PPC Keyword Tool Recommendations

Once you've populated your campaign with keywords and grouped them into structured ad sets, it's time to optimize. The Recommendations feature in the Semrush PPC Keyword Tool helps you refine your campaign by identifying opportunities to streamline.

Use the Recommendations button to:

• Prevent cross-group competition
• Slash wasted ad spend

Step 1: Open and Set Up the PPC Keyword Tool

Before diving into Recommendations, make sure your campaigns are properly set up in the PPC Keyword Tool. You’ll need to have a folder, at least one campaign, and keyword groups created with keywords inside them.

To open the tool:

1. Go to the Semrush left-hand menu, click the Advertising icon, then select PPC Keyword Tool.
   
   

2. Make sure you’ve set up or selected a folder to build out with your PPC keywords.
   
   

Once inside, configure your campaigns and groups, then head to the Recommendations button in the top right.

Step 2: Review Your Recommendations

Click the Recommendations button in the top-right corner of the PPC Keyword Tool to reveal a drop-down menu of actionable tips and shortcuts based on your current keyword setup.

These options include:

• Clean keywords
• Remove duplicates
• Cross-group negatives
• Remove empty groups

You can also access any of these tools directly, as we covered in the Adding Keywords and Organizing Ad Groups manual.

Clean Keywords

This option removes unnecessary elements from your keywords, like:

• Special characters
• Articles (“the,” “a”)
• Prepositions
• Interjections
• Conjunctions
• Numbers
• Any word you define manually

After cleaning, Semrush will automatically update the CPC and volume metrics for your revised keywords.

Remove Duplicates

Duplicate keywords can confuse Google Ads and hurt campaign efficiency. This option identifies and removes repeated terms across groups or campaigns.

Click Remove duplicates from the Recommendations drop-down to open the duplicates manager.

Filter by any word order or strict word order, or set the match type for each duplicate keyword. Then, use the checkboxes to review and remove selected duplicates in one click.

Cross-Group Negatives

Cross-group negatives prevent your ads from competing with each other by adding keywords as negatives to other groups.

Click cross-group negatives to:

• Identify keyword overlap across ad groups
• Automatically assign negatives where competition occurs
• Extend the analysis across multiple campaigns

This is especially useful when using broad-match keywords that can trigger multiple ads.

Remove Empty Groups

Keeping your ad group structure clean helps avoid confusion for Google Ads. If your project includes unused ad groups with no assigned keywords, this recommendation deletes them with one click. 

Click remove empty groups to tidy up your account instantly.

Streamline, Optimize, and Scale With Confidence

The Recommendations feature is the PPC Keyword Too built-in optimization assistant. Used alongside  the rest of the tool’s features, it helps ensure your campaigns are structured, relevant, and cost-effective from the start.

The PPC Keyword Tool is part of the broader Semrush Advertising Toolkit, which equips SMBs and agencies with everything they need to manage, research, and improve paid campaigns across platforms.

To get the most out of your setup, check out our other PPC Keyword Tool manuals:

• Configuring the PPC Keyword Tool
• Adding Keywords and Organizing Ad Groups

Together with Recommendations, these manuals explain how to take full control over your campaign structure and strategy, so you can hit your ROAS goals without wasted spend.