PPC : What you need to know about Dynamic Search Ads.

What are dynamic search ads?

Dynamic search ads (DSAs) are available on Google Ads and are created based on the content of your website. Google essentially crawls your site and creates a headline and URL based on both the landing page content and the searcher’s query. It is an intelligent form of advert that helps you to reach customers with headlines that have been custom-tailored to the search term.

Why use dynamic search ads?

DSAs help you to capture unique searches that you would otherwise be missing out on and fill the gaps that may be unaccounted for by your other campaigns. They also allow for more coherence between the search term, headline and URL. 

Do you have any control?

You still have control over the advert descriptions and can choose specific categories, URLs and audiences to target. By choosing specific categories or web pages for each ad group you can tailor the advert descriptions accordingly. 

Can you use RSAs for remarketing?

When creating an RSA you can choose to either target people solely from your remarketing lists or layer them within your audiences with an acquisition campaign.

By selecting your remarketing list and choosing the ‘targeting’ option under the audience tab you will be only reaching those within the list. 

By selecting your remarketing list and other relevant audiences and clicking the ‘observation’ option, you won’t be narrowing your reach and will continue to target everyone but can then make bid adjustments on each audience.

Do dynamic search campaigns use keywords?

Similarly to shopping campaigns, DSAs forego keywords – Instead Google analyses the landing page content and matches the ads to relevant search terms. In order to optimise and ensure no budget is going to waste on irrelevant terms, you need to check your search term reports and exclude any terms that you don’t want to show for.

How does bidding work with DSAs?

Although dynamic search ads don’t use keywords and don’t receive bids at the keyword level, they are still priced on a cost per click basis. Rather than bidding at the keyword level, bids are placed at URL / category level. Simply set bids for each web page or category being targeted, and you will show in the results based on your ad rank.

DSA Pros:

• Easy ad creation
• Swift set up 
• Covers ‘low search volume’ keywords 
• Automated KWR
• Maximises exposure 

DSA Cons:

• Headlines that don’t match the ad – Good SEO is necessary here
• Less control 
• Not great for small websites 

Final thoughts.

Generally speaking, Dynamic Search Ads are a great tool to use alongside your traditional keyword ad campaigns as they allow you to address a wider audience that would have been missed without it. Despite this, it is the type of campaign you will need to monitor more than others but can produce great results with good management.

Curious about Google Ads and want to know more?

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