In May Google introduced a new match type option within AdWords called “Broad Match Modifiers.” The initial launch of this feature was only available to advertisers within the UK and Canada. Google deemed the beta a success and announced yesterday that Modified Broad Match has been rolled out globally in most languages.
What It Is
The Broad Match Modifier is a new targeting feature in AdWords that allows advertisers to generate keyword lists which have a larger reach than Phrase match and more control than Broad match. In short, it is an option between Broad and Phrase match.
Why is Modified Broad Match Necessary?
According to Google, “20% of the queries Google receives each day are ones we haven’t seen in at least 90 days, if at all…” Considering this unpredictable search behavior, it can be difficult to produce a keyword list that would account for all relevant queries using just Exact and Phrase matching. Modified Broad Match allows advertisers more flexibility than Exact and Phrase match without opening the flood gates of the standard Broad match option.
What Flood Gates?
The flood gates of synonyms, specifically. The first illustration in this article (below) shows clearly what I mean. Note the inclusion of “sneakers” as a keyword that may result in an ad in the first set of examples. Yes, your ads are being triggered for keywords you didn’t specifically select. Surprised?
Applied Google AdWords Match Type Examples
As a comparative tool to the new Google match type, let’s first reference some standard match type examples: Broad, Phrase and Exact match. As you can see, Broad match increases reach, Phrase match increases relevancy and Exact match pinpoints that exact term only.
Modified Broad Match allows advertisers both the flexibility of Broad match and the control of Phrase match. Simply adding a “+” sign before any word within a keyword phrase does the trick. The “+” ensures that Google will only include matching phrases that contain that specific word, a common misspelling of that word (“floor” vs. “flor”), a different form of that word (“run” and “running”) and a different plural form of that word in a user’s search query. Keywords within a phrase that do not contain a “+” thereby retain the same matching technologies of standard Broad match.
What now?
So should you scrap everything and jump on board with this? No, you shouldn’t scrap anything. But it’s worth looking at for your campaigns. Consider these reasons why you should take advantage of this new offering:
- Can initiate a campaign without as many negative keyword phrases. In many cases it can take months to build strong negative keyword lists. While standard Broad match can be beneficial in some cases, it can also attract a lot of static (irrelevant impressions). Under standard Broad match, an advertiser must develop strong negative keywords to counter irrelevant impressions. Modified matching immediately cuts out ALL possible static but still allows the user to expand beyond Phrase match restrictions.
- Allows for different word order as well as different plural forms in search terms, all without letting Google take too much liberty with synonyms and other Broad match features.
- Allows advertisers to expand their reach to the most relevant searchers. Additional relevant impressions (more relevant than Broad match) leads to higher Click Through Rates, leading to higher Quality Scores, lower CPCs and, in theory, cheaper Cost / Conversion.
Sitewire recommends testing the new Broad Match Modifier option within your AdWords campaign. But do not jump in head first and completely change your existing campaign immediately. Removing a current Broad match powerful term from your campaign could cause a significant drop in sales, conversions and traffic. Sitewire does not recommend abandoning your current match types of Broad, Phrase and Exact. Each match type serves its own purpose, including Modified Broad match. Each match type performs a function that the other cannot. Sitewire recommends creating new ad groups containing the new match type options. Creating new ad groups will allow advertisers to easily compare the overall performance of the new match type options to the original settings within a campaign.
And most important: test! You need to know how any changes impact your campaign. This is a big one, the first major revision of AdWords match types in a very long time. What works for some won’t work for others, so be methodical. But be quick about it. Money is on the table.
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Great explanation of how this new match type works. Google should be as clear on their Adwords blog. Thanks!
Thanks for reading Anthony! I’m glad the post was helpful.
I agree. For such a critical AdWords update (And it is – How often has Google altered match types?), a more detailed explanation would have definitely been appropriate.