Helen M. Overland

Google Dynamic Keywords in AdWords

By: Helen M. Overland, April 2nd/2006


One of the more interesting features of AdWords that advanced PPC marketers have been using is Google Dynamic Keywords. This allows you to insert the search query that the user typed in directly into your ad.

How to Use AdWords Dynamic Keywords

In your title or description lines, you can enter a little bit of code that will insert the users query into your ad. The text should be formatted as follows:

{KeyWord:Alternate Text}

The KeyWord: is the query that the user typed in. The Alternate Text is what the ad will display if for some reason the query cannot be shown (such as if the query string is too long, etc.).

For example, let's say we have "Larry's Lamps". Larry is bidding on the keywords "brass lamps", "brass lamp", "quality brass lamp", and "brass lamps sale". The ad is set up in AdWords as follows:


If the visitor searches for "Brass Lamps", they will see:


If the visitor searches for "Quality Brass Lamp", they will see:


This is brilliant, because whatever the user types in will appear exactly in the ad. The ad will be properly bolded, and will appear more relevent to the visitor.

You can even control the case of the ad:

{KeyWord:Alternate Text} : Quality Brass Lamps
{Keyword:Alternate Text}: Quality brass lamps
{keyword:Alternate Text}: quality brass lamps

However... Dynamic Ads are not the answer to life, the universe, and everything

Unfortunately, Google Dynamic Keywords are not a silver bullet. Sometimes a well-written and targeted ad can easily outperform a dynamic ad.

For example. Let's say a visitor searches for "brass lamps sale". Larry's ad would appear as follows:


It is easy to see why the following well-written static ad would outperform the one with the dynamic keywords:

Also, there is always the possibility that the ad will appear much more relevent than it actually is. This could boost the CTR, but lower overall ROI/ROAS.

Advertisers could find themselves tempted to create large campaigns with fewer ad groups, thus minimizing the time required to administrate and analyze the campaign. While this could indeed reduce the time required, it could also dilute the results. Customers need to land on the right page and be presented with the right content if they are going to continue exploring the site. Bulk ads that all land on the same page are not targeting the content in a focussed way. And as always, there is no substitute for proper tracking and testing.

You can learn more about google dynamic keywords from Google.

Further AdWords Dynamic Parameters

Google also provides further dynamic parameters that can be used to help track the campaign.

{ifContent:text}: If the ad was clicked on while being displayed in the content network, the text will appear.

{ifSearch:text}: If the ad was clicked on while being displayed as the result of a search, the text will appear.

{keyword}: The keyword that the visitor searched for

{creative}: The AdWords ID of the ad creative.

{placement}: The placement of the ad (only in site-targeted campaigns)

These dynamic parameters can be used in the destination URL to track the CTR more accurately. For example:
http://www.theoverlands.com/index.php?kw={keyword} &nw={ifSearch:search}{ifContent:content} &cr={creative} &pl={placement}

Now you have an abundance of tracking information from each click!


Google AdWords is a sophisticated advertising system that provides powerful tools. Google dynamic keywords is one such useful tool that advanced PPC marketers have been using for quite a while now. Adwords dynamic keywords are not a silver bullet, but if they are properly applied, dynamic keywords can increase the CTR of your AdWords PPC ads and even ROI.


©2006 Helen M. Overland. All Rights Reserved. SEO Search:    Search the Web with an SEO Focus: