Hey all, I can not explain this. I am using the adwords preview tool to see what my ads should look like. I am focusing on specific niches so my keywords are highly targetted phrases and exact matches such as "train your dog to sit" or [go play fetch], etc.. etc.. Now, all my keywords are active and have been approved by Google, there is nothing impeding my account. I go to Google's preview tool and type in some of my exact keywords to see how the ads look, however, I'm finding that only 1 out of 10 of my keywords causes an ad to show. If I am the only one bidding on this keyword shouldn't my ad always be showing in the top spot? Under what circumstances will Google not show your ad even if your keyword is inputted? Absolutely none of my keywords are adult in nature, I am selling dog training manuals, toys, food and medicine. In order to understand my campaign in greater depth I present it's structure as follows: Each adgroup has aprox. 200 closely packed keywords such as: [dog training guide] "dog training guide" "guide to training dogs" [guide to training dogs] "how to play fetch" [how to play fetch] The creative itself uses dynamic keyword insertion for the title such as {KeyWord:Train Your Dog}. Of course if the keyword is too long the default title is used, however, I've also noticed that short keywords are not showing up in the title and instead the default is used. Why is this when they are less then 25 characters in length? Furthermore, I am very confused, should I be using broad matches as well such as: dog training guide "dog training guide" [dog training guide] ? Currently I have over 4000 keywords and I'm only getting about 100 impressions a day. Surely these are searched more then that! Please help, I am very troubled! Hunter
First things to check: Are you in another country as opposed to the one your ads are meant to show in? Are you bidding enough? I know this sounds silly but... is your campaign paused? Broad matches can potentially drop your CTR as your relevancy may take a hit (you might have dog training on broad... and someone searches for "cat and dog training program", they want both at once, so they may ignore your ad) so I tend to use exact or phrase matches. On another note, it could just be that your extremely specific keywords are too specific... it's no good having a keyword that nobody searches for
Hey Art, 1. All keywords are active, therefore I must be bidding enough. 2. The preview tool ignores the country you are from, I can see some ads even though I am in Canada and have targetted the USA 3. Campaigns are active, not paused 4. Although they are extremely specific, I am searching for those exact keywords and they don't show up! I'm wondering if a keyword could be active, but won't be shown if it does not get enough impressions. It sounds like a contradiction doesn't it? You'd expect all active keywords to show ads! Hunter
Try this - get yourself a US based proxy or use a web based proxy hosted in the US and search for your keywords... let me know if they show up or not.
No they do not show up, the same ones show up on the preview tool as when i use a proxy, this does not explain why "dog training books" or a similar keyword is not showing up even though it is in my list.
I believe I have solved my own question: From Google: Reason The keyword phrase you've entered doesn't currently trigger any of your ads What does this mean? You may receive this message if the keyword or keyword phrase you've entered: 1. Is in a paused or deleted Ad Group or campaign. 2. Doesn't exist in your account. 3. Is rarely included in search queries. (In this case, your ad will begin showing for this keyword soon. You don't need to do anything.) #3 brings up an interesting issue when using Niche keywords, apparently if you are highly targetted it takes time for these keywords to be included in the ad server. I believe this is due to the fact that the ad server focuses on high volume keywords and when there is spare resources identifies and ads low volume keywords. Eventually all keywords which are active will show ads, it's just a matter of time. This makes sense from a revenue aspect as Google does not want to waste a lot of resources for ads which will be shown only periodically. Hunter
I find it hard to believe that 6000 search terms are not searched more then once each a day! What you all think?
hello, IMHO your keywords are waiting for approval from Google. you wrote in first post that your keywords were approved, but maybe you meant your ad text rather than keywords? I have experienced this issue many times. symptoms are: 1. keyword is listed as active, but impression counter is frozen at 0. 2. ad is not being shown in regular query. 3. ad diagnostic tool shows no match for a given keyword even though point #1 is true (kw status = active). problem disappears as soon as keywords are accepted. I don't know what are Google's procedures for the US market, but I'd gess they make such checking a lot more often than in other languages. someone also mentioned proxy - from my experience you don't need to be in a given country in order to see ads targeted there. I run campaigns in many different European languages, and all I need to do is to get myslef on appropriate Google domain and set appropriate interface language. however it works only for campaigns targeted on a given country as a whole, not on country regions. my 2 cents . cheers, Arin.
yes you may need to give it time as sometimes your ad will show immediately sometimes it takes a few days or even a week for certain keywords to show. It all depends... also just because search estimate shows your ads should show in 4th place it may show on 40th.. i have found the estimation to be off Unless your site gets really high Quality score and high ad score. As i have had some words that i bid enough for it to be listed and the term is searched but my bid is only enough to show 40th not 4th due to scoring or just the bid... but it is actuve just no one usually goes to 5 or 10th or 20 th page.
Keywords are gaining momentum, also I converted at 1:3 yesterday! I am pretty excited about the prospects of EXTREMELY targetted phrases, it appears to be working somewhat. Hopefully more success will come soon, I will keep you updated! Thanks for the suggestions, Hunter
Furthermore, whats up with Google's traffic estimations?! Are they absolutely flawed, or are they based on estimates of all your keywords being accepted? Right now the BARE MINIMUM clicks they estimate per day is 24, I got 3 clicks yesterday, 4 today. I'd say that's a big margin of error. Discuss. Hunter
Problem isnt the keyword it is once your quality score is factored in. This can make a .20 bid be on page 4 or on 1st page.
So it can take a week for all keywords to be approved? Therefore, active keywords means it has passed mechanical rules, but has not passed human inspection? This means that active keywords are not really active, discuss.
Many times an adwords specilist has to review your keywords... usually it isnt a week usually within 1 to 3 days. and untill that review has happened no listing.
Ok... WHy don't you contact them? May be they have some explanation? I find that Adwords support are very freidnly Tim