Negative keywords are intended to prevent ads from showing on irrelevant search queries, but they might inadvertently block normal keywords from matching relevant search queries, making your campaigns less effective. The most common reason for a negative keyword to conflict with a normal keyword is that the negative keyword was created with a match type that is broader than intended. Conflicts can also arise if different people are updating the keywords in an account at the same time.
Negative Keyword Conflicts checks whether the negative keywords in an account block any normal keywords. The script finds and saves all such conflicts to a spreadsheet and distributes an alert over email. The recipients can then take appropriate action, such as deleting the negative keywords causing the conflicts.
Scheduling
Schedule the script to run about as frequently as you update keywords. For example, if you update keywords very frequently, you might schedule the script to run Hourly. If you update keywords less frequently, you might schedule it to run Daily or even less frequently. There is no value in running the script more often than you update keywords, since the only way for new conflicts to arise is if the keywords have changed.
How it works
The script uses reports to fetch all of the negative and normal keywords across the account and checks whether any normal keywords are blocked. All negative keywords are considered, including campaign-level negative keywords, ad group-level negative keywords, and negative keyword lists attached to a campaign.
Whether a negative keyword blocks a normal keyword depends on their match types. In general, a negative keyword using a stricter match type than a normal keyword cannot block it, because the normal keyword will match a wider range of search queries.
For example, an exact match negative keyword [silk scarves] does not block a
broad match normal keyword silk scarves because the latter would match queries
like scarves silk or women's silk scarves, which the negative keyword does
not filter out.
Here are the rules:
- An exact match negative keyword like
[silk scarves]would only block an identical exact match normal keyword. - A phrase match negative keyword like
"silk scarves"would block any phrase or exact match normal keyword containing the phrasesilk scarves. - A broad match negative keyword like
silk scarveswould block any normal keyword (regardless of match type) that contains the wordssilkandscarvesin any order.
Errors
If the script finds any conflicts, it outputs the details to a spreadsheet and sends an email alert to a list of recipients. The script does not create a spreadsheet or send an email if there are no conflicts.
Timeouts
The script might time out for accounts with more than 250,000 keywords and
50,000 negative keywords. For these accounts, you can create multiple instances
of the script and set the CAMPAIGN_LABEL so that each instance operates on a
different subset of your campaigns.
Setup
- Set up a script with the source code below. Use a copy of this template spreadsheet.
- Don't forget to update
SPREADSHEET_URLandRECIPIENT_EMAILSin your script. - Optionally, provide a
CAMPAIGN_LABELso that the script operates on only a subset of your campaigns. - Schedule the script.
Source code
// Copyright 2015, Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
//
// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
// You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
// limitations under the License.
/**
* @name Negative Keyword Conflicts
*
* @overview The Negative Keyword Conflicts script generates a spreadsheet
* and email alert if a Google Ads account has positive keywords which are
* blocked by negative keywords. See
* https://developers.google.com/google-ads/scripts/docs/solutions/negative-keyword-conflicts
* for more details.
*
* @author Google Ads Scripts Team [adwords-scripts@googlegroups.com]
*
* @version 2.1
*
* @changelog
* - version 2.1
* - Fix bug where negative keywords were not categorized correctly.
* - version 2.0
* - Updated to use new Google Ads scripts features.
* - version 1.3.3
* - Added column for negative keyword list name.
* - version 1.3.2
* - Added validation for external spreadsheet setup.
* - version 1.3.1
* - Fix bug where campaigns with multiple shared negative keyword lists were
* not handled correctly.
* - version 1.3.0
* - Fix bug where in certain cases phrase match negatives were incorrectly
* reported as blocking positive keywords.
* - version 1.2.1
* - Improvements to time zone handling.
* - version 1.2
* - Improved compatibility with Large Manager Hierarchy template.
* - Add option for reusing the spreadsheet or making a copy.
* - version 1.1
* - Bug fixes.
* - version 1.0
* - Released initial version.
*/
const CONFIG = {
// URL of the spreadsheet template.
// This should be a copy of https://goo.gl/M4HjaH.
SPREADSHEET_URL: 'YOUR_SPREADSHEET_URL',
// Whether to output results to a copy of the above spreadsheet (true) or to
// the spreadsheet directly, overwriting previous results (false).
COPY_SPREADSHEET: false,
// Array of addresses to be alerted via email if conflicts are found.
RECIPIENT_EMAILS: [
'YOUR_EMAIL_HERE'
],
// Label on the campaigns to be processed.
// Leave blank to include all campaigns.
CAMPAIGN_LABEL: '',
// Limits on the number of keywords in an account the script can process.
MAX_POSITIVES: 250000,
MAX_NEGATIVES: 50000
};
/**
* Configuration to be used for running reports.
*/
const REPORTING_OPTIONS = {
// Comment out the following line to default to the latest reporting version.
apiVersion: 'v11'
};
function main() {
let spreadsheet = validateAndGetSpreadsheet(CONFIG.SPREADSHEET_URL);
validateEmailAddresses();
const conflicts = findAllConflicts();
if (CONFIG.COPY_SPREADSHEET) {
spreadsheet = spreadsheet.copy('Negative Keyword Conflicts');
}
initializeSpreadsheet(spreadsheet);
const hasConflicts = outputConflicts(spreadsheet,
AdsApp.currentAccount().getCustomerId(), conflicts);
if (hasConflicts && CONFIG.RECIPIENT_EMAILS) {
sendEmail(spreadsheet);
}
}
/**
* Finds all negative keyword conflicts in an account.
*
* @return {Array.<Object>} An array of conflicts.
*/
function findAllConflicts() {
let campaignIds;
if (CONFIG.CAMPAIGN_LABEL) {
campaignIds = getCampaignIdsWithLabel(CONFIG.CAMPAIGN_LABEL);
} else {
campaignIds = getAllCampaignIds();
}
let campaignCondition = '';
if (campaignIds.length > 0) {
campaignCondition = `AND campaign.id IN (${campaignIds.join(',')})`;
}
console.log('Downloading keywords performance report');
let query =
`SELECT campaign.id, campaign.name, ad_group.id, ad_group.name, ` +
`ad_group_criterion.keyword.text, ` +
`ad_group_criterion.keyword.match_type, ` +
`ad_group_criterion.negative FROM keyword_view ` +
`WHERE campaign.status = "ENABLED" AND ad_group.status = "ENABLED" `+
`AND ad_group_criterion.status = "ENABLED" ` +
`${campaignCondition} AND segments.date DURING YESTERDAY`;
let report = AdsApp.report(query, REPORTING_OPTIONS);
console.log('Building cache and populating with keywords');
let cache = {};
let numPositives = 0;
let numNegatives = 0;
let rows = report.rows();
for (const row of rows) {
const campaignId = row['campaign.id'];
const campaignName = row['campaign.name'];
const adGroupId = row['ad_group.id'];
const adGroupName = row['ad_group.name'];
const keywordText = row['ad_group_criterion.keyword.text'];
const keywordMatchType = row['ad_group_criterion.keyword.match_type'];
const isNegative = row['ad_group_criterion.negative'];
if (!cache[campaignId]) {
cache[campaignId] = {
campaignName: campaignName,
adGroups: {},
negatives: [],
negativesFromLists: [],
};
}
if (!cache[campaignId].adGroups[adGroupId]) {
cache[campaignId].adGroups[adGroupId] = {
adGroupName: adGroupName,
positives: [],
negatives: [],
};
}
if (isNegative) {
cache[campaignId].adGroups[adGroupId].negatives
.push(normalizeKeyword(keywordText, keywordMatchType));
numNegatives++;
} else {
cache[campaignId].adGroups[adGroupId].positives
.push(normalizeKeyword(keywordText, keywordMatchType));
numPositives++;
}
if (numPositives > CONFIG.MAX_POSITIVES ||
numNegatives > CONFIG.MAX_NEGATIVES) {
throw 'Trying to process too many keywords. Please restrict the ' +
'script to a smaller subset of campaigns.';
}
}
console.log('Downloading campaign negatives report');
query =
`SELECT campaign.id, campaign_criterion.keyword.text, ` +
`campaign_criterion.keyword.match_type FROM campaign_criterion ` +
`WHERE campaign_criterion.negative = true AND ` +
`campaign_criterion.type = "KEYWORD" AND ` +
`campaign.status = "ENABLED" ${campaignCondition}`;
report = AdsApp.report(query, REPORTING_OPTIONS);
rows = report.rows();
for (const row of rows) {
const campaignId = row['campaign.id'];
const keywordText = row['campaign_criterion.keyword.text'];
const keywordMatchType = row['campaign_criterion.keyword.match_type'];
if (cache[campaignId]) {
cache[campaignId].negatives
.push(normalizeKeyword(keywordText, keywordMatchType));
}
}
console.log('Populating cache with negative keyword lists');
const negativeKeywordLists =
AdsApp.negativeKeywordLists().withCondition('Status = ACTIVE').get();
for (const negativeKeywordList of negativeKeywordLists) {
const negativeList = {name: negativeKeywordList.getName(), negatives: []};
const negativeKeywords = negativeKeywordList.negativeKeywords().get();
for (const negative of negativeKeywords) {
negativeList.negatives.push(
normalizeKeyword(negative.getText(), negative.getMatchType()));
}
const campaigns = negativeKeywordList.campaigns()
.withCondition('Status = ENABLED').get();
for (const campaign of campaigns) {
const campaignId = campaign.getId();
if (cache[campaignId]) {
cache[campaignId].negativesFromLists =
cache[campaignId].negativesFromLists.concat(negativeList);
}
}
}
console.log('Finding negative conflicts');
let conflicts = [];
// Adds context about the conflict.
const enrichConflict = function(
conflict, campaignId, adGroupId, level, opt_listName) {
conflict.campaignId = campaignId;
conflict.adGroupId = adGroupId;
conflict.campaignName = cache[campaignId].campaignName;
conflict.adGroupName = cache[campaignId].adGroups[adGroupId].adGroupName;
conflict.level = level;
conflict.listName = opt_listName || '-';
};
for (const campaignId in cache) {
for (const adGroupId in cache[campaignId].adGroups) {
const positives = cache[campaignId].adGroups[adGroupId].positives;
const negativeLevels = {
'Campaign': cache[campaignId].negatives,
'Ad Group': cache[campaignId].adGroups[adGroupId].negatives
};
for (const level in negativeLevels) {
const newConflicts =
checkForConflicts(negativeLevels[level], positives);
for (const newConflict of newConflicts) {
enrichConflict(newConflict, campaignId, adGroupId, level);
}
conflicts = conflicts.concat(newConflicts);
}
const negativeLists = cache[campaignId].negativesFromLists;
const level = 'Negative list';
for (const negativeList of negativeLists) {
const newConflicts = checkForConflicts(
negativeList.negatives, positives);
for (const newConflict of newConflicts) {
enrichConflict(
newConflict, campaignId, adGroupId, level, negativeList.name);
}
conflicts = conflicts.concat(newConflicts);
}
}
}
return conflicts;
}
/**
* Saves conflicts to a spreadsheet if present.
*
* @param {Object} spreadsheet The spreadsheet object.
* @param {string} customerId The account the conflicts are for.
* @param {Array.<Object>} conflicts A list of conflicts.
* @return {boolean} True if there were conflicts and false otherwise.
*/
function outputConflicts(spreadsheet, customerId, conflicts) {
if (conflicts.length > 0) {
saveConflictsToSpreadsheet(spreadsheet, customerId, conflicts);
console.log(`Conflicts were found for ${customerId}` +
`. See ${spreadsheet.getUrl()}`);
return true;
} else {
console.log(`No conflicts were found for ${customerId}.`);
return false;
}
}
/**
* Sets up the spreadsheet to receive output.
*
* @param {Object} spreadsheet The spreadsheet object.
*/
function initializeSpreadsheet(spreadsheet) {
// Make sure the spreadsheet is using the account's timezone.
spreadsheet.setSpreadsheetTimeZone(AdsApp.currentAccount().getTimeZone());
// Clear the last run date on the spreadsheet.
spreadsheet.getRangeByName('RunDate').clearContent();
// Clear all rows in the spreadsheet below the header row.
spreadsheet.getRangeByName('Headers')
.offset(1, 0, spreadsheet.getSheetByName('Conflicts')
.getDataRange().getLastRow())
.clearContent();
}
/**
* Saves conflicts for a particular account to the spreadsheet starting at the
* first unused row.
*
* @param {Object} spreadsheet The spreadsheet object.
* @param {string} customerId The account that the conflicts are for.
* @param {Array.<Object>} conflicts A list of conflicts.
*/
function saveConflictsToSpreadsheet(spreadsheet, customerId, conflicts) {
// Find the first open row on the Report tab below the headers and create a
// range large enough to hold all of the failures, one per row.
const lastRow = spreadsheet.getSheetByName('Conflicts')
.getDataRange().getLastRow();
const headers = spreadsheet.getRangeByName('Headers');
const outputRange = headers
.offset(lastRow - headers.getRow() + 1, 0, conflicts.length);
// Build each row of output values in the order of the columns.
const outputValues = [];
for (const conflict of conflicts) {
outputValues.push([
customerId,
conflict.negative,
conflict.level,
conflict.positives.join(', '),
conflict.campaignName,
conflict.adGroupName,
conflict.listName
]);
}
outputRange.setValues(outputValues);
spreadsheet.getRangeByName('RunDate').setValue(new Date());
for (const recipientEmail of CONFIG.RECIPIENT_EMAILS) {
spreadsheet.addEditor(recipientEmail);
}
}
/**
* Sends an email to a list of email addresses with a link to the spreadsheet.
*
* @param {Object} spreadsheet The spreadsheet object.
*/
function sendEmail(spreadsheet) {
MailApp.sendEmail(CONFIG.RECIPIENT_EMAILS.join(','),
'Negative Keyword Conflicts Found',
`Negative keyword conflicts were found in your ` +
`Google Ads account(s). See ` +
`${spreadsheet.getUrl()} for details. You may wish ` +
`to delete the negative keywords causing the conflicts.`);
}
/**
* Retrieves the campaign IDs of a campaign iterator.
*
* @param {Object} campaigns A CampaignIterator object.
* @return {Array.<Integer>} An array of campaign IDs.
*/
function getCampaignIds(campaigns) {
const campaignIds = [];
for (const campaign of campaigns) {
campaignIds.push(campaign.getId());
}
return campaignIds;
}
/**
* Retrieves all campaign IDs in an account.
*
* @return {Array.<Integer>} An array of campaign IDs.
*/
function getAllCampaignIds() {
return getCampaignIds(AdsApp.campaigns().get());
}
/**
* Retrieves the campaign IDs with a given label.
*
* @param {string} labelText The text of the label.
* @return {Array.<Integer>} An array of campaign IDs, or null if the
* label was not found.
*/
function getCampaignIdsWithLabel(labelText) {
const labels = AdsApp.labels()
.withCondition('Name = "' + labelText + '"')
.get();
if (!labels.hasNext()) {
return null;
}
const label = labels.next();
return getCampaignIds(label.campaigns().get());
}
/**
* Compares a set of negative keywords and positive keywords to identify
* conflicts where a negative keyword blocks a positive keyword.
*
* @param {Array.<Object>} negatives A list of objects with fields
* display, raw, and matchType.
* @param {Array.<Object>} positives A list of objects with fields
* display, raw, and matchType.
* @return {Array.<Object>} An array of conflicts, each an object with
* the negative keyword display text causing the conflict and an array
* of blocked positive keyword display texts.
*/
function checkForConflicts(negatives, positives) {
const conflicts = [];
for (const negative of negatives) {
let anyBlock = false;
const blockedPositives = [];
for (const positive of positives) {
if (negativeBlocksPositive(negative, positive)) {
anyBlock = true;
blockedPositives.push(positive.display);
}
}
if (anyBlock) {
conflicts.push({
negative: negative.display,
positives: blockedPositives
});
}
}
return conflicts;
}
/**
* Removes leading and trailing match type punctuation from the first and
* last character of a keyword's text, if any.
*
* @param {string} text A keyword's text to remove punctuation from.
* @param {string} open The character that may be the first character.
* @param {string} close The character that may be the last character.
* @return {Object} The same text, trimmed of open and close if present.
*/
function trimKeyword(text, open, close) {
if (text.substring(0, 1) == open &&
text.substring(text.length - 1) == close) {
return text.substring(1, text.length - 1);
}
return text;
}
/**
* Normalizes a keyword by returning a raw and display version and consistent
* match type. The raw version has no leading and trailing punctuation for
* phrase and exact match keywords, no consecutive whitespace, is all
* lowercase, and removes broad match qualifiers. The display version has no
* consecutive whitespace and is all lowercase. The match type is uppercase.
*
* @param {string} text A keyword's text that should be normalized.
* @param {string} matchType The keyword's match type.
* @return {Object} An object with fields display, raw, and matchType.
*/
function normalizeKeyword(text, matchType) {
let display;
let raw = text;
matchType = matchType.toUpperCase();
// Replace leading and trailing "" for phrase match keywords and [] for
// exact match keywords, if it is there.
if (matchType == 'PHRASE') {
raw = trimKeyword(raw, '"', '"');
} else if (matchType == 'EXACT') {
raw = trimKeyword(raw, '[', ']');
}
// Collapse any runs of whitespace into single spaces.
raw = raw.replace(new RegExp('\\s+', 'g'), ' ');
// Keywords are not case sensitive.
raw = raw.toLowerCase();
// Set display version.
display = raw;
if (matchType == 'PHRASE') {
display = '"' + display + '"';
} else if (matchType == 'EXACT') {
display = '[' + display + ']';
}
// Remove broad match modifier '+' sign.
raw = raw.replace(new RegExp('\\s\\+', 'g'), ' ');
return {display: display, raw: raw, matchType: matchType};
}
/**
* Tests whether all of the tokens in one keyword's raw text appear in
* the tokens of a second keyword's text.
*
* @param {string} keywordText1 the raw keyword text whose tokens may
* appear in the other keyword text.
* @param {string} keywordText2 the raw keyword text which may contain
* the tokens of the other keyword.
* @return {boolean} Whether all tokens in keywordText1 appear among
* the tokens of keywordText2.
*/
function hasAllTokens(keywordText1, keywordText2) {
const keywordTokens1 = keywordText1.split(' ');
const keywordTokens2 = keywordText2.split(' ');
for (const keywordToken of keywordTokens1) {
if (keywordTokens2.indexOf(keywordToken) == -1) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
/**
* Tests whether all of the tokens in one keyword's raw text appear in
* order in the tokens of a second keyword's text.
*
* @param {string} keywordText1 the raw keyword text whose tokens may
* appear in the other keyword text.
* @param {string} keywordText2 the raw keyword text which may contain
* the tokens of the other keyword in order.
* @return {boolean} Whether all tokens in keywordText1 appear in order
* among the tokens of keywordText2.
*/
function isSubsequence(keywordText1, keywordText2) {
return (' ' + keywordText2 + ' ').indexOf(' ' + keywordText1 + ' ') >= 0;
}
/**
* Tests whether a negative keyword blocks a positive keyword, taking into
* account their match types.
*
* @param {Object} negative An object with fields raw and matchType.
* @param {Object} positive An object with fields raw and matchType.
* @return {boolean} Whether the negative keyword blocks the positive keyword.
*/
function negativeBlocksPositive(negative, positive) {
let isNegativeStricter;
switch (positive.matchType) {
case 'BROAD':
isNegativeStricter = negative.matchType != 'BROAD';
break;
case 'PHRASE':
isNegativeStricter = negative.matchType == 'EXACT';
break;
case 'EXACT':
isNegativeStricter = false;
break;
}
if (isNegativeStricter) {
return false;
}
switch (negative.matchType) {
case 'BROAD':
return hasAllTokens(negative.raw, positive.raw);
break;
case 'PHRASE':
return isSubsequence(negative.raw, positive.raw);
break;
case 'EXACT':
return positive.raw === negative.raw;
break;
}
}
/**
* Validates the provided spreadsheet URL to make sure that it's set up
* properly. Throws a descriptive error message if validation fails.
*
* @param {string} spreadsheeturl The URL of the spreadsheet to open.
* @return {Spreadsheet} The spreadsheet object itself, fetched from the URL.
* @throws {Error} If the spreadsheet URL hasn't been set
*/
function validateAndGetSpreadsheet(spreadsheeturl) {
if (spreadsheeturl == 'YOUR_SPREADSHEET_URL') {
throw new Error('Please specify a valid Spreadsheet URL. You can find' +
' a link to a template in the associated guide for this script.');
}
return SpreadsheetApp.openByUrl(spreadsheeturl);
}
/**
* Validates the provided email address to make sure it's not the default.
* Throws a descriptive error message if validation fails.
*
* @throws {Error} If the list of email addresses is still the default
*/
function validateEmailAddresses() {
if (CONFIG.RECIPIENT_EMAILS &&
CONFIG.RECIPIENT_EMAILS[0] == 'YOUR_EMAIL_HERE') {
throw new Error('Please either specify a valid email address or clear' +
' the RECIPIENT_EMAILS field.');
}
}