Content advertising performance optimization system and method

A computer-implemented method of generating optimized content ad groups, the method comprising:

• obtaining a first keyword list for a target ad campaign;
• obtaining target performance metric criteria for the target ad campaign;
• creating a control ad group comprising the first keyword list;
• and
• performing an iterative keyword optimization routine, wherein each iteration includes:
• creating a plurality of test ad groups, each of said test ad groups comprising a test subset of keywords selected from said first keyword list, wherein:
• on a first iteration, each test subset of keywords is selected by a random process;
• and
• on subsequent iterations, each test subset of keywords is generated by an iterative refinement process in accordance with a plurality of better-performing complementary ad groups selected in the preceding iteration;
• running each of said test ad groups for a period of time;
• in accordance with said target performance metric criteria, tracking a test performance metric for each of said test ad groups;
• in accordance with said test performance metrics, selecting a new plurality of better-performing complementary ad groups from among test ad groups.