better quality scores, lower costs per click, and paves the way for more conversions. So how can this be set up in AdWords? What keyword will be inserted? And what will the ad look like in the search results?

How can this be set up in AdWords?

DKI is considered an advanced feature of AdWords because it requires a small amount of “code” be added into the ad text. But the word “code” should not scare anyone off. The ad set up using dynamic keyword insertion would simply look something like this:

Buy {Keyword:Purple Shoes}
Free Shipping On All Styles.
Satisfaction Guaranteed!
www.ExampleShoeStore.com

As the above example shows, the “coding” is very simple. It basically involves preceding the keyword with “Keyword:” and placing a text string between brackets { } that will be used as the default (more on that in the “What”). That’s all there is to it. Note that an upper or lower case K in keyword will determine the capitalization of the actual word in the ad that is displayed. For example, type it as Keyword and the word in the ad displays as Word; type it as keyword and the as shows as word. In addition, this code can be placed in the header, description lines or display URL (but make sure you follow display URL guidelines!).

What keyword will be inserted?

Now that the ad is set up, what keyword is actually dynamically inserted when the ad is shown? The keyword that appears in the ad replacing the code is the one you’re bidding on that’s closest to what the user typed in to trigger the ad, at the adgroup level. If that keyword exceeds the character limit of the line that the code is placed on, then the default (in this case “Purple Shoes”) will be used instead. Note it is not the exact keyword the user searched on that populates the ad unless you happen to be bidding on it within the adgroup that triggered the ad.

What will the ad look like in the search results?

Let’s take a simple example. A user types in “purple tennis shoes” into Google. You’ve got an adgroup dedicated to sneakers, and in it you’re bidding on the term “purple sneakers.” In this, case, here’s what the example ad above would look like to the user:

Searched Term: “purple tennis shoes”

Matched Bid Term: “purple sneakers”

Resulting Ad: Buy Purple sneakers
Free Shipping On All Styles.
Satisfaction Guaranteed!
www.ExampleShoeStore.com

Here’s another example:

Searched Term: “where to buy purple high heel shoes”

Matched Bid Term: “purple high heel shoes”

Resulting Ad: Buy Purple shoes
Free Shipping On All Styles.
Satisfaction Guaranteed!
www.ExampleShoeStore.com

In this case, the closest matched keyword you’re bidding on is over 25 characters, so the default that you defined (“Purple Shoes”) is used instead.

Remember, generally speaking, the more relevant you can make your ads to the searcher, the higher the likelihood that they’ll attract the click, and DKI can be a powerful tool to accomplish just that – there’s not much that’s more relevant than what you just typed in!