The basics of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising ought not to confuse beginners. Though Google AdWords help may be sought on more advanced topics, most account managers should be able to work out how to create a campaign, set up an ad group and add one or two keywords. They should also know that ads may appear in search queries that include the associated keywords. But how many beginners appreciate the benefits of match types in AdWords?
Match Types
Excluding negative keywords – which are used to prevent ads from appearing in search results for queries including specified keywords (e.g., ‘free’ or ‘cheap’) – there are three primary match types used in AdWords: broad match, phrase match and exact match.
The broad match type aims to catch all queries that include the keywords or a variation thereof (including synonyms, acronyms, inflections and common misspellings) in any order. The broad match modifier aims to focus results to a certain extent.
The phrase match type is a more targeted alternative. It allows ads to be displayed for search queries that include the keyword in a phrase (i.e., with words added before or after the keyword). Account managers often use the phrase match type because it is both targeted and broad, ensuring that results are relevant and varied. So what are the benefits of the exact match type?
Exact Match
As its name suggests, the exact match type allows ads to appear in search queries that include the keyword and only the keyword. Unlike the phrase match type, the presence of additional words in the search query will exclude the ad from results. As with the phrase match type, however, close variants of the keyword are permissible. The exact match type accepts inflections, misspellings, accents, acronyms and abbreviations, so the keyword ‘children’s toys’ may be displayed to a person who searches for ‘childrens toys’ or ‘children toys’ if this match type is selected by the advertiser. But the ad will not be displayed if the user searches for ‘buy children’s toys’.
The main disadvantage of using the exact match type is that impressions and clicks are likely to be far lower in number than if the phrase match type or broad match type were selected. Some account managers target impressions or clicks as a measure of success, but the exact match type aims to increase the effectiveness of ads by making them more relevant to users. Increased relevance usually translates to more high-value clicks; in fact, exact match often produces the highest click-through rate (CTR) of the three match types.
The principal benefit of the exact match type, therefore, is increased relevance. The more relevant a keyword is to search-engine users, the more valuable each click. Exact match can also result in a higher conversion rate, so targeting a smaller but more relevant group of people can pay off in terms of sales or subscriptions. Another benefit of exact match is that costs tend to be more manageable, at least compared to phrase or broad match, because the total number of clicks should be relatively low.
Source: bidcops
