Jamie Quella

Modified Broad Match: The New Google AdWords Match Type

August 23rd, 2010 by Jamie Quella

In May, Google announced the release of their broad match modifier. It was beta tested in the UK and Canada but as of July it is available to AdWords customers everywhere. Many are singing its praises, and while it certainly has some advantages, the change is a bit deceptive as a new cure-all for keyword woes.

The modified broad match is not a new “official” match type in Google AdWords, but rather a new “AdWords targeting feature”, as Google puts it. By adding a plus symbol (+) directly in front of one or more words in your broad match keyword phrase, your keyword will trigger ads only when the word with the plus symbol (+) or a “close variant” appear in the search query. Close variants include common misspellings, singular/plural forms and stemmings such as the –ing and –er endings of words, but synonyms are not included. A modified broad match keyword of “wood +floor”, for example, would make the ad trigger for searches of “hardwood flooring,” “wood floor” and “bamboo flooring.” Using the new type for the keyword phrase “+wood +floor” would only trigger the ad for search queries of “wood floors,” “wood floorer” and not “polished pine floors.”

An example of synonym variants appearing for a broad match keyword search query

The Return of Traditional Broad Match

Longtime AdWords experts, such as Andrew Goodman, are hailing the broad match modifier as the return of the “old school” broad match, harkening back to a time before Google switched to the expanded broad match type that was introduced in 2006. The traditional broad match meant that Google served ads only when the words in your bidded keyword appeared in the user’s search query in any order. The expanded broad match widened the net even further by showing your ad on even more terms that Google deemed related to your keyword. Many advertisers have complained of the expanded broad match has yielded wild results for keyword searches that are irrelevant to their ads. The result is ads that produce a low CTR and similarly low conversion rate, they say. These advertisers contend that the modified broad match allows them to avoid their ad popping up next to unwanted searches by requiring certain words be in the search query.

Don’t Let it Fool You: Using the Modified Broad Match Smartly

What the new match type may subvert is the best practice of diligently refining and optimizing your keywords by using all three match types. Brad Geddes gives great advice on how the new match type should be used–carefully and intelligently. What he suggests is basically a split test: create a new ad group which uses the new modifiers on a current ad group’s keywords, run them both for a while to collect enough data, and then run a search query report to examine the variations to determine which ones lead to higher conversion rates, and change bids accordingly. It’s worth noting that if you can find exact match keywords that work, these will almost always convert higher than the other, less restrictive match types, including the new one (which Google says is nestled somewhere between broad match and phrase match).

The new broad match modifier may lower the barrier to entry to Google AdWords for those traditional advertisers who are not as well-versed in the match type tricks or savvy on the keyword variation best practices by making the keyword list building process easier. But it remains to be seen whether it will hamper those new advertisers’ success in the long run by letting them skip the Google AdWords warrior’s initiation of learning that the only way to run a successful ad campaign is to tirelessly refine and optimize keywords by using all three match types.

Related Posts:

New Keyword Targeting Feature – Google AdWords blog

Modified Broad Match = Old School Broad Match – Andrew Goodman

Google’s New Match Type Now Live – Brad Geddes

This entry was posted on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 4:19 pm and is filed under Google AdWords. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.