What is Keyword Harvesting?

Keyword Harvesting is the process of discovering high-performing search terms from your auto campaigns (or broad match keywords) and promoting them to exact match keywords for better control and optimization.

The Keyword Harvesting Workflow

Auto Campaign → Discovers search terms
     ↓
Search Term Report → Identifies winners
     ↓
Manual Campaign → Add as exact match
     ↓
Auto Campaign → Negative exact the term
     ↓
Optimize → Better control, lower ACoS

Why Harvest Keywords?

Auto campaigns are great at:

• Discovering new search terms
• Casting a wide net
• Finding unexpected winners

Auto campaigns are bad at:

• Precise bid control
• Optimizing specific terms
• Scaling winners efficiently

Solution: Harvest winners into manual campaigns where you have full control.

Harvesting Criteria

Promote a search term when:

• 2+ orders attributed
• ACoS at or below target
• Consistent performance (not one-time fluke)

Example thresholds:

The Negation Step

Critical: After harvesting a term to manual exact match, add it as a negative exact in the auto campaign.

Why? Without negation:

• Both campaigns compete for the same search
• You pay twice for the same clicks
• Data becomes fragmented

Keyword Harvesting Best Practices

1. Run auto campaigns continuously - They're your discovery engine
2. Review weekly - Fresh data, fresh opportunities
3. Use consistent thresholds - Remove emotion from decisions
4. Track harvested keywords - Know what you've already moved
5. Automate the process - Tools like Shurq can harvest 24/7