Limit on keywords in AW?

[writergrrrl48]

Is there a logical limit to how many keywords are effective to use in an AW campaign? I looked through several pages of the forum and have not seen that question asked ...

I'm trying to run a campaign for a pal. I set up about 4 ad groups, each has maybe 15-20 key phrases. She got excited and decided we need to put in as many combinations and keywords as possible.

I did not see in the documentation that there might be a limit to how many I CAN use - but is there some point at which it is not effective to just keep tossing in more keywords?

Thanks so much. This forum is immeasurably helpful!

[dburdon]

It all depends on the dimensions of your business. If you're an airline serving 200 destinations you may need 200 different campaigns with 5+ keywords and ads per destination. Take British Airways or American as an example:

Cheap flights New York
Cheap flight New York
Cheap flights to New York
Cheap flight to New York

And we haven't moved off cheap flights!!!

Its all a question of what maximises your true ROI. What delivers the lowest cost of most profitable customer attraction and conversion for the least amount of management overhead.

On the other hand if you're a specialised business in a small niche you may need just a few keywords.

[writergrrrl48]

I appreciate your thoughts on this. However, it does not actually answer my question.

I recognize that I would need fewer keywords for a niche site than for a monster site. However, what I really wanted to know is this:

- is there a limit to the number of keywords that I CAN add to my AW campaign?

- is there a point of diminishing returns as far as adding keywords? Like, do I want 20 keywords or 200?

Thank you.

[mlevenhagen]

The maximum number of keywords per ad group is 2000 keywords. 100 Ad Groups per campaign... 25 Campaigns per account.

Dimishing returns will only come into play if your keywords aren't targeted enough to the product and market... you don't use negative keywords when you should... you're ad isn't pulling in the buyers...... your ad placement is attracting tire kickers... things like that...

The number of keywords alone won't have an impact on your ROI.

[writergrrrl48]

Thanks for the direct answer :-)

next step - I AM getting tire kickers and looky-lou's, very few visitors taking action.

I'd love advice on how to be compelling :-)

This is for a promotional products site - a very competitive market. But although people are clicking the ads, very few are calling or asking for quotes.

Thanks for thoughts.

[dburdon]

Cheri,

across the 20+ campaigns I've been involved in I've found on average 5-10 terms will deliver about 80% of the clicks.

The more specific terms are best for converting. A specific 3 word term will be an unspecific 1 word term, regardless of the volume.

Although there are conversion facilities built into Adwords and Overture the best tip I can give you is to ask your enquirers how they found you. If you know the time of their e-mail or telephone enquiry check back through your log files to see the exact search term they used. As they say here, its about "sorting the wheat from the chaff".

[writergrrrl48]

thanks for the advice :-)

I've spent much of the weekend reading about writing AW ads and how to manage campaigns - I'll see how it goes in practice soon.

[dburdon]

Cheri,

best of luck.

I suggest trial and error. Try things, see how they go, learn from mistakes and build on your successes.