What is “AutomaticContent” under the keyword performance report?
Recently, I’ve come across keywords “AutomaticContent” or “Content” on a clients keyword performance report. These keywords I did not target pull up along with my intended keywords – what do they mean? What’s the difference? And what caused these to trigger on to your reporting?
This is a result of Google using non-traditional keywords within the Search Network with Display select to optimize your targeting and reach.
This only occurs in the Search Network with Display select – only then will it simultaneously show the ads on both networks. All ads that were shown in the Search Network will provide data of triggered keywords. All ads that were shown in the Display Network will show as “AutomaticContent”.
Even when you are not running a display ad, Google still places a small portion of your ads in the Display Network. As a result, “Automaticcontent”, which is sent to us via the API, is triggered from clicks and impressions that was not triggered by keywords.
Google scans and crawls their networks and search partners to deem what sites are relevant to your ads – it automatically serves your ads when the content of the website matches your keywords. Hence, these automatic matches are grouped under “AutomaticContent”.
If you wish to view only the keywords, there is an option to filter your performance report to just the keywords within the Search Network; under the “filters” drop down box, simply click “Search Network”.
References:
https://help.agencyanalytics.com/integrations/faqs/what-does-automatic-content-mean-in-the-google-ads-integration
https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7008650
