> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.adalysis.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.adalysis.com/tools/audit/prebuilt-alert-list/keywords/duplicate-or-similar-keywords.md).

# Duplicate (or similar) keywords

Alert names: Duplicate keywords within a campaign, Duplicate keywords across campaigns, and Similar broad match keywords within an ad group

Adalysis will alert you to duplicate or very similar keywords. This means you can control where clicks should go in the future.

You'll see one of three alerts on your **Audit alerts** screen:

**Alert 1: Duplicate keywords within a campaign.** This means keywords may be competing against each other.

<figure><img src="https://3203600314-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FGlXujWJyreRidNjZDCw2%2Fuploads%2F3mvn9FrjacbNDP8PLb22%2Fimage.png?alt=media&amp;token=66683d82-5b11-4f5a-b59b-5e1fee491268" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Alert 2: Duplicate keywords across campaigns.** The same keyword, with the same match type, is in more than one campaign, and those campaigns target overlapping locations. The campaigns compete against each other for the same searches.

**Alert 3: Similar broad match keywords within an ad group:** This makes optimization more difficult, because the data gets diluted between the keywords.

<figure><img src="https://3203600314-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FGlXujWJyreRidNjZDCw2%2Fuploads%2FmwA5yoySZRInkMxCsJwZ%2Fimage.png?alt=media&amp;token=6b84dcde-7305-4272-9dac-03b21e24a5f9" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### Duplicate keywords across campaigns

Duplicate keywords within a campaign only look inside one campaign. Many accounts also have the same keyword in several campaigns, e.g. a brand campaign and a generic campaign, or two campaigns that were split by product line. If those campaigns target the same area, they compete for the same searches, and Google decides which one serves.

Adalysis reports a set of keywords as duplicates across campaigns when:

* The keywords have the same text and the same match type (exact or phrase).
* The keywords, their ad groups and their Search campaigns are all enabled.
* The campaigns' **targeted locations overlap** in any way.

Keywords in campaigns that target different locations aren't duplicates. For example:

| Campaign A targets                    | Campaign B targets | Duplicate?                          |
| ------------------------------------- | ------------------ | ----------------------------------- |
| United States                         | United Kingdom     | No                                  |
| United States                         | California         | Yes, California is inside the US    |
| United States, excluding California   | California         | No, campaign A excludes the overlap |
| No location targeting (all locations) | Any location       | Yes                                 |

{% hint style="info" %}
Adalysis uses the targeted and excluded locations it already downloads for each campaign. Where it can't tell whether two targets overlap (for example, two radius targets in the same country), it treats them as overlapping, so you see the possible duplicate rather than miss it.
{% endhint %}

Click a set to see each keyword with its campaign, ad group and performance, or choose **Expand all**. You can pause keywords individually, or select several sets and use the **Duplicate keyword bulk pause tool** to keep the best keyword of each set by your chosen metric and pause the rest. It works in the same way as the within-campaign alert, including the option to pause ad groups left with no active keywords.

{% hint style="warning" %}
The campaigns in a set can target areas that only partly overlap. Pausing a keyword stops it in **every** location its campaign targets, including areas the kept keyword's campaign doesn't cover. For example, if you keep the California copy and pause the US copy, the keyword no longer serves in the rest of the US. Check the campaigns' locations before you pause.
{% endhint %}

The alert runs weekly. It's available for Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising accounts. You can also set up an automatic action to pause duplicates by your preferred metric, or to apply a label, under **Audit** > **Audit settings** > **Prebuilt** > **Keywords**.

### Find duplicate or similar keywords

Click a keyword set for more details or choose **Expand all**.

<figure><img src="https://3203600314-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FGlXujWJyreRidNjZDCw2%2Fuploads%2F2Tm8ABr4PW3VkCp3SV71%2Fimage.png?alt=media&amp;token=004f97b7-cb49-48fa-bc96-205e59cfddaf" alt="" width="367"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### **Pause or delete your keywords**

We recommend leaving only the most relevant keywords for each set. For **individual** keywords, click the symbols next to the checkboxes.&#x20;

<figure><img src="https://3203600314-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FGlXujWJyreRidNjZDCw2%2Fuploads%2FJ02MbZ125YAYjifT7ues%2Fimage.png?alt=media&amp;token=c2a7a080-5279-44ad-ac31-0027c7985c01" alt="" width="254"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

To resolve duplicate keywords **in bulk,** select a set of duplicates / similar keywords. Choose either the **Similar keyword bulk pause tool** or **Duplicate keyword bulk pause tool**.

<figure><img src="https://3203600314-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FGlXujWJyreRidNjZDCw2%2Fuploads%2F6UNZIfvk05rIgScurkxq%2Fimage.png?alt=media&amp;token=1b7e3995-7985-47b0-b70f-396f131376b3" alt="" width="367"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Set your criteria for which keywords to pause. For example, keywords with the lowest impressions, conversion rate, or the highest first-page bid.

Pausing keywords can potentially leave an ad group with no active keywords. You can choose to pause such ad groups to make account maintenance easier.&#x20;

<figure><img src="https://3203600314-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FGlXujWJyreRidNjZDCw2%2Fuploads%2FRZfpZFPpvvdq8fsTHfBj%2Fimage.png?alt=media&amp;token=33e486ec-d77a-4ab2-933b-d9f40eba0d5a" alt="" width="389"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="success" %}
Under **Audit** > **Audit settings** > **Prebuilt** > **Keywords**, you can create an [automatic action](/tools/audit/how-to-auto-resolve-alerts.md) to pause duplicate or similar keywords based on your preferred metric (e.g. lowest click or conversions).
{% endhint %}