?gkw={kewyord} in Content Network destination URLs

Can "?gkw={keyword}" be used in content network

[fitzer]

I'm hoping to start tracking the keyword that is triggering my ads to fire on sites in the Content Network. I realize that it is the group of keywords in an ad group that determines if/when my ad displays (vs an individual keyword):

"On Google's content network, ads are not triggered by individual keywords. Instead, all the terms in the advertiser's keyword list within an ad group are taken into consideration to determine a theme for the ad group. Google scans the content of the web page and matches the content with ad groups matching the theme of the page."

However, I'm curious to see what (if anything) is passed in the destination URL from the Content Network when "?gkw={keyword}" is added.

I'm running some tests and will posts my results. Just wanted to get some feedback from you guys as well.

Thx

[sanfrankid94102]

Hey Fitzer,

You should be able to see the keyword Google used to match the theme of your ad group with the page. I am able to pull internal reports showing referring kw and use &KW={keyword}&GB in the URL.

Thanks.

[sanfrankid94102]

I should say that the keyword passed varies on the referrer. So in a report one ad group might show 10 different keywords for 10 different sites.

[fitzer]

I can confirm that the matching keyword is in-fact passed in the destination URL when "?gkw={keyword}" is used in Content Network destination URLs.

For example, I have an ad group with these keywords:

funny videos
live videos
online videos
videos
watch videos

My ad was loaded on a site with a the term "videos" in it's content (and no other matching keywords) and the gkw value that was populated in my destination URL was "?gkw=videos".

I'll assume that if the site's content contained the terms "funny videos" then that keyword would have been passed in the destination URL, instead of just "videos".

So now I can track what specific keywords in my ad group are triggering my ad to display on sites in the Content Network. This will come in handy for other, non-Content Network campaigns.

[nakita_dog]

fitzer, when you ran this test, was it with a content network only campaign? Meaning no Google search or search network?

[fitzer]

when you ran this test, was it with a content network only campaign? Meaning no Google search or search network?

Sure was. Content Network only.

[nakita_dog]

This is interesting. If the keyword data is there, why not just let us have it? :-) I was always under the impression that content network campaigns worked off of keyword themes and not off of individual keywords.

Also, I am not a big fan of dynamic keyword insertion in the destination URL. It makes a mess of log analysis.

Are you using any special software to analyze the results?

[fitzer]

why not just let us have it?

Some things in the Google world just aren't meant to make sense, I guess :P

Are you using any special software to analyze the results?

I'm using custom built (in-house) tracking but I think a product like tracking202 might do this although I'm not sure.