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So what I hear is exact is the new phrase, phrase is the new broad, broad is just… gross. If this is true, would it best practice to just use exact match now?
Hey guys I’m super new to google ads. Starting this year. I learned as much as I could, then had it all flipped on it’s head with the newest updates. Which apparently changed 2+ years ago… I feel incredibly out of my depth. Can anyone help explain to me wtf is going on?
For more info:
I’m managing ads for a real estate company.
I just started 3 search campaign with 1 ad group each, using about 9 exact match keywords, and 2 ads per ad group.
Each campaign is its own location, ad groups are themed by houses, townhomes & condos, waterfront, etc
Maximizing clicks since it’s a brand new campaign.
Am I brain dead or does this sound like a proper structure with good strategy?
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1 Reply
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No, that is an extremely simplified and honestly wrong way of looking at it. Exact match only matches with search terms that mean “exactly” what your keyword says. Phrase match matches with all search terms that **include** your keyword’s meaning. Broad match matches with all search terms that correlate with your keyword’s meaning.
/e: People downvoting this have no clue, honestly. Exact match behaves nothing like the old phrase did. It’s a fundamental misunderstanding if you think that close variants with identical meaning are a substitute for how phrase match works.
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It’s been like this for a while, but for some reason Google aren’t updating their documentation or UI to reflect the changes. ?
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NAH NAH,you got it all wronk bro.Negative keywords = GOLD MINEkeywords and their match types to a huge extent don’t matter–why? because everyone is already targeting them, you need to go BROAD match type with a HUGE negative keyword negative list. This is how you do google ads now.
also, why TF would you do maximize clicks on a new campaign? like I am actually interested in your answer, please tell me.**PLEASE READ**-I do not suggest anyone who is not managing at least 50k+ in ad spend every month to even think about trying this, bcz I guarantee you; you will fail. You need to understand negative keywords at a very deep level for this to work.
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Google published a really great piece of content on search automation over the summer, titled “Unlock the Power of Search” (link below). It’s worth a read. Specifically, it talks about how broad match + Smart Bidding are designed to work hand-in-hand, and how broad match is the only match type that takes into account all available user signals.
I’m not advocating for going full-bore, broad match, right out of the gate (especially if budgets are limited and negative keyword hygiene is a challenge); but giving broad match a fair chance (I usually leverage Experiments) – assuming you’re using Smart Bidding – can be very valuable. I have yet to run a broad match test that didn’t outperform my phrase + exact campaigns.
Edit: Having iron-clad conversion tracking in place is a must, if you’re going to go the broad match + Smart Bidding route.
Link to Google article: https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/unlock_the_power_of_search_2022.pdf
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I use exact match, 1 keyword, and a $10 daily budget for my entire campaign. No conversions, clicks only.
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What you say in the title is somewhat true. It depends on the niche. For one client, I was surprised to see the search query report on the phrase matches and I am not running only exact match in some groups. But you won’t know if you don’t use phrase match or even broad. You need data. In sports, you can’t tell the players without a scorecard, without the stats. Same idea in PPC. Use it but verify and adjust accordingly as it’s not a blanket statement for all advertisers.
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Just be sure to track conversions properly. Use max conversions a few weeks. Gather data, change to tCPA when you get at least 30 conversions / week.
Use broad match, add negatives to unrelevant search querys in daily basis. And focus on: Ads text, extensions, and Conv. Rate optimization in Landing Pages.
It worked for me at niche higher ed school.
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ughhhh – I loathe broad match and pretty much refuse to use it. However, if I am going to use it, I make sure that I do a massive preemptive competition search for every possible other company to add as a negative, as well as add my city list, state, and countries as negatives so that nothing irrelevant creeps through.
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Unpopular Opinion: Broad match keywords are doing way better than other match types recently on Google Ads (low CPCs, High CVRs). I’m seeing this across many accounts I manage, especially with smart bidding strategies. It just requires much more work (KW negating), but it pays off.
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My 2 cents.
Exact match IS more like “kinda” match. Google tends to match ideas now. I’m still a big fan of Phrase and in most of my campaigns, it works. I’ve seen exact work beautifully and in another cases its total garbage. You still need to be a maniac about your negatives because if you let that STR go unbridled your just allowing Google to run away with what they assume is your ideal audience. I won’t touch Broad with a ten-foot pole unless I’m struggling with something super niche or otherwise need to do some keyword discovery but I never like using it, my client’s budgets can support that kind of willy-nilly traffic.
All I can say is test. and yet again. and again.
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