More changes have been made to Google's AdWords platform... and this time it involves exact match keywords. Join our expert, Mark Irvine as he covers everything you need to know to stay ahead of the curve. You'll learn: - What exactly is changing - Steps you can take to prepare your account - How to continue to optimize your account moving forward

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4. Senior Data Scientist at
Wordstream
5 Years in Paid Search
Voted the 14th Most Influential
PPC Expert of 2016

6. Exact Match Keywords
Bruins Senators Tickets
Keyword:
[Bruins Senators Tickets]
Serves
an ad
to
Exact match keywords serve an ad whenever the search exactly matches the keyword.

7. But Exact Match Work Like That Any More

8. Exact Match Keywords…Are Not Always Exact
bruins senators tickets
Keyword:
[Bruins Senators Tickets]
Serves
an ad
to
Exact match keywords ALSO always serve an ad when the search includes the same
words with different capitalization.
The search has different capitalization

9. Exact Match Keywords…Are Not Always Exact
Bruins @Senators Tickets
Keyword:
[Bruins Senators Tickets]
Serves
an ad
to
Exact match keywords ALSO always serve an ad when the search includes the same
words with but have special characters added.
The search includes special characters,
like @
Special characters include:
. , ; ! @ % * $ & ? £ € ¥ ©
Accent marks
Non-English characters

10. Exact Match Keywords…Are Not Always Exact
Bruins Senaters Tickets
Keyword:
[Bruins Senators Tickets]
Serves
an ad
to
Exact match keywords started showing an ad when the search includes the same words
with but are misspelled.
The search includes a misspelling

11. Exact Match Keywords…Are Not Always Exact
Bruins Senators Ticket
Keyword:
[Bruins Senators Tickets]
Serves
an ad
to
Exact match keywords started showing an ad when the search includes the same words
with are grammatical variants.
The search is the singular form of the
keyword

12. Exact Match Keywords…Are Not Always Exact
Senators Bruins Tickets
Keyword:
[Bruins Senators Tickets]
Serves
an ad
to
Exact match keywords started showing an ad when the search includes the same words
but are in different order.
Tickets Bruins Senators
These searches include the words from
the keyword, but in a different order

13. Exact Match Keywords…Are Not Always Exact
Bruins at Senators Tickets
Keyword:
[Bruins Senators Tickets]
Serves
an ad
to
Exact match keywords started showing an ad when the search includes the same words
but include additional function words, like prepositions, articles, and conjunctions
Tickets for the Bruins Senators
These searches include added
functional words

14. Exact Match Keywords…Are Not Always Exact
Bruins Senators Tickets
Keyword:
[Senators at Bruins Tickets]
Serves
an ad
to
Exact match keywords started showing an ad when the search includes the same words
but remove function words, like prepositions, articles, and conjunctions
This search does not include the
functional word “at”

15. Exact Match Keywords…Are Not Always Exact
Exact match keywords can show an ad anytime the search:
• Exactly matches the keyword
OR
• Has different case from the keyword
• Includes additional non-standard characters
• Is a misspelling of the keyword
• Is the singular/plural version of the keyword
• Is grammatic variant of the keyword (-ing, -ed)
• Includes the words of the keyword out of order
• Includes additional or removes function words, such as articles,
prepositions, and conjunctions.

16. The Effects of This New Change
We’re seeing this close variant matches make up a noticeable share of our
client’s ads appear on these exact close-variant matches
from exact
match keywords
were these new
close variant
searches.
from exact
match keywords
were these new
close variant
searches
Data source: Wordstream data, 8932 clients using exact match
keywords on the search network in April 2017
8%
of
impressions
10%
of clicks

17. The Effects of This New Change
Increased search reach and traffic also mean more costs for advertisers
from exact
match keywords
were these new
close variant
searches.
Data source: Wordstream data, 8932 clients using exact match
keywords on the search network in April 2017
11%
of costs

18. #1
Reconsider Your
Keywords

19. Some Clients Will Be Happy About the Change
The change allows advertisers to get more traffic without the
burden of managing new keywords.
If this is you:
• Consider adding broad modified or broad keywords to your
account as well!
• Shopping campaigns and Dynamic Search Ads are other
effective ways to get highly relevant traffic to your site
without managing thousands of keywords.

20. Broad Modified Match Keywords
Keyword:
+Bruins +Senators +Tickets
Broad modified match keywords serve an ad whenever the search contains the words
within the keyword, regardless of order or additional words.
Hockey Tickets Senators vs Bruins
Bruins Senators Playoff Tickets
Serves
an ad
to
These searches include the words
Bruins, Senators, and Tickets but may
have additional words as well!

21. Broad Match Keywords
Keyword:
Bruins Senators Tickets
Broad match keywords serve an ad whenever the search is contextually similar in any way
Boston vs Ottawa Tickets
NHL Playoff Tickets
Serves
an ad
to
These searches are similar in context,
but may differ greatly in semantics

22. But Most Won’t Be Thrilled At the Loss of Control
The change makes controlling your exact match keywords A LOT
more difficult. Many clients are frustrated by the new search terms
Google is pushing their ads on.

23. Phrase Match Keywords
Bruins Senators Tickets 4/12
Keyword:
“Bruins Senators Tickets”
Serves
an ad
to
Phrase match keywords serve an ad whenever the search contains that phrase, exactly
as-is.
The search includes the keyword
exactly, although additional words can
be added to the beginning or end.

24. Change Match Types Quickly

25. #2
Proactively Add New
Negative Keywords

26. Exact Match Keywords Now Need Negatives
Bruins at Senators Tickets
Keyword:
[Bruins Senators Tickets]
We know not all exact match search terms will be quality anymore
Tickets for the Bruins Senators
Bruins @ Senators Tickets
Bruins at Senators Tickets
Senators Bruins Tickets
Bruins Senators Ticket
These are good negative to add if we’re only
selling Boston home games
Does word order matter? If yes, then add
new negatives for reorders
Single/Pleural matches may mean less
revenue per search. Consider new negatives
for these matches

27. Add Negative Keywords To Google & Bing Easily

28. #3
Remove New Duplicate
Keywords

29. Your Existing Exact Match Keywords May Create
Problems
Keywords:
[Bruins Tickets]
[Tickets Bruins]
[Tickets for the Bruins]
In the past, you likely created a bunch of related exact match
keywords for different traffic.
Bruins Tickets
Tickets Bruins
Tickets for the Bruins
Search Terms:

30. Your Existing Exact Match Keywords May Create
Problems
Keywords:
[Bruins Tickets]
[Tickets Bruins]
[Tickets for the Bruins]
But now all these keywords compete for the same traffic!
Bruins Tickets
Tickets Bruins
Tickets for the Bruins
Search Terms:
Be sure to remove all these duplicate keywords to prevent
yourself from competing against your own keywords!

31. New Duplicate Keywords
Data source: Wordstream data, 100 clients using exact match keywords on the search network in March 2017

32. Pausing Duplicate Keywords
Pausing duplicates is a very manual process in AdWords, but is a
simple alert in Wordstream!

33. WordStream Special Offer
Would you like a free demo from one of our
AdWords Certified Experts, like Mark?
YES
NO
THANKS

35. Thank you for
joining us!