OK – Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) in AdWords , Yahoo, AdCenter – and how easy it is to get it wrong…

For those of you who don’t know, DKI is when you can add in the search query (keyword in you list that triggered the impression), dynamically into the ad text.

It can be a good time saver if used well, and with a well structured account. However it can also come out the other end royally screwy, so be warned.

Now, we’ve all seen PPC ads that suck, like these ones, yes?

And I was going to go on about how crappy they were ’selling children’, wholesale even from ebay – nice …

…but then I remembered the ad I wrote using DKI 12 months ago…

So – it’s easy to do, even for the best of us, so be careful. DKI should only be used if you’re sure that you’re ads are going to make sense.

Google AdWords Ad Preview Tool is good for this

Best thing you can do is make certain that your adgroups are themed and structured correctly in the first place. DKI may then work quite well.

That said however, if you’ve got the structure right, and nice small ad groups, then you shouldn’t technically need dynamic Keyword insertion, but rather be able to focus on the best possible Headline / ad text for that group.

Anyway – bit of a laugh.