PPC Money-Waster #1: Exclusive Use of Broad Match Keywords

What’s a Broad Match Keyword?

A broad match keyword is one that will have your paid ad to show up when a user searches ‘close variations’ of the keyword you specified.

Here’s a classic example from Google:

The Problem

The primary problem with exclusive use of broad match keywords is that in reality, your ads end up showing up (and getting clicks) for search queries in which you have no interest at all. Google’s definition of ‘close variation’ may be quite different from your own.

These are some of the more egregious search queries I’ve seen my clients’ ads show up for (before we took over their account)

Most small business owners who are creating their first AdWords campaign have never heard of the idea of a keyword match type, let alone how they actually work. When it comes to the time in the campaign creation process where Google asks you for your keywords, naturally, you just type in those keywords. Unfortunately when you do this and enter your keywords without any special parameters, you end up with a broad match keyword.

The Solution

The solution to this particular dilemma involves making use of the other match types. For simplicity, I’ll mention the phrase and exact match keyword types for now.

You create a phrase match keyword by simply typing in the keyword in quotes, i.e, “tennis shoes”. A phrase match keyword will have your ad show when a user searches for either your exact keyword, or if the user includes words before and/or after your keyword. So in this case, your ad could show for ‘tennis shoes mens’ or ‘best tennis shoes’. Your ad wouldn’t show if someone typed in ‘tennis rackets and shoes’.

You can also use exact match keywords by including square brackets around your keyword, i.e, [tennis shoes]. In this case, your ad will only show if the user types in your keyword exactly.

Next up in the blog… Negative Keywords