Keyword Duplication
What AdGradr checks
Section titled “What AdGradr checks”AdGradr scans all active keywords across campaigns and ad groups for exact and near-exact duplicates. Accounts with a high percentage of duplicated keywords receive a more significant finding than those with moderate duplication.
AdGradr accounts for intentional geo-segmented duplicates. If you run “plumber near me” in both a Chicago campaign and a Dallas campaign with distinct geo targets, that is not flagged as duplication.
Why this matters
Section titled “Why this matters”Duplicate keywords force your own ads to compete against each other in the same auction. Microsoft picks one ad to show (you do not control which), and the losing ad’s budget is wasted on an internal contest you cannot win. This fragments your quality score history and makes reporting unreliable because conversions scatter across duplicate entries.
Imported accounts are especially vulnerable. Importing from Google often carries over the same duplication problems that existed in Google Ads, and sometimes creates new ones when match type mappings shift during import.
What good looks like
Section titled “What good looks like”- Each keyword exists in exactly one ad group per geo target
- Match type variants (exact, phrase, broad) of the same keyword live in the same ad group or follow a deliberate SKAG/STAG structure
- Post-import cleanup has removed accidental duplicates
Common mistakes
Section titled “Common mistakes”- Importing from Google without deduplication. The import tool does not merge duplicates. If your Google account had them, your Bing account now has them too.
- Running broad and exact match in separate campaigns without negative keywords. This creates overlap where both campaigns compete for the same query.
- Copying campaigns for A/B testing without pausing the original keywords. Two live copies of the same keyword list is instant duplication.
How to fix it
Section titled “How to fix it”- Export all active keywords to a spreadsheet. Sort by normalized keyword text (lowercase, stripped of match type symbols).
- Identify duplicates that share the same geo target. Decide which ad group should own each keyword.
- Pause or remove the duplicates. Keep the version with the strongest quality score and conversion history.
- Add negative keywords where broad/phrase campaigns overlap with exact match campaigns.
When to ignore this check
Section titled “When to ignore this check”Geo-segmented duplication is valid. Running the same keyword in multiple campaigns with different location targets is standard practice for regional accounts. AdGradr already filters these out, so they will not be flagged.
Want someone to handle this? The Click Makers team manages Microsoft Ads accounts for companies spending $5K+/month. Get in touch to see if we are a fit.