Introduction
The Keyword Bulk Edit tool enables you to quickly search, edit and export high volumes of keywords across your Google, Yahoo and Microsoft (Bing) accounts, at once and with great flexibility. The tool also allows you to filter on multiple criteria, ranging from entity name to search network, as well as on metrics and numeric criteria such as average position, total clicks or cost per conversion. You can set filter values in the header field of each column in the tool. You can also select the checkbox for "Remove keywords with no metrics" to limit your list to keywords that have associated revenue information.
By default, the tool displays 50 rows per page. You can change this by selecting either 100, 200 or 500 rows from the drop-down at the bottom right of the keyword list. To go to the next page, either click Next at the top right or bottom right of the keyword list, or click on the page number to go to a specific page.
(If you have over 100,000 keywords in your accounts, you are asked to filter your list to 100,000 keywords or fewer in order to use the tool.)
Once you apply your filters, you can review keyword performance; pause, unpause or delete multiple keywords; or make bulk updates to maximum bids (Max CPCs) or destination URLs.
The Keyword Bulk Edit tool minimizes spreadsheet analysis and possible errors - all while saving you time.
When you click on the Keyword Bulk Edit button at the top right of any Manage screen, the tool launches in a new window. (To return to work in the Manage section, close the Keyword Bulk Edit window.)
Setting a Filter
You can select a search network from the column labeled G,Y,M. To filter to a particular network, select the relevant network from the drop-down box in the column header: "G" for Google AdWords, "Y" for Yahoo Search Marketing, or "M" for Microsoft adCenter (Bing). You can also select All to include keywords from all three networks.
For string values, including account, campaign, ad group or keyword name, type all or part of the entity's name in the text field next to the appropriate header name. For instance, if you want to look for all keywords in the ad group "widgets," type "widgets" in the text field in the Ad Group column header.
For metrics and numeric values, such as Max CPC or Average Position, type the maximum or minimum value in the text field in the appropriate column header. Then, click on the arrow icon above the text field on the left and select "Equal to =," "Not equal to !=," "Less than <" or "Greater than >." For instance, if you only want to see keywords with an average click through rate below .05, type ".05" in the text field in the column heading for "CTR," then click on the arrow at the upper left of that column heading and select "Less Than <." You can also type the characters "=", "!=", "<" or ">" directly into the text field instead of selecting the desired option from the list.
To set a filter on the Recommendation field, select Any Recommendation, No Recommendation or a specific recommendation type from the drop-down menu in the column header.
Once you set all your filter values, you need to click on the Filter button at the upper left of the tool to apply the filter and display only those keywords that meet the criteria you set. Clicking on the Filter button filters the keyword list by the combination of all filters applied. For example, if you have entered "widgets" in the Ad Group column header and also "less than <" and ".05" in the CTR, column header, then all keywords in the ad group "widgets" that have a CTR of less than $0.05 are shown.
To set a Last Modified Date, click on the small arrow above the column. In the calendar that pops up, a drop-down menu allows you to select a specific date ("Equal to date"), exclude a specific date ("Not equal to date"), choose a starting date ("After this date") or choose an end date ("Before this date"). Make your selection from the drop-down list and then select the date by clicking on it in the calendar.
To return to the original unfiltered state, click "Clear."
As you select keywords from the filtered list, the number of selected keywords will appear above the "Set Bid (Max CPC)" button.
Setting Date Ranges
You can also set the date range to which all values in the tool apply. The default date range in the tool is the last 30 days, but the date range is customizable. Either select one of the time periods from the Date Range drop-down, ranging from Yesterday to This Year, or create a custom date range.
If you select one of the date ranges from the drop down menu, the Begin and End dates will automatically populate for that range. If you select Custom, on the other hand, you can specify an exact date range by clicking on the Begin and End links below the drop down, and then selecting start and end dates from the calendars that pop up. You can also click directly on the calendar icons at any time to set a custom date range.
Note: All the values listed above are for the date range you have selected.
Making Updates in Bulk
With or without applying a filter, you can perform a number of functions in bulk within this tool. These include pausing, unpausing or deleting one or many keywords; setting the default bid (Max CPC) for a group of keywords; or setting the default URL for a group of keywords.
To pause or unpause keywords, simply click on the check box in the left-most column for the keywords you want to select, then click on the Pause, Unpause or Delete buttons at the top. If you want to select all the keywords displayed, check the box at the left of the column headers.
Bids can be changed individually or in bulk. An individual bid can be changed inline by entering the new bid into the text field in the Max CPC column next to a keyword. To apply one bid change to multiple keywords, select the keywords you would like to bulk-edit with the check boxes in the far left column, and then click the Set Bid (Max CPC) button. You can specify a new fixed bid value (e.g., $1.00) or apply percentage change (e.g., 20% or -20%) to the existing bids. To change a bid by a percentage, select the + or - option from the drop-down menu beside "Change bid by," and then enter the percentage by which you want to increase or decrease the bid on the selected keywords. To set a specific bid value, click the radio button beside "Set the bid to a fixed value," then enter the new value in the adjacent field.
To apply the new bids, click the Save button at the bottom right; otherwise click Cancel.
If the Max CPC column does not appear in the tool, you need to select it by clicking on Select Columns > (explained below).
Destination URLs can also be changed individually or in bulk. An individual destination URL can be changed inline by entering the URL into the text field in the Destination URL column next to a keyword. To apply one destination URL to multiple keywords, select the keywords you would like to bulk edit with the check boxes in the far left column, then click the Set Destination URL button. Enter the new URL and apply it to the selected keywords. If the Destination URL column does not appear in the tool, you need to select it by clicking on Select Columns > (explained below).
You can also accept certain ActEngine recommendation types - including Increase Keyword Bid, Decrease Keyword Bid, Pause Keyword and Reactivate Keyword - within this tool, either individually or in bulk. Simply apply the filters you want to use, select the relevant keywords, and click on either Accept or Ignore in the Recommendation Controls section at the top of the tool.
Once you accept or ignore a recommendation in the Keyword Filter tool, it no longer appears in the ActGrid section of the ActEngine. (It will however, appear in the Act History section as an accepted or ignored action.)
Note: if you make bulk changes after applying a filter, those changes are only made to the keywords that meet that criteria and appear after the filter is applied.
Exporting Your Keyword Lists
Once you finish setting your filters, you can export the list of keywords and all the data displayed as a tab-delimited CSV file. Simply click the CSV button at the top right of the tool and your browser will prompt you to download the file. Data for every keyword will reflect the total for the date range selected.
Fixed and Optional Columns
Columns that are always displayed in the tool include:
· G,Y,M [Network]: The search network on which ads associated with this keyword appear - either Google AdWords ("G"), Yahoo Search Marketing ("Y") or Microsoft adCenter ("M")
· Account: The account in which the keyword resides.
· Campaign: The campaign in which the keyword resides.
· Ad Group: The ad group in which the keyword resides.
· Keyword Name: In addition to listing the keyword name, this column indicates whether a keyword is currently syncing with the search network. Keywords that are syncing appear at the top of the list and have a green and white bar to the left of the keyword name.
In addition to these, there is a section that allows you to customize which additional columns you can see. To set the optional columns, click on the Select Columns > link at the left of the Optional Column Section. This launches a pop-up that lists all the possible additional columns. Simply check the box to the left of the columns you want to see, and uncheck the box to the left of any columns you want to hide. (You can display up to 13 additional columns at a time.) To save your selections and display the columns you have chosen, click the "Submit" button at the lower right. To cancel and return to the columns displayed before you clicked on the button, click "Cancel".
Columns that are currently filtered are indicated with an asterisk. De-selecting a filtered column removes that filter.
Optional column choices include:
· Recommendations: recommendations associated with the keyword. The recommendation types that appear in the Keyword Filter tool include Increase Keyword Bid, Decrease Keyword Bid, Pause Keyword, Reactive Keyword and the Keyword Inactive alert. (The field is blank if there are no recommendations for the keyword.) By clicking on any recommendation in the grid, you see the data used to generate the recommendation and the predicted performance change that would occur by accepting the recommendation.
· Max CPC: the default maximum bid, or maximum cost per click, that you are willing to pay when a user clicks on an ad associated with this keyword.
· Impressions: the total impressions that ads associated with the keyword have received.
· Clicks: the total clicks that ads associated with the keyword have received.
· CTR: the average click-through rate for ads associated with the keyword.
· Cost: the total costs incurred by ads associated with the keyword.
· Average CPC: the average cost per click you have paid for ads associated with the keyword.
· Average Position: the average position that ads associated with the keyword have appeared in on search engine results pages (SERPs).
· Conversions: the total conversions for ads associated with the keyword.
· Conversion Rate: the average conversion rate (conversions/clicks) for ads associated with the keyword.
· Cost / Conversion: the average cost per conversion for ads associated with the keyword.
· Revenue: the total revenue earned by ads associated with the keyword.
· ROAS: the average return on ad spend for ads associated with the keyword.
· Match Type: the keyword's match type (either Exact, Phrase or Broad)
· Network Type: the type of network that ads associated with the keyword appear on (e.g., Search or Content).
· Status: the keyword status (including paused, active, etc.)
· Destination URL: the default destination URL for ads associated with the keyword.
· Quality Score: the keyword's quality score.
· 1st Page Min Bid: the minimum first page bid for the keyword.
· Cost / Live Days: the average cost for every day that the keyword has been live in your account.
· Last Modified Date: The last date on which a change was made to this keyword.
Once you have made your selections, click Save to update the tool or Cancel to return to your previous selections. You can restore the defaults by clicking the Restore Default button and then clicking Save.
You can also change the order of the Optional Columns with a simple drag-and-drop interface. At the right of the column names is a list of the columns you have chosen in the order they appear in the tool. To change the order, simply grab a particular column and place it in a new position.