How to optimize keywords

In Direct Commander, you can quickly optimize a set of keywords: eliminate overlap or merge duplicates.

Eliminate overlap

Removes overlapping keywords matching the same search query. If two keywords differ by one word, a negative keyword is added to one of them.

Examples:


Original keywords	Result	Comment
trip to mars free trip to mars	trip to Mars -free free trip to mars	Negative keyword added
buy trip buy trip alpha centauri	buy trip buy trip alpha centauri	Keywords differ by more than one keyword, overlaps are not eliminated
moon tour -reviews book tour to moon	moon tour -reviews -book book tour to moon	Negative keyword added. Word order, grammatical form, and stop words do not matter


Original keywords	Result	Comment
trip to mars free trip to mars	trip to Mars -free free trip to mars	Negative keyword added
buy trip buy trip alpha centauri	buy trip buy trip alpha centauri	Keywords differ by more than one keyword, overlaps are not eliminated
moon tour -reviews book tour to moon	moon tour -reviews -book book tour to moon	Negative keyword added. Word order, grammatical form, and stop words do not matter

Merge duplicates

Combines several phrases that differ only in negative keywords. The combined keyword will contain the negative keywords from all the original keywords. The other keywords are deleted. If statistics exists for keywords, the keyword with the best CTR is left.

Examples:


Original keywords	Result	Comment
flight to the moon -cartoon moon flight -free -cheap	moon flight -free -cheap -cartoon	The keywords have been merged. Word order, grammatical form, and stop words do not matter
flight to mars fly to mars	flight to mars fly to mars	Different parts of speech, no merging


Original keywords	Result	Comment
flight to the moon -cartoon moon flight -free -cheap	moon flight -free -cheap -cartoon	The keywords have been merged. Word order, grammatical form, and stop words do not matter
flight to mars fly to mars	flight to mars fly to mars	Different parts of speech, no merging

You can also optimize a set of keywords that belong to different ad groups or campaigns. However, overlap is eliminated and duplicates are merged only between ad groups served in the same regions and advertising the same website.

Optimize keywords

On the Campaigns tab, select a single campaign or multiple campaigns.
Get statistics and prices for the selected campaigns: click Get and select the Statistics and prices only option.
On the Ad groups tab, select one or more ad groups.
Go to the Keywords tab. If you want to eliminate overlaps or merge duplicates for selected keywords only, select the relevant keywords.
Click the Edit button and select Optimize keywords from the menu.
In the window that opens, specify which set of keywords to correct.
Select the operation to apply: eliminate overlaps only, merge duplicates only, or both.
Tip. Merging duplicates can result in all keywords being deleted from some ad groups. To be able to quickly find such groups later, turn on the option Mark the groups that all phrases were deleted from with a star ★.
Select the option Show preview of changes.
Use the Preview changes option to check the changes that will result from keyword optimization and edit them, if needed.
Click the Apply button.
Check and edit changes in the Preview changes window.
The window displays all the keywords that are going to be changed. If you have a lot of changes, they are divided into parts. Click Next to view the next part of your changes.
For more information, see Preview changes.
Note. Follow this step only if Show preview of changes is selected.
Click the Finish button.

Preview changes

Use the Preview changes option to check the changes that will result from keyword optimization and edit them, if needed.

Check the changes on all the tabs in the Preview changes window.
The window displays all the keywords that are going to be changed. If you have a lot of changes, they are divided into parts. Click Next to view the next part of your changes.
Apply or cancel changes:
- On the Duplicates tab, you'll see the keywords to be deleted as a result of optimization.
  To keep a keyword, clear the option in the Delete column for the keyword.
  To mark a keyword with a star, select the option to the left of the desired keyword.
- On the Overlaps tab, you'll see the keywords that will have negative keywords added (this is needed to eliminate overlaps in the set of keywords). The changes will be highlighted in bold.
  To cancel adding negative keywords, clear the option in the Adjust column for the desired keyword.
Click the Finish button.

You can use keyboard shortcuts for certain actions:


Keyboard shortcut	Description
Space	Select or clear a change.
Ctrl + M	Add/remove star for the selected items
↑, ↓	Move one row up or down.
Hover the cursor and click on the first item, then press Shift and click on the last item	Select multiple items sequentially.
Ctrl + A (Win) cmd + A (Mac)	Select all items on the active tab


Keyboard shortcut	Description
Space	Select or clear a change.
Ctrl + M	Add/remove star for the selected items
↑, ↓	Move one row up or down.
Hover the cursor and click on the first item, then press Shift and click on the last item	Select multiple items sequentially.
Ctrl + A (Win) cmd + A (Mac)	Select all items on the active tab