Find keywords with an overly high cost per conversion

What it flagsKeywords that convert, but at way too high a cost

This recommendation isn't about keywords with no conversions (those fall under other recommendations). It's specifically about keywords that do convert, just at a price that no longer makes sense. The cost per conversion is at least twice what the rest of your campaign and account pay on average.

AdBuilder looks at the last 90 days, calculates the actual CPA per keyword and compares it to a reference CPA. Keywords that stand out well above that, and cost a lot of money at the same time, rise to the top. They're sorted by spend, so you see the biggest money drains first.

Why it mattersAn expensive keyword quietly eats your budget

A keyword that converts looks fine at first glance, so it easily slips past your review. But if it costs two to three times more per conversion than the rest of your account, you're structurally overpaying. That same money would earn more conversions elsewhere in your campaigns.

AdBuilder calculates how much of the spend is above average and estimates how much you're overspending per month based on that. That way you immediately see what fixing this is worth, instead of letting cost per conversion creep up unnoticed.

How it worksHow AdBuilder recognizes too high a CPA

The reference CPA isn't a simple average. AdBuilder blends the campaign CPA and the account CPA with precision weighting: the more conversions a campaign has of its own, the more that campaign counts. The keyword being evaluated doesn't count toward its own benchmark, so an expensive keyword can't drag the average up itself and escape judgment.

A keyword must meet all of these conditions before it's flagged:

• It's enabled, as are the ad group and campaign around it.
• The campaign has run for at least 14 days; younger campaigns are still in the learning phase and are skipped.
• At least 3 conversions over 90 days, otherwise there's too little evidence.
• The CPA is at least 2x the reference CPA (from 6 conversions). With thin evidence (3 to 5 conversions), a stricter bar of 2.5x applies.
• The cost is at least max(€50, 3x the reference CPA), so small amounts don't create noise.
• With Smart Bidding, stricter thresholds apply: only from a CPA of 3x and cost of 5x do we suggest pausing, otherwise it goes to the bid calibration recommendation.
• Broad keywords already picked up by the broad-to-phrase recommendation, and keywords that are efficient in a recent window (where raising the bid should win instead), are skipped.

What you can doLower the bid or pause the keyword

AdBuilder shows at most the ten most expensive keywords and tailors the suggested action to your bid strategy. You decide per keyword what happens; nothing is applied automatically without your approval.

Which action best lowers cost per conversion depends on how you bid:

• Manual bidding (manual CPC): AdBuilder suggests a lower CPC bid. The reduction is measured (milder with thin evidence) and never more than half your current bid.
• Smart Bidding: pausing is the suggestion, since Smart Bidding ignores a lower keyword bid.
• Everything can be checked off per keyword and fully reversed: a lowered bid goes back to its old value, a paused keyword can be turned back on.