In short: dynamic search ads (DSA) are Search with no keywords and no headlines to write: Google crawls your website and decides which searches each page is relevant for. They are the cheapest demand discovery tool there is if you control them with negative targets and your own keywords as negatives. Uncontrolled, they are a text-only PMax.
There is a way of doing Search with no keywords and without writing headlines: Dynamic Search Ads (DSA). Google crawls your website, decides which searches each page is relevant for, generates the ad headline from the content and sends the click to that page. Used well, they are the cheapest demand discovery tool there is. Used badly, they are a text PMax with no control.
How do dynamic search ads work?
- You create a dynamic ad group inside a Search campaign and define the dynamic targets: the whole website, certain categories of pages, URLs containing certain text, or a page feed.
- You only write the descriptions (2); the headline and the final URL are generated by Google according to the search and the page.
- The searches that trigger the ad are chosen by Google based on the content of your pages; they appear afterwards in the search terms report along with their landing page.
One condition: a website with clear, indexable content (descriptive page titles, real text). Single-page websites, sites where everything is an image or sites with generic titles produce bad DSA.
What are DSAs really for?
1. Discovering terms
A DSA ad group with a modest budget and all the account's keywords as negatives (so it does not compete with them) only enters searches you do not cover. Its search terms report is a list of real demand you did not have: the raw material for new keywords and ad groups. It is term mining with Google's money doing the work.
2. Large catalogues
Ecommerce with thousands of products, or websites with hundreds of services: it is impossible to write keywords and ads for every page. DSA cover the long tail with relevant ads (the headline comes from the page) while the manual keywords keep the core.
3. Filling gaps
New pages, seasonal categories, content that does not have a campaign yet. DSA cover them from day one, until they deserve a structure of their own.
How do you control dynamic search ads?
- Negative dynamic targets: exclude pages that should not be advertised (blog, legal notice, careers, out-of-stock pages, "thank you" pages). Without this, DSA will advertise your "work with us" page.
- Ordinary negatives: the same as in any campaign, plus the keywords you already have if you want DSA to do nothing but discover.
- A weekly review of the search terms report with the landing page URL column: which page is showing for which search. Absurd pairings are fixed with negative targets.
- Its own bid/target: a DSA ad group with a target CPA slightly higher than the core (it is exploring) or in a separate campaign with its own budget.
What should you do with the terms DSAs discover?
Every month, from the DSA search terms report:
- Terms with conversions → keyword (exact/phrase) in the corresponding ad group (or a new ad group) and a negative in the DSA so it stops covering it.
- Terms with volume and a good CTR but no conversions yet → watch for another month.
- Irrelevant terms → negative (and perhaps a negative target if they point at a specific page).
The DSA gradually empties of whatever has become structure and carries on exploring what is new: it is a process, not a state.
What shouldn't you expect from DSAs?
- That the generated headline will be as good as a written one: it is correct, not brilliant. That is why what you discover is turned into keywords with their own RSAs.
- That it will work on a poor website: a DSA is only worth as much as your pages.
- That it replaces control: with no negative targets and no review, it ends up advertising anything.
💡 Ninja trick: DSA produce the same kind of data as the rest of the campaign — terms with cost and conversions — so the negativisation scenarios and term mining apply to them just the same. The DSA + SQONS pairing is a discovery system with an automatic brake: DSA explores, the script cuts the noise every night and proposes as keywords whatever converts.
What you should remember
- DSA = Search with no keywords: Google chooses the search, the headline and the page from your website.
- Three uses: discovering terms (with your keywords as negatives), covering large catalogues, filling gaps.
- Control: negative targets, negatives, a weekly review with the landing page URL, its own target.
- Whatever converts is promoted to a keyword and negativised in the DSA.
That is the end of Module 1 of the Intermediate level. Module 2 goes deep into Smart Bidding: strategies, portfolios, learning, seasonality and the judge that decides whether a campaign is meeting its business target.