PPC Question

[laurawp]

Hi Everyone,

I've just been reading a "top tips for Google Adwords" article and one of the tips was:

20.) Bid on all three match types for every keyword/keyphrase: broad, phrase, and exact.(This will get you more clicks for your money).

I really don't understand this? Surely if you set all keywords to broad this covers any phrase or exact searches anyway....am I missing something? Can anyone clarify this for me?

Thanks,
Laura

[bapages]

If you have all 3 you most likely get a better CTR on one of the words as broad match will appear on keyword that may not be relivant on will lower your CTR.

[Shane]

Originally Posted by laurawp I really don't understand this? Surely if you set all keywords to broad this covers any phrase or exact searches anyway....am I missing something?

yup.. but broad is way too broad.. it's like the tenuous link section on chris moyles show, say you were bidding on the phrase vibrator :

exact match would only show your add when a user typed exactly : vibrator
phrase match would only show your add when a user typed in : cheap vibrator, big vibrator, best vibrators, vibrator reviews etc..
broad match would show your add for a whole plethora of what it considers "relevant" terms so yes you'd get anything not bid on in phrase or exact match, such as cheapest vibrators, large vibrators, etc.. but you'd also get gems like this.. vibrating tooth brush / vibrating tongue bar ! which if you only sell vibrators isn't good.

check out who's broad matching on vibrator here.. vibrating tooth brush - Google Search .. I see two sex toy ads that are just for vibrators, one that's for a vibrating toothbrush sex toy though.. now that's targeted lol

but if you only sell vibrators then broad match showing for toothbrush is totally irrelevant traffic..

broad match can deliver results but you MUST track all traffic and monitor it well. you'd be far better using combinations of matching to get the best results.

[bapages]

Shane,

Have a fetish for Vibrators?:eek:

[laurawp]

Thanks for your help guys, that is much clearer now.

Shane, good to see you've been doing your vibrator research...clearly you're targetting a a different kind of toy this xmas!
One thing I just want to clarify - when you say "you'd be far better using combinations of matching to get the best results" do you mean select the best match type for the keyword (depending on it's "genericness") or would it be better to go with broad match but ensure I've got a really thorough negative keywords list?

Thanks again,
Laura

[Shane]

Originally Posted by bapages Have a fetish for Vibrators?:eek:

lol no just widget'd out tbh.. sick of seeing red n blue widgets in every ppc scenario so I thought I'd spice it up a touch

Originally Posted by laurawp do you mean select the best match type for the keyword (depending on it's "genericness") or would it be better to go with broad match but ensure I've got a really thorough negative keywords list?

You could use 1 keyword on broad match and 1999 negatives in an adgroup BUT you might still be getting traffic you never even considered due to google's slack expanded broadmatch algo.

personally I think the expanded broad match algo is bordering on click fraud .. You put the keyword in your account in good faith , you and anyone else you care to ask would reasonably think that your keyword is going to be triggered when it or a highly relevant search term is typed in..

Yet in reality your advert is triggered on terms that vary on a scale of relativity from exactly that term to only the most tenuous link.. vibrators to 'vibrating tooth brush' .. true .. yes .. they both vibrate but toothbrush is totally irrelevant, may as well be a flight keyword and it shows you paddle steamer ads..both are modes of transport after all..

from vague we go to over specific and irrelevant .. you may be broad matching on 'printer cartridge' yet expanded broadmatch may show it for the term '12A1970' which is great BUT only if you sell Lexmark 12A1970 printer cartridges... this is where negatives come in.. you may have to add even model numbers brands you may have negatived already.. imagine the list of negatives there for a product like cartridges. or irrelevant model numbers.. also watch out for expansion ie.. you bid on "Samsung ML-1430" and it also shows for Samung ML-1450 .. which you may not even sell, or have in stock etc.. the list goes on..expanded match is just plain baaaad

Do a search on expanded broad match on google and you'll find posts like Expanded Broad Match Corrupted Around Aug 20 — Stop Using It! · SEMClubHouse

you should be able to choose between broad match and expanded broad match so you can opt out of it like you can for the content or search network, their disclaimer is facile and simply glosses over a potential spending black hole.

Just using broad match is pretty lazy, not to mention potentially dangerous from a ROI point of view, you should be doing highly targeted adgroups, adcopy, using phrase and exact matching and negatives.. and where broad match works.. then yup use that too but it should be the last resort not standard issue.

[MrCatz]

IMO, you should also opt for longtail / phrase keywords for PPC as these kind of specific searches would yield a higher conversion rate. The people who employs such search in PPC are most likely to buy

[laurawp]

Thanks for the clarification Shane and MrCatz, very helpful.
Laura