Google AdWords: Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)

Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) is an advanced feature on Google AdWords, making it possible to have ad text copies changed dynamically based on searcher’s queries.

Ways to use DKI

According to Google, here are ways you can leverage DKI depending on how you want your ads to display on SERP.

When you are creating ad text, typing in ( { ) will show you drop down menu to create DKI or Countdown, select DKI. You will get an option to choose from:

  1. Title Case
  2. Sentence Case and
  3. Lower Case

All of these are just how you want your text to be capitalised. Here are examples from Google:

  • Title case: The first letter of all keywords will be capitalised. For example: “Dark Chocolate.”
  • Sentence case: Only the first letter of the first keyword will be capitalised. For example: “Dark chocolate.”
  • Lower case: No letters will be capitalised. For example: “dark chocolate.”

You can also choose to create DKI manually, without using drop down menu, by following the instructions from Google below:

To keep your keyword lowercase, use keyword. For example, “dark chocolate.”
For sentence capitalisation, use Keyword. For example, “Dark chocolate.”
For title capitalisation, use KeyWord. For example, “Dark Chocolate.”
For all caps and then title capitalisation, use KEYWord. For example, “USA Chocolate.”
For title capitalisation and then all caps, use KeyWORD. For example, “Chocolate Made In USA”

Advantage of DKI

  1. Get Around Character Limitation
    Google AdWords allows advertisers to include 25 characters in the headline and 35 characters in each description line. Using DKI, however, you can surpass that limitation by matching searchers’ terms on your very own ads. So whatever the searchers type in Google’s search box, it will appear on the DKI part of your ads.
  2. More Relevant Traffic
    You will notice an increasing in a number of relevant traffic, along with higher click through rate (CTR) because searchers can see what they are looking for on your ads. They are then more inclined to click and spend more time on your site looking for it.
  3. Bolded Keywords
    Keywords that appear on DKI ad text will be bolded, which enhance your ad copies visibility and stand out against your competitors.

Disadvantages of DKI

  1. Misspelled Ad Display
    The beauty of DKI lies in the ability to display search queries anywhere in the ad text, but that can also be its undoing. When searchers are searching for a misspelled broad match type keyword, Google will serve them your ad anyway. However, with DKI, your ad will be shown with misspelled wording as well.
  2. Breach AdWords Trademark
    Because Google prohibits displaying trademark terms in ad copies, DKI will violate this policy when we are bidding for competitors’ branded keywords, as it could display competitors’ brands in our ad copies!