Keyword rules automatically adjust bids for your keywords based on full-funnel performance — from installs to trials, subscriptions, and revenue. Set your target CPA or ROAS once, and let the rules scale profitable keywords and cut waste on underperformers.

Define conditions based on metrics like spend, conversions, ROAS, impressions, and CPA, then schedule them to run at your preferred frequency. Rules respond to performance changes without manual intervention.

Create a keyword rule

You can create keyword rules from templates or manually from scratch.

From a template

Adapty provides ready-to-use templates for common optimization scenarios.

Common templates include:

• Cut waste on non-converting keywords — decrease bids where Spend > X and Installs or Trials = 0.
• Scale winning keywords — increase bids where ROAS > target or CPA < target.

To create a rule from a template:

1. In the left sidebar, go to Automations and click Templates.
   
2. Choose a template and click Next.
   
3. Review and adjust the pre-filled settings:
   • Rule name: Automatically set to the template name and current date (e.g., “Scale Winning Keywords - [2025-11-12]”).
   • Apply to: Select campaign groups, apps, campaigns, or ad groups where the rule should apply.
   • Conditions: Modify the pre-configured conditions if needed.
   • Action: Modify the pre-set bid adjustment if needed.
   • Schedule: Set how often the rule should run.
   
4. Click Save to activate the rule.

Manually

To create a custom keyword rule from scratch:

1. In the left sidebar, go to Automations, click Create rule, and select Keywords as the rule type.

   

2. Enter a descriptive Rule name to identify the rule’s purpose.

3. In the Apply to section, select campaign groups, apps, campaigns, or ad groups where the rule should apply.

   

4. Click Add condition and select a metric from the list.

   Metrics are calculated for the selected time range in your account currency. Data is updated near real-time, so rules always use fresh performance data.

   

5. Set the time period (for example, Previous 3 days or Previous 7 days), choose the comparison operator, and enter the threshold value that triggers the rule.

   

6. To add more conditions, click Add condition and select an And or Or operator on the left.

   

7. In the Action section, configure the bid adjustment:

   • Action type: Select Increase by, Decrease by, or Set to.
   • Value type: Switch between $ (absolute) and % (relative). Percentage changes apply to the current bid at the time the rule runs.
   • Upper bid limit (optional): Set a maximum bid cap to prevent overbidding if the rule runs repeatedly on strong signals.
   

8. In the Schedule section:

   • Choose the frequency: Every day, Every 2 days, Every week, and so on.
   • Select the run time (all times are in UTC).

   Rules run at the scheduled time in UTC. Execution usually finishes within a few minutes, after which you can see changes in Logs and in the main dashboard.

   

9. Click Save to create the rule.

Best practices

• Start with narrower scopes. Apply new rules to a few campaigns or ad groups first to validate behavior before expanding.
• Use short lookback windows for active campaigns. For fast-moving campaigns, 3–7 previous days usually works better than 30 days.
• Combine spend and conversions. Avoid single-metric rules. Use Spend together with Installs, Trials, or ROAS for more reliable signals.
• Always set bid caps. Upper bid limit prevents runaway bids when a strong signal triggers the rule multiple times in a row.
• Wait before applying rules to newly promoted keywords. If you use search term automations to promote terms into keyword campaigns, give those keywords a day or two to accumulate data first. A keyword rule may otherwise fire on a term with no performance history and cut its bid before it has a chance to convert.