Destination and display URLs

[Mark Wills]

Hi.

I want to know if it is possible if I can have a specific final URL and display URL for a specific keyword that will get switched out based upon each keyword. For example, if I have 20,000 keywords and one ad, I want it so it will switch out the URL for a searched keyword if it is part of my keywords.

More specifically, if I have the name Jon Erickson in my keywords, I want it so it will switch out the display URL to be domain.com/John-Smith. I want the final URL to be domain.com/name/John-Smith - Again, I want to automatically use that display URL and final URL for that particular keyboard.

Another example: if I have the name Kate Becker, I want the display URL to be domain.com/Kate-Becker. I want the final URL to be domain.com/name/Kate-Becker.

The point is I want it so I can have a list of keywords and have dynamic display and final URLs that will switch out for each of those keywords (when one of they keywords are searched in Google). They don't have to be the full url essentially as they're all going to the same site...but just the part after the "domain.com/" ... so domain.com/THIS-PART-NEEDS-TO-BE-DYNAMIC both for display and final urls.

Currently, I use Dynamic Search Keywords to switch out keywords in the ad title and description, it works great (I think) but I would like to take it this step further and be able to have it in the display URL (which I'm pretty sure I can do with Dynamic Search Keywords) and also the final URL. The problem is mainly in the final URL not accepting Dynamic Search Keywords.

Also, what I was doing was for each keyword I'd create a specific ad for that keyword. I.e., for the keyword Mark Gunderson I had an ad with Dynamic Search Keywords in the title and description but with a display URL that was domain.com/Mark-Gunderson and a final URL that was domain.com/name/Mark-Gunderson. This is one option...but it is very manual and tedious. However, I did it as I was hoping that the Dynamic Search Keywords would be able to match the keywords to their ads. If I were to use a solution like what I'm proposing to you, would Dynamic Search Keywords work well? Is it "smart" enough to know to replace the Dynamic Search Keyword in the title, description, and display URL if it is in my keyword list? This especially concerns me because I'm hoping to find a way to do this with a dynamic final URL.

One other thing, if I use the normal Adwords interface, I'm only permitted to have 4 million (active or paused) ads per  account. There are other limits as well. Are these limits still the same if I'm using the Adwords API? If not, maybe the best option would be to have all these keyword specific ads generated (like what I did above) but instead of having to do it manually, it could be done with a script. Thoughts? Thank you.

[Shwetha Vastrad (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Mark,

You can use either Keyword Insertion, AdParameters or Ad customizers to update the contents of the displayUrl of an Ad. Using keyword insertion, you'll be able to replace the exact keyword which was matched to the search term. If you want to modify the keywords before updating the displayUrl, you should use AdParameters or Ad customizers. The SetAdParameters Java example demonstrates how to set ad parameters for a keyword. You can then create Ads which use these parameters in the displayUrl. The AddAdCustomizer Java example demonstrates how to add an Ad customizer feed and use this feed to build an ad. Example code in other languages is available here.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Regards,
Shwetha, AdWords API Team.

[Mark Wills]

Is there a similar example to this within the adwords interface so I can get a better understanding of it?

I see that the Adwords interface allows you to add custom final URLs for specific keywords. This would be perfect for what I want, but it doesn't do it for display URLs. Since it doesn't do display URLs, then I'm at a loss because I'm unsure the dynamic keyword insertion would know how to properly display my URLs. Sounds like what you're talking about is the answer for Adwords API, but I want to get my mind wrapped around it in the Adwords interface first.

[Shwetha Vastrad (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Mark,

This guide shows how to customize text ads in the AdWords UI using the options I mentioned above. You can include customized text in the Path1 and Path2 fields so that the displayUrl can be customized. You can try this out and then use the API to automate customized text ads creation. 

[Mark Wills]

Yes. I understand. I've used Path fields before, but the issue I face is with keyword insertion for these paths.

I.e., say i have 50 keywords in an ad group and each has its own final URL. Also, I want each ad to be customized based upon the the final URL and the keyword so I use dynamic keyword insertion on the headline 1 and description. The issue I find is with the path URLs I don't know how keyword insertion would split it up. Is it smart enough to know that if my final url is red-model-trucks then to use that for the display URL? Also, that final URL path is 16 characters. Is is smart enough to know that/would it still show it?

[Shwetha Vastrad (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Mark,

This forum post provides more information on how AdWords chooses which finalUrl to serve when an ad is displayed. This does not impact the displayUrl for the ad. When a keyword is matched to the search term, based on the keyword insertion option used, the keyword's text is inserted in the displayUrl. I would suggest that you reach out to the AdWords Community forum as they are better equipped to answer this question.