How Keyword Planner works

Keyword Planner in Direct Commander helps you expand the set of keywords and shared negative keywords, including for different ad groups and campaigns. This tool uses search query statistics from the wordstat.yandex.com service. Learn more about the service in Yandex.Direct Help. Unlike the web service, in Commander you can start keyword planning with multiple queries at once rather than a single query.

Tip. Before making any changes, download up-to-date campaign data from the server.
  1. Selecting keywords
  2. How a set of negative keywords is generated

Selecting keywords

  1. On the Ad groups tab, select an ad group where you would like to add keywords.
  2. On the Keywords tab, click Keyword planner.
  3. In the Keyword planner window, make a base set of queries on the Base tab:
    • Use commas or the ( | ) operator to separate queries.
    • Delete irrelevant queries using the ← Backspace or Delete keys.
    Note. If you have opened Keyword Planner from the Adding keywords window or Refine keywords context menu, your keywords are shown on the Base tab. After the keywords are selected, the bids for the refined keywords are set equal to the bids of the original keywords.
  4. You can change the base set of queries, if needed:
    • Use commas or the ( | ) operator to separate queries.
    • Delete irrelevant queries using the ← Backspace or Delete keys.
    • Add similar queries.
    How to add similar queries to the base set
    1. On the Base tab, select a query or multiple queries.
    2. Go to the Based on similarity tab. This tab contains queries that have meanings similar to the selected base queries. Negative keywords are not taken into account. Each query shows the predicted number of monthly impressions in the region set for the ad group.
    3. Select relevant queries and click Add to Base.
  5. On the Base tab, select a query or multiple queries to use for keyword planning.
  6. Go to the Nested tab. This tab contains queries that match the selected base queries. They include negative keywords set for your campaign and ad group, plus negative keywords specified on the Negative keywords tab. Each query shows the predicted number of monthly impressions in the region set for the ad group.
    1. Select the Add option for the queries you want to use as keywords.
    2. Select the Exclude option for the queries you want to use as negative keywords.
      Tip. To quickly select options, use the following keys:
      • ← (left arrow) for Add
      • → (right arrow) for Exclude
      • ↓ and ↑ to navigate through the list of queries
    3. Click the Distribute button.
  7. If it wasn't possible to identify whether certain words should be used as negative keywords, the Negative keywords window appears with these words (see How a set of negative keywords is generated). Select the negative keywords you need and click Add.
  8. On the Keywords tab, check the keywords to be added to the ad group.

    You can delete unnecessary keywords using ← Backspace or Delete, if needed.

  9. On the Shared negative keywords tab, check the keywords to be added to the list of shared negative keywords for the ad group.

    If necessary, you can add a comma-separated list of negative keywords or delete keywords using ← Backspace or Delete. Multi-word negative keywords are not supported.

  10. Click the Finish button.
Note. If a keyword matches another keyword minus one word, this word is added to the first keyword as a negative keyword at the end of the keyword planning process. For example, the keywords fur coat and mink fur coat will be converted to fur coat -mink and mink fur coat. This makes statistics more accurate: the mink fur coat search query now corresponds to a single keyword in the ad group, and all the statistics for impressions and clicks on the query are assigned to this keyword.
  1. On the Ad groups tab, select multiple ad groups to add keywords to.
  2. Select keywords on the Keywords tab, then select Refine keywords in the context menu.
  3. In the Keyword planner window, your keywords will be shown on the Base tab. After the keywords are selected, the bids for the refined keywords are set equal to the bids of the original keywords.

    The ad group is shown next to each keyword. You can sort keywords by ad groups.

  4. You can add similar queries if needed.
    How to add similar queries to the base set
    1. On the Base tab, select a query or multiple queries.
    2. Go to the Based on similarity tab. This tab contains queries that have meanings similar to the selected base queries. Negative keywords are not taken into account. Each query shows the predicted number of monthly impressions in the region set for the ad group.
    3. Select relevant queries and click Add to Base. The queries will be added to the base keywords for their ad groups.
  5. On the Base tab, select a query or multiple queries to use for keyword planning.
  6. Go to the Nested tab. This tab contains queries that match the selected base queries. They include negative keywords set for your campaign and ad group, plus negative keywords specified on the Negative keywords tab. Each query shows the predicted number of monthly impressions in the region set for the ad group.
    1. Select the Add option for the queries you want to use as keywords.
    2. Select the Exclude option for the queries you want to use as negative keywords.
      Tip. To quickly select options, use the following keys:
      • ← (left arrow) for Add
      • → (right arrow) for Exclude
      • ↓ and ↑ to navigate through the list of queries
    3. Click the Distribute button. Keywords and negative keywords are added to relevant ad groups.
  7. If it wasn't possible to identify whether certain words should be used as negative keywords, the Negative keywords window appears with these words (see How a set of negative keywords is generated). Select the negative keywords you need and click Add.
  8. On the Keywords tab, check the keywords to be added to the applicable ad groups.

    You can delete unnecessary keywords using ← Backspace or Delete, if needed.

  9. On the Shared negative keywords tab, check the keywords to be added to the list of shared negative keywords for the applicable ad groups.

    If necessary, you can add a comma-separated list of negative keywords or delete keywords using ← Backspace or Delete. Multi-word negative keywords are not supported.

  10. Click the Finish button.
Note. If a keyword matches another keyword minus one word, this word is added to the first keyword as a negative keyword at the end of the keyword planning process. For example, the keywords fur coat and mink fur coat will be converted to fur coat -mink and mink fur coat. This makes statistics more accurate: the mink fur coat search query now corresponds to a single keyword in the ad group, and all the statistics for impressions and clicks on the query are assigned to this keyword.

How a set of negative keywords is generated

Queries that have the Exclude option selected are split into individual keywords when the Distribute button is clicked. Each of these keywords is matched to the keywords you have already selected the Add option for or added to the Keywords tab.

  • If a keyword is part of a multi-word keyword, it is not used as a negative keyword.
  • If the excluded query minus one word is part of a keyword, then this word is added to the Negative keywords tab without additional confirmation.
  • The other keywords will be displayed in the Negative keywords window, so you can mark which of them to use as negative keywords.
Examples

If the book tickets query has the Add option selected, while the book train tickets query has the Exclude option selected, the word train is added to negative keywords automatically.

If the book tickets query has the Add option selected, while the +to book your ticket query has the Exclude option selected, Commander will not be able to automatically identify which of the words +to or your (or both) should be used as a negative keyword. These words will be displayed in the Negative keywords window.