Pros and Cons of Using Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) in Your Pay Per Click Ads
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Web Marketing Today
Mar 4, 2008, 07:40
If a Google user is searching on "dirt cheap digital camera" she'll see a number of Google AdSense ads with that same search term in the ad headline. How do they do that? Some Pay Per Click (PPC) advertisers will bid on every possible keyphrase and write a specific ad for each. But many take advantage of Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) tools that are built into the major search engine ad systems. DKI is designed to insert into the ad the exact term a searcher uses. The search term is most commonly inserted into the title, but the tool can be configured to insert the term into the body of the ad as well. If the search term is too long to fit in the space, then a default keyword is inserted instead.
DKI Advantages
DKI can have a real upside, especially for certain kinds of paid search campaigns.
Higher click-through rate
. All other things being equal, a searcher is more likely to click on an ad that matches his exact search term, since he will perceive it to be more relevant than the other ads. This only works, of course, if competing ads aren't also using DKI.
Simplified administration
.If you're employing a "long tail" strategy of bidding on hundreds of seldom used but relevant keywords, DKI can simplify administering the process and cut your set-up time.
Quality score
doesn't automatically increase, but if through increased relevancy you get a higher click-through rate on your ads, your quality score is likely to improve.
DKI Disadvantages
On the other hand, DKI is not a magic bullet solution to all paid search campaigns.
Click-through rate using DKI may not, in fact, be higher
. For higher-traffic keywords it's worth taking the time to test to see if DKI can't be outperformed by another title.
DKI titles won't stand out
if most of your competitors are using them. If that's the case, you'll have to differentiate your ad from other competitors by not using DKI.
For long search terms DKI uses your default text
. This isn't a major disadvantage. It just illustrates that DKI doesn't help in all situations.
DKI tends to be most effective:
When ad groups are primarily organized around products that have many ways to describe them, such as tennis shoes.
When phrase match, not broad match, is used.
When one main word varies only by part number, size, color, model, etc.
When you are conducting a conceptual or brand-centric campaign, however, DKI is less successful. For many campaigns with a clearly organized theme, DKI won't be necessary -- or helpful. But when your campaign requires a long tail strategy, then DKI may well save time and get a higher click-through rate on rarely-used keywords.
While it's out of the scope of this article, Dr. Wilson's soon-to-be-published How to Develop a Landing Page (third edition) will explain how to add dynamic keyword insertion to landing pages in a way that increases perceived relevancy, time on page, and thus sales conversions.
If a Google user is searching on 
