{"id":24245,"date":"2024-06-12T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/?p=24245"},"modified":"2024-06-12T10:30:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T05:00:01","slug":"ppcchat-the-great-keyword-pausing-of-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/ppcchat-the-great-keyword-pausing-of-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"PPCChat | The Great Keyword Pausing of 2024 | 11th June 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During this week’s PPCChat session, host Julie F Bacchini<\/a> had Navah Hopkins<\/a> from Optmyzr as a special guest who talked about their new study on pausing low-activity keywords. Her study can be found here<\/a>.
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Q1: Have you heard and\/or read about Google automatically pausing \u201clow activity keywords\u201d?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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For reference – Low-activity keywords are considered those that were created over 13 months ago and have zero impressions over the past 13 months. Documentation here: https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/14637426?hl=en<\/a> @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got the email from Google about 10 times, so I definitely saw it. @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I was aware of this and also read the Optmyzr study yesterday. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I may have heard something about it…What’s really interesting is that when this first came out, I was thrilled and it felt like a true shock that folks would be upset about it. Collecting that feedback and understanding the friction was really helpful (especially for smaller accounts). @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hadn’t heard about it until Navah posted, but it seemed very in line with some of G’s initiatives over the past, oh, 7 or so years? @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting @ferkungamaboobo<\/a> – to me it felt new. Are you thinking about the phasing out of modified broad? @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well Google does like to \u201cmake our lives easier\u201d @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the findings that really surprised me is how many “small” accounts had low activity keywords. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d put this in the \u201cGoogle knows best\u201d category of moves they have made. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I read Navah’s post and also got a few emails from Google, so feel a part of the conversations. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So like, one thing I constantly think about in a similar context is the automatic flagging of overlapping keywords. @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes! and that keywords just stop serving. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll admit I was surprised how many “small” accounts had low activity keywords @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that in theory most accounts would migrate to a small structure (less than 400 words) @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would argue that \u201clow activity\u201d and\/or \u201clow volume\u201d search terms have been on the rise of late generally. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Definitely seeing Google favor some keywords over others, despite what’s in the campaign. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to give Google the benefit of the doubt that low volume and low activity are different. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, although low volume will become low activity cause they don\u2019t serve\u2026@NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One is a keyword that could have done things but didn’t, while the other has calculated low search volume (and isn’t held against you) @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re bidding competitively and there are 0 impressions over a 13 month period, what is the justification for keeping that keyword active? @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

you hit the nail on the head @robert_brady<\/a> – a lot of times the bidding (or bidding strategy) is the problem. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, I’m a bit baffled at the pushback – this just seems like a nice little automatic cleanup thing. @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@robert_brady<\/a> Sometimes the client just needs to see\/know it’s active, regardless of whether Google is serving it\/it has any volume, etc. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess my question is really why should Google care to the point of pausing for me if there are low activity keywords? @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The language from Google has been – for at least 5 years now – that cruft does not help your account. @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@revaminkoff<\/a> I cited that in the “if this then that” on whether to keep it live. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@navahf<\/a>  – I saw that! Really appreciated it. Have been meaning to write more about it too. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can’t stay in the chat long, but here is my tin-foil hat theory on this: Google is trying to cut down on computational lift. The fewer keywords it has to calculate Ad Rank for in a given auction, the “cheaper” it is for them to run that auction. Plain and simple, it always comes down to the $$$ with Google these days. @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have similar theories about GA4 @robert_brady<\/a> – Big G does not necessarily want to be the repository for the web\u2019s performance data. Both for privacy regulation concerns & sheer cost. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is ad rank really that complex though? @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can’t tell me that a company running its own LLMs is worried about CPU usage @ferkungamaboobo<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish folks would have been given more clarity on why changes are made. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we understand we shed fear @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@ferkungamaboobo<\/a> If you multiply the volume of searches they run each day and can cut 10% of the keywords eligible from everyone, then it might add up. @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That might be a good question for the Ads Liaison — might be a fun factoid press release if nothing else, or an opportunity to put into context of net 0 efforts @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google doesn\u2019t feel it needs to really explain this stuff – as evidenced by their comms on these types of things. Which is their choice. But it leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation, misunderstanding, etc. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@ferkungamaboobo<\/a> Well if nothing else we’ll be able to report back with round two on what happened to these accounts. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing which always boggles me when it comes to things like this is that Google always tells me that I should pause my exact Brand term… Even when it’s driving a high level of exact traffic (Redundant Keywords in recommendations) So like is Google going to somehow ruin my brand campaign..@Meriem<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if it’s 0 Impressions then really ultimately why are they even in your account still after that long if they aren’t driving impressions!? @Meriem<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@Meriem<\/a> that’s super interesting, regarding branded.@navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think a lot of us have a “well if it’s not hurting anything just leave it just in case” mentality — and i think based on some of the discussions I’ve had with Google reps of different flavours “what’s the harm” isn’t the question google wants us to be asking, they want us to focus on “what’s the benefit?” @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@ferkungamaboobo<\/a> 100% agree.@navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So like, w\/r\/t redundant terms — if you’re using automatic bids with each, the harm is that your true intent of the bid in the [modified but let’s ignore that rn] 2nd price auction isn’t being reflected — and the game theory answer to a 2nd price auction is to bid what the thing is worth to you instead of gaming it. @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

a huge issue with Google’s auction is that no one actually bids what something is worth to them @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like, idk, back in the day, I used to train “bid for position 1 [except in niches where that meant $250 a click and idk even then]” @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like I was taught that if a keyword hasn’t had impressions in over 3 months why is it there, review, amend, clean up. Back in the day with the cross-match negatives stuff it used to get very messy so easy to by accident add a negative, so we always monitored things which don’t do anything… So for HUGE accounts, it would be beneficial.. as long as it’s 0 impressions but I’m guessing this is just the start of an ‘idea’ from Google. @Meriem<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other huge issue is that most people don’t actually understand the auction anymore because most practitioners today only know smart bidding. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the empathy for mechanics gets lost and folks make innocent accidents @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q2: Do you have any or many keywords in your accounts that meet this criteria? If so, do you have a lot or not that many?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Watching with much interest. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not deep in paid search right now, but I can think of a TON of examples throughout my career. the “impr > 0” filter got a lot of use in the days of liberally using keyword stem combiners. @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what we saw : @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Google<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not for my accounts. @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a lot. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll shamelessly plug Optmyzr that our quick audits, regular audits, and Rule Engine help you identify low activity keywords and move them if need be (or pause them) @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, some keywords are flagged as low search volume despite the fact that they get good activity. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s why low activity isn’t the same as low volume. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do not have 200 low volume keywords. I inherit those constantly however. @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like that it’s 200 consistently. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Google\u2019s threshold for this is 13 months. I\u2019d be very curious to see data as to whether the terms in this category now ever had traffic. That would be super interesting to me\u2026@NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think for me anyway, this is really helping me understand how to built campaigns in a googly manner, which I genuinely believe is the right way to create campaigns. @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s like people treat adding doomed keywords as busy work (not you @revaminkoff<\/a> ) @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@navahf<\/a> similar to 4x ROAS @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So our study applied the criteria that Google says it’s applying: the keyword cannot have had any impressions in the last 13 months. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google: we are going to do a thing Me: Optmyzr already takes care of that for me but good luck anyways.@beyondcontent<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess my question is how much does it really matter? I don’t feel like it does, although streamlined accounts are always easier to manage. But from a performance perspective, seems like it won’t affect much. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right! that’s why we wanted to dig in. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I was super surprised at how many accounts would be impacted, but comforted that most should<\/strong> be fine @navahf<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

@navahf<\/a> Can\u2019t wait for part 2 of this study. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think a valid question would be – what’s the impact on the accounts 13, 26, 39 months back if those keywords were paused originally? what’s the desired past state that Google is trying to create now? @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was an outlier class of high-volume keywords with 50-75% low activity that outperformed every other cohort. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s the group I’m keeping my eye on @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because that’s the group that would have a legitimate reason to cry foul @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reminds me of when an old company changed up our incentive structure and everyone (except me) was going to make more money and be happier @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I smiled and nodded along because I knew the upside was going to be better sticking around. That’s how I feel a lot of marketers feel about Google @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or like idk, what is the expected future state of those campaigns if those terms are paused, given standard YOY forecasting? @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It definitely raises questions about trend forecasting and seasonality. @beyondcontent<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So like, that’s a question I have as I’m noodling on this – what’s the experiment design? @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So 13 months should in theory allow for seasonality. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I agree life happens @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe forecasting is the wrong word. More like, topic-coverage-when-things-start-to-happen-without-relying-on-random-broad-testing-campaign. @beyondcontent<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q3: What are your thoughts on Google automatically pausing these types of keywords?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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@PPCKirk<\/a>\u2019s take in the study struck a chord with me: @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Google's<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Initially I was totally fine with it – but as  @PPCKirk<\/a> and @revaminkoff<\/a> and others have brought up, there are use cases that require more advertiser control. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depends how paranoid we want to get. How close are we to total management by a PPC AI bot? Should we start studying creative design?\u00a0 @beyondcontent<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, we should study design XD. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

creative and video are the future @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUT….that’s not strictly tied to tin-foil hat mindset @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I \u00a0agree, I was totally fine with it until\u00a0@revaminkoff<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0@PPCKirk<\/a><\/a>\u00a0both of them made me think differently about intent. @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s just a market shift. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It feels like Google has been softening us up for the inevitable \u201cmake some entries of critical data and leave the rest to us\u201d for the past few years. Moves like this further that aim, but in a way that\u00a0feels<\/strong>\u00a0less threatening because it seems harmless on its face. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know if Google is organized enough for strategic decision to hurt advertisers. @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I…. don’t read this as an antitrust thing tbh. @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know that’s nitpicky on a larger pull quote @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know that’s nitpicky on a larger pull quote @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The antitrust is that G owns the vast majority of the display ad inventory. @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like it’s Google’s own doing though – if there were clear explanations the “reach” conclusions wouldn’t come into play. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know my accounts I manage very well… it’s my job to. But I know when asked to audit accounts how little some accounts get touched… Will some even notice this taking place… I mean, how many accounts are opted into recommendations still…@Meriem<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sentiment is at an all-time low for Google and even well-meaning and objectively helpful tools come across as shady to those who have been burned in the past or are so jaded they only can see the “shake the cushions” Google. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all of its vast, vast resources, Google sucks at comms and messaging. I actually find it quite funny. Because it\u2019s absurd. But then again, PPC professionals are not an audience they care about communicating effectively with\u2026 so their comms often are incomplete and\/or tone deaf to our ears. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the reason why I focus on that is because I think it’s indicative of the weird vibes in a lot of pushback here. we’re supposed to be data-based and yet we’re talking about tangents of tangents to argue that they shouldn’t automatically pause a targeting method that’s been ineffective for over a year. @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m just scratching my head out loud, not calling anyone in particular out @ferkungamaboobo<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Totally fair! @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@ferkungamaboobo<\/a> But why not just leave it in recommendations? Make it bold. Put a star on it, etc. I think I get twitchy when Google is going to automatically do anything \u201cfor me.\u201d I opt out of all auto applied anything. And that is what this is at its essence. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would love to know how many accounts are Opted out of auto recommendations. @Meriem<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As when you think about the amount of Google Ads accounts out there I feel like there are a LOT of accounts which are fully opted in. @Meriem<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I look at it the same way as them cancelling ad accounts that don’t run after a few weeks. Cleaning up server space. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, I don’t see an issue with 0 impression KWs for 13 months… Yes it could be an opt-in feature for Recommendations\u00a0@NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/a>\u00a0It would have be the one of the 3 things I actually opt into LOL @Meriem<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think there’s a difference too between “doing something that can increase spend” and “doing something that can only decrease spend” @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

e.g. I actually love the redundant keywords auto-apply — it helped me understand keyword matching at a level I didn’t before and is – when used in an ad-group-level bid structure like I typically use – a good call. However, it’s one that you might turn off if, say, you bid lower on exact match vs. phrase because the phrase bid will apply to the exact-match search term and your bids won’t work @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I would think that’s a correct structure in well less than 0.01% of accounts @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m also of the opinion that if Google wrote a book that literally says “this is how this works and the right way to set up the accounts, notarized by our attorneys to literally be the truth” most PPCers would still not follow it @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(with knowledge that there would be plenty of cases in the periphery that would not fit inside the normal distribution that advice falls into)\u00a0@ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s already happening re: certification exams XD. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m trying to get caught up on everything.\u00a0@ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/a>\u00a0I agree it\u2019s a little bit of a stretch, but the reason I referenced the anti-trust lawsuit is that part of the DOJs case against Google (and other monopolies) is the ability for consumers to easily move to a competitor if they are unhappy with (or even being harmed by) services provided. My point was that in a broader way, Google leaving its role as a Platform and making decisions for an advertiser isn\u2019t normally behaviour an advertiser would accept\u2026 but with Google, there is no other recourse but to now let them mass-pause everything in our accounts. It\u2019s pointing to the fact that Google\u2019s ability to just wholesale make changes in the account without the advertiser really having other recourse (we couldn\u2019t just quit because we hate this behaviour and go to Bing without all of us losing like 80-90% of our PPC revenue overnight) is the monopoly. Does that help make sense why I referenced the antitrust thing? @PPCKirk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q4. Do you plan to re-enable paused keywords? Why or why not?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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It depends. If I think they have a true chance, I’ll create them in a new campaign. Not quite re-enabling, but not quite leaving them paused either. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for the most part, if they get paused, I’m going to leave them paused unless I miss out on queries I was getting before that I valued @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, it would involve looking back beyond the 13-month window to see if they ever had traffic and going from there. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Google is pausing my keywords, I would review why has Google spotted something I haven’t. What is the reason behind that, and what are the learnings here. Also, how do I do my job better LOL @Meriem<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@NeptuneMoon<\/a> if they have traffic they wouldn’t get paused. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An impression (never mind a click) restarts the 13-month clock @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I meant if they had traffic before the 13-month window for no traffic. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh! that’s fair! @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if any terms used to get traffic, but then did not for 13 months, I\u2019d want to try to figure out why. @navahf<\/a>\u00a0do you want to talk about how bidding can impact this from the study?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If something in the market shifted and new terms became a norm. @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@NeptuneMoon<\/a> – But don’t you feel that if something like an ad group dropped off for 13 months we should have noticed it by now right?! @Meriem<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@Meriem<\/a> I would hope that would have been noticed, yes!\u00a0@NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure! So one big pitfall for keywords is if you set a budget that can’t fit enough clicks in your day (so Google holds your keywords back), or that you set too aggressive of a smart bidding goal (CPA or ROAS – especially with bid caps without floors). These can lead to you inadvertently underbidding and taking yourself out of the auction. @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s also the conversion factor and whether you trust your conversions at all @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why bid floors are just as important as bid ceilings @navahf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PPCChat Participants<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n