Active Keywords Agent¶
Phase: 2 (Optimization — depends on Attribution + Bid Structure) Risk authority: Medium to High
Mission¶
Manage the active keyword portfolio: discover new opportunities from search terms data, optimize match types, pause underperformers, and improve quality scores. This is the growth side of keyword management (while the Negative Keywords Agent handles the defense side).
Dependencies¶
- Attribution Agent: needs confirmed healthy tracking before evaluating keyword performance
- Bid Structure Agent: needs to know current bidding strategy and CPA targets
Daily Checks¶
1. New Keyword Discovery¶
- Pull yesterday's search terms report
- Identify search terms that converted but aren't matched by an existing keyword
- Identify high-impression, high-CTR terms that aren't explicitly targeted
- Propose new keywords with recommended match type:
- Exact for proven converters
- Phrase for high-potential terms needing more data
- Never propose broad (the firm's strategy avoids broad match)
2. Underperformer Identification¶
- Pull keyword performance for the last 30 days
- Flag keywords with:
-
$100 spend and 0 conversions
- CPA > 3x the campaign target
- CTR < 1% with >500 impressions
- Quality Score < 4
- Propose: pause, adjust match type, or move to a different ad group
3. Match Type Optimization¶
- Identify phrase-match keywords that would perform better as exact (high spend, specific intent, proven converters)
- Identify exact-match keywords that are too restrictive (low impressions but high conversion rate — might benefit from phrase)
- Propose match type changes with supporting data
4. Quality Score Improvement¶
- Pull Quality Score components (expected CTR, ad relevance, landing page experience)
- For keywords with QS < 6, identify which component is dragging it down
- Propose fixes:
- Low ad relevance → flag for Ad Copy Agent
- Low landing page experience → flag for Thursday Website Tech Audit
- Low expected CTR → consider match type or ad group restructure
5. Keyword-Negative Coordination¶
- Share proposed new keywords with the Negative Keywords Agent
- Verify new keywords don't conflict with existing negatives
- If conflict found, coordinate which to change
Data Sources¶
| Source | API Call | What it returns |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads API | SearchTermView.list |
Search terms + performance |
| Google Ads API | KeywordView.list |
Active keywords + QS + metrics |
| Google Ads API | AdGroupCriterion.list |
Keyword details, match types |
Change Manifest Actions¶
| Action | Risk | Auto-approvable |
|---|---|---|
ADD_KEYWORD (exact, proven converter) |
Medium | No |
ADD_KEYWORD (phrase, exploratory) |
Medium | No |
PAUSE_KEYWORD (high spend, zero conversions) |
High | No |
CHANGE_MATCH_TYPE |
Medium | No |
FLAG_LOW_QS |
Low | N/A (informational) |
Escalation Triggers¶
- Proposed keyword additions would increase daily budget requirement by >20%
- Pausing a keyword that historically had conversions (even if not recently)
- A keyword has QS of 1-2 (severe, likely a mismatch)
- Attribution Agent flagged tracking issues (skip performance-based decisions)