Mastering the various types of keyword matching in AdWords is a step towards a successful Pay Per Click PPC campaign. But understanding all of the PPC-related terminology can be challenging, and match types are no exception.
This guide describes the advantages and disadvantages of each type of match and the reasons for choosing one.
What are keyword match types
Keyword matching types are settings that can be added to selected keywords to control which search queries result in your ads showing. There are 5 types of AdWords compliance, each with its own specific advantages and disadvantages. Choosing which one you’d like to bet on is critical to the success of paid search campaigns and the overall state of your AdWords account. If you introduce too stringent restrictions, you can miss the potential long search terms that convert well and bring a positive return on investment. If you take the campaign too leniently, you’ll have to pay for unnecessary clicks.
Keyword match types in google adwords have different properties. Therefore, it is important to remember best practices and make sure that there is a clear understanding of why and in which cases certain types are used.
Broad match
This is the default setting in AdWords that will broadcast ads to anyone searching for entered or related terms on the Google search network. This type of match can be very effective when the marketer is in the phase of studying and experimenting with keyword research. Setting up a broad match PPC campaign will provide a lot of data that you can use later.
For example, a salary outsourcing proposal may bet on a version with a broad correspondence with the term “salary”. She will show their ads to anyone looking for a specific phrase “payroll”, as well as any other phrases containing this term (for example, “payroll software”, “payroll scheme”) and similar. The most obvious advantage of this is that advertising reaches a very large audience, and this potentially increases brand awareness. It also reveals an extensive range of potentially relevant keywords, as well as precise search volumes and key metrics that are suitable for measuring campaign success (e.g., clickthrough rate and conversion rate).
But there are a number of risks when choosing this type of match in AdWords. Many irrelevant searches will display ads. Because Google displays them to people looking for similar terms, you can end up assigning search phrases that aren't suitable. In addition, it will be possible to optimize the ad and the landing pages of your advertisement well enough to achieve positive quality indicators, taking into account the huge set of search terms that will trigger the ad.
Negative keywords
Negative match keywords must be entered using the minus sign in front of them. The use of such words shows AdWords that these keywords should not be used to display ads. For example, when you enter the word “-storage” when using the broad-matched phrase “Krasnodar freight forwarders”, ads will not appear when someone searches for companies involved in moving and storing, or companies engaged in storage in Krasnodar. Negative keywords are entered only for the broad match type. They are a great way to increase your AdWords campaign’s profitability and are often used by both new and experienced AdWords users.
Negative Match Types
These types play a leading role in determining the exact match of a keyword to a search query, which leads to the display of an ad or its blocking. It should be noted that closed variations (spelling errors, singular or plural, abbreviation, origin, abbreviation) do not apply to negative keywords. Therefore, in the case when there is a need to block any of the options, the user must add each of them individually as negative keywords.
- Broad match for negative keywords
There is a rule here when it is necessary to include negative keywords with a broad match in the search query, regardless of order. However, keep in mind that for any synonym, the ad will still be displayed. For example, “- soft toy” will block the display of ads for queries: “soft toy on the Internet”, “purchase of soft toys for girls”, “soft toys and toys for children”, etc. But in the absence of one of the keywords in the request an ad will appear, for example, for searches such as “toys for children,” “stuffed dolls,” etc.
The negative keyword keyword in quotation marks will not display ads when the search query contains terms in the same order. For example, when you enter “soft toy”, the search terms “soft toy for children” or “soft toy for girls” will not be shown, but ads will be displayed for such queries as “soft toy”, “toys”, etc. .
- Exact match for negative keywords
With this type of negative match, impressions will only be blocked if the ad exactly matches the request. For example, [soft toy] will block the display of only a specific ad for the request "soft toy", for other requests, such as "soft toy for children", etc., the ad will be shown.
Broad match modifier
This is a relatively well-known adwords match type that many internet marketers still don’t know about. This is essentially a broad match keyword. But any of the individual words in the phrase that are preceded by the + sign must be in the request so that the display can be realized. Ads will receive a large number of impressions, but the user will have a little more control.
For example, the broad match modifier keyword "+ plumber + Krasnodar" will trigger ads to appear if people are looking for:
- Krasnodar plumber;
- the best plumber in Krasnodar;
- cheap plumber in Krasnodar;
- Krasnodar plumber.
In other words, the ads will be shown to anyone looking for any phrase containing both the word "plumber" and the word "Krasnodar." The ad will not be displayed for “cleaning the sewage system of Krasnodar” if the user has made a bid for a keyword such as “plumber Krasnodar” with a broad match as the type of match.
Phrase match
Matching phrases allows you to further control the search for ads, because the search query must include the specified specific phrase. In this case, the use of quotation marks means that the keyword uses the phrase match type.
For example, if a “bicycle shop” is suggested as a phrase, ads will only appear if search engines use specific words in that particular order. In this way, ads will be shown for:
- a bike shop next to me;
- bicycle shop in Krasnodar;
- The best bike shop in Russia.
Like broad match, it can generate new variations of keywords and give a good idea of the terms that the target audience uses around the given keyword. They also provide some great ideas that you can get through other marketing channels. For example, as in the above search terms, you can see that people are looking for a key term plus “free delivery” or “how.” This will help to improve the offer of a product or service that a user might want to add to attract potential customers (for example, the “how to order” guide).
Thus, using phrase matching is a reliable PPC tactic because it has the benefits of broad match, while eliminating some of the disadvantages, especially when using negative keywords.
Exact match
Exact match is the most restricted type of adwords match. Marketers should look for the exact keyword or phrase to bid on to trigger one of the ads.
Exact match keywords are entered using square brackets. Simply put, if the phrase “tennis coach” is used with an exact match (that is, [tennis coach]), users will see ads only if they themselves start looking for the exact phrase “tennis coach”. New AdWords users often assume that this is exactly what happens when they use broad match keywords. And this is where serious PPC management problems begin.
The benefits of using exact match are very obvious.
First of all, this type of google adwords match allows you to control the search queries for which ads are shown much better than any other type of match. This, in turn, means that traffic to the site will be targeted and (provided that the keywords are well studied) will be the most profitable for the business.
Secondly, there is no need to worry about irrelevant traffic or the introduction of a long list of negative keywords.
Finally, it allows you to set bids at a very detailed level. For example, a user sells running shoes through an e-commerce site. Perhaps he knows that the overall conversion rate of his PPC is 2%. But he may also know that one particular keyword phrase (say, “cheap professional sneakers”) has an e-commerce conversion rate of 10%. Assuming that maximum cost-per-click biddings provide a positive return on investment in your PPC account, he will be able to increase his bid for exact match phrase 5 times [cheap professional sneakers]. This despite the fact that he will still receive a positive return on investment.
Exact Matching Disadvantages
Of course, there are also disadvantages to this type of adwords match. Clearly, exact matching cannot be used for keyword research or planning. This will not increase brand accessibility for a wider audience. But another problem that the user may not be aware of is that "exact" does not really mean that.
Spelling mistakes, plurals, and other very close variations of your keyword phrase can trigger your ads. For example, if you are bidding on the phrase “retirement advice” as an exact match, ads can appear when people search for “retirement advice” (as expected), as well as “retirement advice” or “retirement tips”.
This may not seem like a very serious problem, since these options exactly match the search purpose of the specified keyword phrase. But more recently, Google started showing exact-match keyword ads when search terms use different word orders or contain service words. For example, if you bet on the term soccer coach, an ad may appear when people search for the word soccer coach. Google insists that when syntax variations change the meaning, they will not match. But there are still obvious examples where phrases with a different word order generate better or worse ROI.
How keyword matching types affect bidding strategies
Starting a campaign, you can use all types of matching in order to see and learn how they work, and then understand what works best. Therefore, you can first use broad match, the broad match modifier, and then change the adwords match type to phrase and exact.
So, starting work with the keyword "Krasnodar carrier companies", you can use it with all types of compliance:
- Broad match - Krasnodar shipping company.
- Broad match modifier - Krasnodar trucking + company.
- Phrase match - "Cargo transportation of Krasnodar".
- Exact coincidence - [companies of cargo transportation of Krasnodar].
In general, it’s best to bid higher for exact match keywords and lower for broad match keywords. The former are likely to advertise ads in search results that exactly match a product or service. Since the marketer provides the search engine exactly what he is looking for, it’s worth focusing more on exact match keywords.
With a phrase match, a little less will be offered than with an exact match. And for keywords with broad match and with a broad match modifier, the price will be slightly lower than for keywords with matching phrases.
But you should always allow data and results to have the greatest impact on your bidding strategies.