Have you ever wondered why a keyword performed so well few months ago and does not seem to yield the same results today? Your strategy remains the same; you are managing your account daily, but notice results that need to be explained.
Google offers a quick and easy way to determine if your ad is running and helps to diagnose potential delivery and performance issues in keywords.
The Keyword Diagnosis Tool analyzes data for each search query and its related ad(s) based on all account data at the time you perform the diagnosis. The results can contain the following information:
- Whether or not your ads are showing right now
- Competing keywords in other ad groups
- Quality Score
- Expected CTR
- Ad Relevance
- Landing Page Experience
Once you diagnose your keyword status you can optimize to regain control of your ads. You may need to identify the more valuable keyword in a conflicting situation and pause its competitor. Negative keywords can also be utilized on the ad group level to alleviate conflicting situations. Simply add one of the keywords as a negative keyword to the opposing ad group, and you will resolve the problem.
You can see each individual keyword diagnosis by hovering over the speech bubble in each keyword’s status column.
To diagnose multiple keywords follow the below instructions:
1) Go to the Keywords Tab in the Ad Words Interface
2) Select the More Actions… button
3) Run Test. Once the diagnosis is complete, you will receive an alert at the top of the screen.
4) Once completed, the status column will update and you can individually review each keyword’s status in further detail by hovering over the speech bubble.
This diagnosis tool is great to employ if you are acquiring an account from another manager or agency. More often than not, accounts have thousands of keywords and can be difficult to sort through. A great way to identify conflicting terms off the bat is to run a diagnosis. Google will also let you know what campaigns and ad groups house the competing keywords.
Another use for the tool is to identify performing keywords that have been smothered by a growing account. Sometimes keywords get buried by adding similar keywords with different match types. The Keyword Diagnosis Tool helps to find these stifled performers and allow you to make changes to let them shine once again.

















