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SEM Tips: Be Wary of the Broad MatchFebruary 23, 2010 – 12:22 am |
 Chris Walbert |
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One of the most common mistakes people make when starting a search engine pay-per-click (PPC) campaign is to set all or most of their keywords as “broad match”. Google describes broad match this way, “With broad match, the Google AdWords system automatically runs your ads on relevant variations of your keywords, even if these terms aren’t in your keyword lists. Keyword variations can include synonyms, singular/plural forms, relevant variants of your keywords, and phrases containing your keywords.”
Sounds great, doesn’t it?
By using broad match, your ads are exposed to many search queries with minimal setup time. The problem is, you may not actually want to show up for all of those broad matches.
Let’s take a look at an example.
Say I run a local bike shop and sell high-end road bikes. My shop doesn’t sell used or refurbished bikes, only brand new, top-of-the line models. I start a PPC campaign on Google and bid on the broad matched term, “road bikes”. Seems like a no-brainer, right? The problem is that if someone searches for “used road bikes”, my ad appears. My ad could also appear is someone searches, “cheap bikes”, which also doesn’t fit my business. Not only am I getting charged if that person clicks on my ad, but I’m making a bad impression on a potential future customer by driving them to a site that doesn’t have what they were looking for.
As basic as matching types are, many companies do not know how to use them properly. Just Google “used road bikes” and see how many of the Sponsored Links don’t actually click through to a page dealing with used road bikes.
But broad match isn’t all bad. It has it’s place. Let’s use that same bike shop example. If the name of my store is Blueliner Bikes, I would setup “Blueliner Bikes” as a broad match term because I want people to see my ad even if they misspell the store’s name or forget exactly what it’s called. Maybe they type in “Blueline Bikes” or “Bikes by Blueliner”. With broad match, my ad would be eligible to show for both of those searches.
If you are using broad match for some, most, or even all of your keywords in Google, be sure to use the Search Query Performance report. This will show you all of the keywords that triggered your ad. If there is something showing up that isn’t driving conversions or isn’t in line with your business, add that keyword as a negative match. This will keep it from triggering your ads again.
