I work in ecommerce performance, at home wherever ads, product data, and automation intersect. My focus is helping brands & retailers get more from Google Ads: especially Shopping, PMax, and other retail surfaces. Next horizon: AI Mode etc.

I spend a lot of time translating between technical depth and commercial reality. Along the way I’ve learned how paid visibility  keeps evolving and how teams can adapt without losing sight of the basics that still matter (for instance, account structure or feed quality). I like making complex systems understandable & useful, whether that’s through strategy work, writing, or collab with engineering teams.

I best enjoy working on problems that sit between disciplines and sharing what I learn with the wider industry. Trying my best to pay attention. Avoiding hype & buzzwords. Here to help.

Mike Ryan

Head of Ecommerce Insights at Smarter Ecommerce (smec)

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Usually when I share a link in a chat or on social media, I strip the tracking params first. Most normal people don't. So I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across a link populated with a Google Ads synthetic_keyword parameter in the wild on social media. Last month, Nils Rooijmans tipped me off during a Q&A that this parameter hasn't really started working yet. Google even deleted the documentation from their support page!

What are synthetic keywords?

Well, if you ask me, they're not keywords at all. They're search terms. But whatever. The idea is that a problem arises as users type increasingly lengthy queries (or AI prompts) into Google search and Google AI mode. On the one hand, this data will clutter search term reports with long text strings. On the other hand, it can result in more hidden search terms, because search terms are hidden for privacy reasons if they were used by fewer than 50 unique users within a 90-day period.

Synthetic keywords are intended to resolve this paradox of data density and data scarcity by creating a simplified phrase that conveys intent whilst masking privacy and complexity. They're currently available for AI Max only.

It's an alluring solution, a bit reminiscent of the new-ish search categories from the Search Term Insights report. These are "auto-generated groupings of the search terms" that have a similar effect of simplifying the data.

What are you seeing? Have you implemented synthetic keyword tracking, and is it returning data for you? Do you view this technology as a net positive or net negative for advertisers?

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