How to use keyword insertion for more effective Google Ads

Welcome to our weekly Search Engine Land series – Everything you need to know about Google Ads in less than 3 minutes. Every Wednesday, I highlight a different Google Ads feature, and what you need to know to get the best results from it, all in a quick 3-minute read.

Let’s explore a powerful tool that can help your Google Search ads stand out and improve your click-through rates: keyword insertion. This is the closest thing we have to a “hack” in Google Ads, so be sure you’re not missing out on this tactic!

I’ll cover:

• What is keyword insertion?
• Why should you use keyword insertion?
• How to use keyword insertion
• Best practices for keyword insertion and common pitfalls to avoid

What is keyword insertion?

Keyword insertion is a feature that dynamically inserts the keyword that triggered your ad into your ad copy. This means your ad headline, description and/or display path can include the exact keyword that matches to the user’s search, making your ad more relevant and attention-grabbing.    

Think of it like a form letter where the recipient’s name is automatically inserted. The letter itself stays the same, but that personal touch makes it more likely to be read.

Why should you use keyword insertion?

The main benefit of keyword insertion is improved click-through rates. Because you’re inserting the keyword into the ad itself, users are likely to perceive your ad as being highly relevant to what they’re looking for – ergo, it increases the likelihood of them clicking.    

Keyword insertion also saves you time and effort. Instead of creating separate ads for each keyword variation, and potentially using dozens of ad groups to do so, you can use keyword insertion to automatically tailor your ad copy to many keywords with just one ad.

How to use keyword insertion

Keyword insertion is only compatible with Responsive Search Ads – not dynamic search ads, not display or video ads, not Performance Max or Demand Gen or anything other than standard Search.

To use it, you’ll need to add a special piece of code to your ad headline, description, or display path. The code looks like this: {keyword:default text}

Let’s break it down:

1. keyword. This tells Google Ads to insert the keyword here.
2. default text. This is the text that will be displayed if the keyword can’t be inserted, the “fallback” option. For example, if the keyword is too long for the character requirement.

You can also control the capitalization of the inserted keyword by adjusting how you write “keyword” in the code:

• Keyword. Sentence case (e.g., “Running shoes for women”)    
• KeyWord. Title case (e.g., “Running Shoes For Women”)    
• keyword. Lowercase (e.g., “running shoes for women”)    

Best practices for keyword insertion and common pitfalls to avoid

Here are a few important things to know when using keyword insertion:

• Don’t use misspellings as keywords. They might end up in your ad copy.
• Be mindful of competitor keyword targeting. Keyword insertion can and will insert your competitor’s name into your ad text, if your competitor’s name is one of your keywords. It’s your responsibility to make sure you comply with Google Ads policies and local laws. In fact, it’s always a good idea to review your ads and ensure they make sense with the inserted keywords and adhere to Google Ads policies.
• Keyword insertion is just one of the dynamic insertion tools available in Google Ads. You can also use location insertion and countdown insertion to further customize your ads with highly relevant messaging.

All in all, keyword insertion is a simple yet powerful tool to improve your Google Ads performance.

If you haven’t tried it yet, experiment with keyword insertion and see if it helps you drive higher click-through rates, higher Quality Score and lower costs.