Synonyms in Yandex.Direct: How to Disable / ITech content

Contents:

• The extent of damage from synonyms: a case study
• The first method is constant minusation
• The second method is limiting display conditions
• Let's summarize

Since 2016, Yandex.Direct has been actively using synonyms for advertising, adding them to keywords specified by advertisers. The system automatically finds words that are similar in meaning to the specified keywords. For example, the search query "paint sprayer" can be supplemented with the synonym "paint sprayer." This approach allows Yandex.Direct to increase traffic and the number of requests, which contributes to more effective promotion of goods and services.

What happened in this system? As traffic volumes increase, Direct often displays ads for irrelevant keywords. As a result, advertisers are forced to pay for clicks from users who aren't interested in purchasing. In this article, we will analyze the scale of the problem using a specific example and consider effective methods for combating impressions based on synonyms.

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The Extent of Damage from Synonyms: A Case Study

The problem of irrelevant synonyms in Yandex.Direct is significant for advertisers. This is especially true in topics where word meanings can be interpreted differently. Incorrect use of synonyms can lead to ads being shown to the wrong audience, which reduces the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and increases costs. To minimize such risks, it is important to carefully select keywords and use negative keywords, which will help improve targeting and increase conversion.

Let's look at a case study of advertising for SuperJob, a portal aimed at employers. The primary goals of this advertising campaign are to increase registrations on the platform and encourage job postings. Effective advertising should address the needs of the target audience and offer solutions that help employers find qualified employees.

We created a landing page for employers, selected keywords that matched their queries, and wrote relevant texts. However, after launching the page, we noticed that 70-80% of traffic was coming from job seekers, not companies. This was reflected in the impression statistics for queries, indicating the need to optimize the content to attract the target audience. We plan to review our SEO strategies to improve our page's visibility among employers and increase the quality of incoming traffic.

Note the fourth line. We used the keywords "chief accountant needed." Yandex added the synonym "chief accountant vacancy" and displayed the corresponding ad. The system targeted job seekers based on the keywords selected for employers. As a result, synonyms began to significantly spend the budget.

At this stage, we began implementing stop words to minimize the impact of irrelevant synonyms. This method will be discussed in detail later. The screenshot below shows how the target price changed. The average cost per lead was 581.05 rubles. The registration cost KPI was not achieved, and budget expenditure exceeded planned targets. The main reason for this failure was precisely the synonyms.

The situation began to improve after we stopped using negative keywords to combat synonyms and began testing different display conditions. We began implementing operators that help exclude synonyms from search queries. This allowed us to more accurately target our audience and improve traffic quality. Experimenting with display conditions became a key step in optimizing our strategy, ultimately leading to increased conversions and improved advertising campaign effectiveness.

The screenshot below shows the key performance indicators of the advertising campaign, including budget, number of employer registrations, and cost per conversion. The data was collected for one day and covers all active campaigns. The cost per lead reached 283.12 rubles, with an increase in conversions. These results confirm the success of the implemented display conditions and their positive impact on the overall effectiveness of advertising.

The effect was successfully recorded, and the result consistently meets the established KPI. The screenshot shows the achieved bid price, indicated in the top "total" line—398.54 rubles. This means that during the first stage of optimization, the bid price was reduced from 580 to an acceptable 398 rubles. These results confirm the effectiveness of the optimization measures.

Optimization consisted exclusively of eliminating synonyms. We did not make adjustments for demographics, geolocation, or device types. Also, no testing of landing pages or texts was conducted, and no changes were made to the semantic core.

We have gained valuable experience and can recommend two effective methods for combating synonyms. The first method is to use content analysis to identify synonyms that may negatively impact search engine optimization. The second method involves creating unique content that avoids excessive use of synonyms, thereby increasing the relevance and quality of the text. These approaches will help you improve the visibility of your content in search engines and ensure a more accurate match to user queries.

• constant minus;
• working with display conditions.

In this section, we will consider their features and advantages in detail.

The first method is constant minus.

This method involves tracking the queries for which your ads are displayed. You then block irrelevant queries by adding negative keywords and negative phrases. Unlike other methods, expanding the stop word list minimally limits the reach of advertising campaigns. This allows you to optimize advertising costs and improve advertising effectiveness by excluding non-target audiences. This approach helps focus on more relevant queries, which ultimately leads to better results and increased conversions.

Permanent negative keyword elimination is suitable for advertising campaigns with a clearly defined topic, where the Yandex.Direct system finds a limited number of synonyms. In cases where there are a large number of synonyms, this method may be ineffective, as the number of negative keywords and negative phrases is limited. Optimizing negative keywords allows you to focus on your target audience and avoid unnecessary ad impressions, which helps improve the efficiency of your advertising costs.

Effective synonym elimination using stop words requires one to two weeks of intensive work with incoming traffic. If you haven't resolved the issue within this period or you've encountered limitations, this method is unfortunately not suitable for your situation.

If your topic has numerous synonyms and ambiguities, you may need to spend over an hour daily working with keywords. This will lead to you running into stop word limitations in your advertising campaign. By adding stop words at the group level, you'll reach the limit again, and ultimately, you'll run into the keyword length limit. Proper management of synonyms and stop words will help optimize your strategy and improve the effectiveness of your advertising campaign.

It's important to understand that stop words may not activate instantly. This can take up to 24 hours, and their impact is not immediately apparent. During this time, ineffective synonyms may continue to drain your advertising budget.

Enabling an automatic stop word reduction service may seem logical. However, it doesn't solve the stop word limit issue. If using negative keywords doesn't eliminate synonyms, consider alternative methods.

The second method is to limit display conditions.

The idea is to exclude synonyms using operators. This optimizes search results and improves the accuracy of results. Using operators when filtering synonyms helps focus on key terms, which facilitates more efficient analysis and processing of information. Properly configured operators ensure greater relevance and accuracy in the resulting data, which is especially important in SEO.

The ! operator is used for exact matching in advertising campaigns, excluding the use of synonyms. However, it is worth keeping in mind that using this operator significantly limits the reach of your advertising.

In the SuperJob study, we tested the use of the ! operator, but this led to a significant decrease in traffic volume, which fell almost to zero. Therefore, we decided to abandon this approach.

We also conducted tests with the » » and [ ] operators. However, we decided to abandon their use for the same reason as the ! operator - a significant decrease in reach.

The + operator has proven itself as an effective tool in search engine optimization. It forcibly includes a specified word in a search query, which ensures that ads are displayed only for relevant queries containing this word. This allows you to increase the accuracy and targeting of advertising campaigns, excluding impressions for queries in which the given word is not present. This approach helps optimize your advertising budget and increase conversion, as ads will only be shown to users who are truly interested in your offer.

Let's summarize

Synonyms can account for up to 80% of your advertising budget. Therefore, it is important to regularly analyze the queries for which Yandex displays your ads. This will help optimize costs and improve the effectiveness of your advertising campaign. Regularly monitoring queries will help you identify the most profitable keywords and eliminate ineffective ones, which in turn helps improve your return on investment.

If you are working on a narrow topic for which the system finds a limited number of synonyms, we recommend using constant minus keywords. If you have a sufficient number of synonyms, but they result in impressions for the wrong audience, it is worth paying attention to the display conditions. Our experience at MOAB shows that using the + operator can significantly increase the effectiveness of an advertising campaign.

At Skillbox Media, you will find many useful materials about PPC advertising. We offer articles that will help you better understand the basics of contextual advertising, optimization strategies, and best practices. Regardless of your skill level, our resources will help you effectively use PPC tools to increase your business's online visibility. Explore our content and learn how to create successful advertising campaigns that deliver results.

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