SKAG in Apple Ads: make exact match actually exact

0:00 You set an exact keyword. Apple still shows your ad for other searches.

0:05 Exact match in Apple Ads also covers close variants:

0:09 misspellings, plurals, word order, even translations.

0:13 Here's how that bites. One day, calorie tracker app starts buying the search calorie tracker free.

0:21 Installs jump and cost per install drops. Looks like a win.

0:25 But people who search for free don't always pay for premium.

0:29 Trials stay flat, subscriptions stay flat, and return on ad spend sinks.

0:35 And the keyword doesn't tell you why: it's still calorie tracker app, at the same bid.

0:40 Now put four exact keywords in one ad group.

0:43 The search calorie counter has its own keyword, at three fifty.

0:48 But Apple buys it through calorie counter app, at four dollars.

0:52 Its own keyword spent ninety-five dollars. The stolen search, almost fifteen hundred.

0:58 Calorie tracker app spends most of its money on calorie counter app.

1:03 Its own search got twenty-five dollars.

1:06 So the bid you set isn't the bid you pay, and each keyword's numbers mix other searches.

1:13 Check it yourself: open search terms for any exact keyword.

1:17 Every row that isn't the keyword is a search you didn't choose.

1:22 The fix is called SKAG: single keyword ad groups. One ad group, one keyword.

1:28 It comes from Google Ads. In Apple Ads, where exact isn't exact, it needs two more moves.

1:36 First, give every keyword its own ad group: exact match, Search Match off, its own bid.

1:43 Second, add every keyword as an exact negative in all the other ad groups.

1:48 Now each search lands in one place.

1:51 Calorie counter is now bought only by its own keyword, at its own bid.

1:56 Each row in the report means one thing.

2:00 Third, new variants keep coming, like calorie tracker free.

2:04 Move each into its own exact ad group and block it in the others.

2:09 The new ad group starts at the same bid. From there, its own numbers tell you where to take it.

2:15 You get a bid for each search, plus a CPA goal and a custom product page for each keyword.

2:22 Remember calorie tracker free?

2:24 In its own ad group, you see its installs don't pay, and lower its bid.

2:28 Calorie tracker app stays clean.

2:31 Use SKAG in Generic and Competitor campaigns with real volume.

2:36 Keep a separate Discovery campaign with Search Match on and your SKAG keywords as negatives.

2:42 It finds the new searches.

2:44 SKAG is a tool, not a religion. Skip it on a small daily budget: it spreads thin over many ad groups.

2:52 Skip searches under ten impressions a day:

2:54 Apple reports them as low volume, so there's nothing to split.

2:59 Skip Maximize Conversions: Apple sets the bids there. And no impressions?

3:04 That's the bid, not the structure.

3:07 The catch is the work.

3:08 Twenty keywords need three hundred eighty negatives, and new searches show up every day.

3:15 By hand, that's a search terms review every single morning.

3:20 So we automated it. Meet Automated SKAG in Adapty.

3:25 Create a campaign, pick Generic, and choose SKAG instead of Standard.

3:30 Name the new ad groups, pick the hour it runs every day, and create the campaign.

3:36 Add keywords as SKAG opens right away. Paste your keywords:

3:40 each gets its own ad group, and they're cross- negated for you.

3:45 From then on, an automation checks search terms daily.

3:48 Every new search gets its own ad group and is negated in the rest.

3:53 Calorie tracker free shows up on Monday.

3:56 By Tuesday, it has its own ad group and its own numbers.

4:00 Already running a regular campaign? Don't throw it away, and don't rebuild it by hand.

4:06 By hand, that's exporting search terms, building an ad group for each, adding every negative, and pausing the old campaign.

4:15 In Adapty: select your campaigns, open Actions, and choose Convert to SKAG.

4:21 Adapty reads every search term each campaign got since it started, and plans one ad group for each.

4:29 Each ad group gets one exact keyword at its average cost per tap:

4:33 the price that search actually paid.

4:36 Don't want calorie tracker free? Remove it, and it becomes a negative in every ad group instead.

4:42 Create the new campaign paused, or live with the old one paused. Keep the daily automation on.

4:49 A few clicks, and a messy campaign becomes a clean SKAG one, kept clean every day.

4:56 Make exact match actually exact. Automated SKAG, with Adapty.