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Two Match Type Strategies That Can Enhance Your PPC PerformancePosted by Joe on August 20, 2008 in Advanced PPC Strategies |
Last week I wrote an article about an account that we inherited that had been constructed and managed poorly. One of the strategies I called into question was separating keyword match types into unique ad groups within Google AdWords. However, we had quite a few comments from our readers stating that this is a strategy that they employ frequently with great results.
This is one of the best things about our blog: I’m always learning how different people manage their PPC campaigns! After conversing with our commentators I thought I would give everyone a summary of what has been discussed.
Breaking your match types down into separate ad groups can be a beneficial strategy (for the right accounts). One of the benefits of using this strategy can be to test which ad text works best with your specific match types. Also, you can determine which match type works best for your target audience. Since each match type has a slightly different intent, then each is going to perform differently. You can optimize your ad groups accordingly while pausing the under performers. As Tom Hale commented,
“Google Analytics does not distinguish between keyword matching options – that reason alone provides a case for match specific ad groups in some circumstances. Labeling an ad group per a matching option also can make daily management more efficient and provide quick insight into the value chain of your target market. Broad early entry into the cycle vs specific purchase inquiries.”
And Patrick also added another comment on this strategy:
“We have three AdGroups for each match type. Outstanding success with the best Qscore I have ever seen. Exact Match types give the best conversion rate for almost any business. Now that we have seen these match types broken down, the CPA has dropped big time, and our position has increased. The CPC has also dropped down too! I can now make simple decisions to pause phrase and broad keywords completely. Even if I pause my broad keywords, it will lose traffic of course (impressions and clicks) but the traffic I am getting through these broken down ad groups are highly converting.”
Also, we have not discussed negative embedded match here at PPC Hero. Sampling directly from the Googe AdWords help section, here is the definition for this match type:
Embedded match is a sophisticated form of keyword matching that allows you to prevent your ad from appearing in relation to certain phrase or exact matches. This is popular when an advertiser sells merchandise related to a movie or book, but not the actual movie or book.
Example: An advertiser selling Toy Story merchandise might use the embedded match option of a negative and exact match on -[Toy Story]. This way, the advertiser’s ads appear for Toy Story dolls and Toy Story products, but not for the exact match Toy Story.
Example: For the broad-matched keyword used book and negative keyword -college, your ad could appear when users enter the following query:
| Ad will appear: used book seller |
Ad won’t appear: used college book |
The account we inherited was using embedded match a bit too liberally. But I do agree; both of these match type strategies can help target your keywords and optimize your PPC account, resulting in a better click-through rate and conversion rate. Thanks to everyone who commented on the last post with tips, clarifications, and insights!
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- Match Types in Google AdWords – Use ‘Em if You’ve Got ‘Em
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September 4th, 2008 at 11:42 am
[...] Joe posted a 2nd article less that a week later: Two Match Type Strategies That Can Enhance Your PPC Performance: Last week I wrote an article about an account that we inherited that had been constructed and [...]
September 8th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I’ve been looking and searching in your blog but I couldn’t an answer to my questions on the keyword matching options.
Which matching option would you suggest I start with when creating a new account? I clearly understand the difference between the 3 (broad, phrase and exact)
Let say I’m targeting the word “Hotel Montreal” what happen if I set up an Ad group for that keyword using the three matching options, would I be competing against myself? Will the exact match be less expensive per click than the phrase match?
Let say a user does a search on Google with “hotel montreal” as the trigger Word and that I’m bidding on that word using broad match and my competitor is bidding on the same word using exact match. Considering all things (quality score, landing page, bid price) being equal will the one using the exact match get a better position?
Thank you in advance for helping me with this.
By the way excellent blog… You folks at PPC hero do great job educating the world on PPC advertising. I have learned a lot since I started reading your blog. Kuddo’s to you guys.
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:14 am
Constant, I trying to find out the same thing:
Q1. Am I competing with myself by using different match type on Hotel Montreal
Example:
Broad: Hotel Montreal $5
Imbed: “Hotel Montreal” $3
Exact: [Hotel Montreal] $2
Q2. Is the exact match actually cheaper or does Adwords just grab the highest bid for the phrase?
And if we are buying other hotel related phrases (hotel spa, hotel canada, inn spa), isn’t it all just redundant??
Q3: Wouldn’t it suffice to just buy one Broad match on Hotel Montreal and let Adwords pull out the synonyms?
I say ’suffice’, but Adwords is set up to run your account up to the maximum budget every day, so we really do care whether the clicks result in a phone call (service business, no online ordering).
I don’t have to tell anyone here how crazy this gets.
Thanks very much, nice work. If I answer my own question, I’ll post it here.
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:27 am
Okay, so doing the previous post sufficiently organized the questions so that I could go ahead and find the answers, Thanks!
Here are the answers:
Q1: Adword takes the Exact match (the more restrictive match type will always trigger the ad, regardless of CPC bids).
Q2: The exact match would be cheaper but also be lower rated.
Q3: No, it would not suffice. Do an exact match [Hotel Monteal] with a low CPC since it will show up in the organic search anyway. And also broader matched hotel/Montreal related words that will trigger the ad. True?
Here’s the answer from Adwords :
http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en-il&answer=66292
If you have multiple identical keywords in your AdWords account, you may have noticed that these keywords have different impression and click statistics on their Ad Group Details page.
Despite the differing account statistics, identical keywords in the same AdWords account will all have the same Quality Score. This is true even if they use different match types.
Below you’ll find an explanation of how the AdWords system determines which keyword, when it’s one of multiple identical keywords, is allowed to trigger an ad and accrue an impression.
I. Multiple Identical Keywords With the Same Match Type
The keyword with the highest CPC bid will be allowed to trigger an ad.
If the keywords have the same CPC bids, then the system will pick one at random. Note: This assumes that none of the campaigns have already met their daily budget.
II. Multiple Identical Keywords With Different Match Types
The more restrictive match type will always trigger the ad, regardless of CPC bids. For instance, if the broad-matched keyword apple and the exact-matched keyword apple both existed in your account, the exact match would always trigger an ad.