# Keyword Decisions in Sponsored Search Advertising: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.12372 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.12372/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 16 of its 114 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Feb 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [Distributed Representations of Words and Phrases and their Compositionality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1310.4546/) (2013)
- [Sequence to Sequence Learning with Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.3215/) (2014)
- [Empirical Evaluation of Gated Recurrent Neural Networks on Sequence Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.3555/) (2014)
- [Deep Sets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.06114/) (2017)
- [Set Transformer: A Framework for Attention-based Permutation-Invariant Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.00825/) (2018)
- [Real-Time Bidding by Reinforcement Learning in Display Advertising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1701.02490/) (2017)
- [Query expansion techniques for information retrieval: A survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.00247/) (2017)
- [Random Walks: A Review of Algorithms and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.03639/) (2020)
- [Click-Through Rate Prediction in Online Advertising: A Literature Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.10462/) (2022)
- [Scalable Semantic Matching of Queries to Ads in Sponsored Search Advertising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.01869/) (2016)
- [Causality-based CTR Prediction using Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.12762/) (2023)
- [Domain-Constrained Advertising Keyword Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.10374/) (2019)
- [Keyword Optimization in Sponsored Search Advertising: A Multi-Level Computational Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.13506/) (2022)
- [Keyword Targeting Optimization in Sponsored Search Advertising: Combining Selection and Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.15459/) (2022)
- [Aggregate effects of advertising decisions: a complex systems look at search engine advertising via an experimental study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.02200/) (2022)
- [Optimal Keywords Grouping in Sponsored Search Advertising under Uncertain Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.02192/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [KP-Agent: Keyword Pruning in Sponsored Search Advertising via LLM-Powered Contextual Bandits](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.05257/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In sponsored search advertising (SSA), keywords serve as the basic unit of business model, linking three stakeholders: consumers, advertisers and search engines. This paper presents an overarching framework for keyword decisions that highlights the touchpoints in search advertising management, including four levels of keyword decisions, i.e., domain-specific keyword pool generation, keyword targeting, keyword assignment and grouping, and keyword adjustment. Using this framework, we review the state-of-the-art research literature on keyword decisions with respect to techniques, input features and evaluation metrics. Finally, we discuss evolving issues and identify potential gaps that exist in the literature and outline novel research perspectives for future exploration.