How to get the keywords you want at Overture
...without being frustrated by the review police! – by Ginette Degner

Can't get your keyword at Overture?

You're not alone. Gone are the days when we sent in every word even remotely related to our product or service and got cheap clicks at 5¢. These days, every word is a premium ad purchase giving us good reason to make sure every click count$.

What's frustrating is the fact that some of our most productive word-buys are related to our product but not necessarily relevant in the eyes of Overture's relevancy reviewer (ORR).

Convincing the relevancy reviewer

For instance, suppose you sell a prep course for Real Estate exams and the keyphrase, online real estate school, does in fact target your market and produces high quality clicks. The problem is, it's not exactly what your site is all about. And, the ORR routinely denies you that particular keyphrase irrespective of the fact that you once were able to purchase the phrase easily – or, perhaps you've noticed in your logs that Overture is sending you traffic on that phrase via their Match Driver system.

In either case, that gives you a leg to stand on when you go-to-battle with Overture's review board. In such cases where you know the phrase is a winner (money-wise) for your site, you should contact Overture directly. Tell them how you know this keyword is relevant and explain that it is producing quality clicks that are converting to sales.

Furthermore, it helps to point out that they are already sending you traffic through Match Driver (whenever such is the case) and that you want to take advantage of this by actually purchasing the word.

Remember – they're in it for the money.

Good or bad, agree or not, you must understand that money talks. So, if you're to expect more than just a canned email response, be prepared to spend significantly or else work through a company that does. Typically, these are companies that professionally manage Overture accounts and, therefore, work directly with Overture.

You must also understand that even payola, uh ...advertising dollars, won't help you get around Overture's relevancy review if your keyword request is off target. You will also find...