Comments on: Separating Match Types in AdWords: A Follow Up Post

By: Nate Schubert

Nate Schubert — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:01:39 +0000

I recently modified a client AdWords account into a campaign consisting of broad match terms, and a campaign consisting of phrase & exact terms and I’ve had mediocre results. My phrase & exact groups are able to bid on those match types and thus the amount goes a bit lower. Additionally, running Search Query Reports on the broad match campaign more easily reveal terms I should be bidding on, and terms I should be adding into my negatives lists.

My test is running until the end of this month but if things keep going the way they are, Joe is right. There are benefits such as those I’ve noted above but as far as I can tell, the cons are outweighing the pro’s. One major con? Conversions have seemed to drop pretty significantly in the first 2 weeks.

By: Matt Commins

Matt Commins — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:33:52 +0000

I’m a big believer in having all three match types for most of my keywords. That way you can learn which match type is generating the most conversions. Sometimes exact match keywords do not convert at all while the phrase match will provide most of the conversions.

By: Erez (PPC is me)

Erez (PPC is me) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:39:20 +0000

Thanks Dan,

I want to do the same thing soon.

Twit me when you’re done:)

By: Dan PPCPROZ

Dan PPCPROZ — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:43:43 +0000

Erez (ppc is me)

I agree with you on that.

I am putting a post together now on my suggestion for a best practice strategy for account development, re: match types.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:05:52 +0000

@trebuchet: Thanks! Really? Google told you not to use all 3 match types? Very interesting indeed! Well, now I’m going to have to call them and see what kind of answer I get from them.

@Richard: Yes, inheriting accounts can be frustrating and exciting all at the same time. There are some tried-and-true tactics like creating very tightly focused campaigns and ad groups. But I don’t think there is “one best way” to structure a campaign because each product/service are going to be different with varying needs and goals. Really, it comes to relevancy and conversion optimization.

By: PPC is me

PPC is me — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:01:19 +0000

Do you think all keywords should have all 3 match types?
I personally think that only your “core keywords” should be with all 3 match types because having all match types for all your keywords will actually triple the amount of keywords you have in the account and will make the analysis and reporting harder. The question is when the benefits of using all 3 match types is beats the disadvantages in having too many keywords?

@trebuchet, of course Google will tell you to use just the broad matching – it means more money for Google.

By: Richard A. Lewis

Richard A. Lewis — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:55:20 +0000

Joe.. That is a very interesting way that the account you inherited was setup. It can be quite frustrating to inherit an account that you have to completely overhaul. Do you believe there is one best way for Campaign/Adgroup structure? Or do you believe that it has more to do with the individual client (i.e. a service site as opposed to an ecommerce site). I personally enjoy “cleaning” up inherited accounts but sometimes feel I am just changing it to my style of doing things, and that the previous manager might not have been wrong, just saw things differently.

By: trebuchet

trebuchet — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:51:31 +0000

thanks for your clarification on this. In defense of your last post which I disagree with, I called Google to clarify, and they actually told me not to use all 3 match types at all within the account if possible. I tried to rationalize the cost savings of having these match types, especially when moving from broad, to exact if the term converts for us, in order to better segment our traffic, create more focused adgroups etc. They tended to agree but I’m still surprised that they’d suggest such a thing. Regardless, the clarification is well appreciated.