Google AdWords Workshop: How Consistent Evaluation & Consolidated Keywords Yield Greater Exposure with Your Prospects
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1. Google AdWords now matches keywords set to Phrase and Exact match types to related close variants like misspellings and plurals, with no option to opt out. 2. This change impacts all AdWords users by potentially increasing costs if not managed, and reducing control over keywords and conversions. 3. To gain more control, advertisers should evaluate keyword performance data by match type, expand their negative keyword lists, and consolidate similar keywords.
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Google AdWords Workshop: How Consistent Evaluation & Consolidated Keywords Yield Greater Exposure with Your Prospects
- 1. Google AdWords Workshop: How Consistent Evaluation & Consolidated Keywords Yield Greater Exposure with Your Prospects Presented by KeywordFirst & hosted by The Social Media Monthly
- 2. …and now Google Close Variant Matching, too “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” – Frank Robinson, Time magazine (July 31, 1973)
- 3. Have You Adjusted Your AdWords Lately? Why Adjustments Matter •In late 2014, Google AdWords changed the way keywords set to Phrase & Exact Match trigger ads •Keywords with Phrase & Exact Match types now also trigger for “Close Variants”: • Abbreviations • Acronyms • Misspellings • Singular/Plural forms • Stemmings (e.g., dog, dogged, dogwood) •Close Variants aren’t new, but now there’s no opting out
- 4. Where’s the Impact? Who feels the change? •Every AdWords user •Even if you opted out of Close Variants in the past, you’re back in now Where will they feel the change? •Your cost of AdWords may rise – if unmanaged •Less control over your keywords – if unmanaged •Less control over the conversion process – if unmanaged
- 5. What’s More... • “True” Exact or Phrase Match – no longer technically possible • Exact & Phrase impressions & clicks will rise, as your keywords match against more variant keywords (a reason your costs could rise, too) • Close Variant Matching generates on average 7% more Exact & Phrase Match clicks EXACT MATCH PHRASE MATCH BROAD MATCH
- 6. Moving Up... Google Traffic Share by Keyword Match Type Exact & Phrase Match traffic share have edged higher since mandatory Close Variant Matching was instituted last September
- 7. The Most Interesting Keyword in the World
- 8. Close Variants in Action Hard Drive Hardly Driven Baby Cloths Baby Clothes
- 9. How to Manage Close Variant Matching How to Evaluate your Data •Run a Search Query Report (SQR) •Export your data into Excel and use a pivot table to sort your data by match type
- 10. How to Manage Close Variant Matching – Cont’d How to Evaluate your Data •Look at your KPI’s by match type and focus on the Close Variants •In the above example, you’ll see the exact Close Variant type has a much less effective cost per order than straight exact •The phrase Close Variant is much closer to straight phrase •CPC’s varied by type: exact was 5% higher with phrase slightly lower
- 11. Gaining Greater Control – Step 1 Steps to Take Back Some Control The best thing you can do is to re-check your negative keyword list and run your SQR’s more often •If you run SQR’s monthly, do them weekly for the next few months •Expand your negatives where appropriate
- 12. Gaining Greater Control – Step 2 Steps to Take Back Some Control Evaluate your Campaign Structure •If you use singular and plural exact match keywords, for example, you might want to consolidate them •Keep in mind you want to maximize Quality Score so you won’t want to split click history amongst your keywords
- 13. What About the Other Guys? •Bing has also eliminated the ability for advertisers to opt out of Close Variant Matching
- 14. Summing Up 1.Close Variants have been around for a couple of years, so this shouldn’t drastically impact performance of your account 2.Every account is structured differently, so the only real way to know how this has impacted your account is to analyze your data 3.You can gain some control back by running frequent SQR’s and analyzing your account structure to maximize Quality Score 4. Potential benefits to this change are: • Reduced account complexity (fewer keywords) • Ability to expand your keyword reach to capture more long tail keywords
- 15. Thank You! Resources: Horseshoes article on The Social Media Monthly http://bit.ly/1EoPh7k Raise Quality Score article on The Social Media Monthly http://bit.ly/1Pwm5PE See March posts on our FirstWord blog http://keywordfirst.com/blog/ Contact: Kurt Anagnostopoulos http://keywordfirst.com/about-us/our-team/ Co-Founder, KeywordFirst Kurt@KeywordFirst.com
Editor's Notes
- And now it’s also going to count with Google close variant matching.
- Prior to this change, advertisers could opt out of close variants. Now, when you create a keyword, abbreviations, acronyms, misspellings, singlar/plural forms and stemmings are all included and prompt your ad to be displayed. It’s no longer necessary to make separate bids for each variation of the word.
- Example of how “true” exact match no longer exists If you add running shoe as an exact match term, your ad will also be displayed if someone searches for running show because show is a close variant of shoe.
- Exact and phrase match traffic has increased because some of the searches that were previously attributed to broad match are now credited toward either of those categories. This presents a challenge to some advertisers because many optimize and manage their broad match campaigns differently than those for exact match and phrase match, which are more precise, perform better and typically where you want to spend your money.
- Real-life Examples If you bid on baby cloths as an exact match term, your ad will also be triggered when someone searches for baby clothes. They are similar products, but you probably don’t want to pay for ads targeted toward people looking for baby clothes. A more extreme example is hard drive and hardly driven. If you’re bidding on the term hard drive, your ad will now be triggered when someone searches for hardly driven. What can you do to ensure that you’re only reaching people relevant to you?
- The first step is to run a Search Query Report, which lists the keywords that trigger your ads. In the Match type column, Google indicates if the word/phrase was matched on a close variant or the exact term. If you keep matching for items unrelated to your business, add them as negative keywords to prevent them from triggering your ads. Carefully mining your data and tweaking your keywords and negatives presents an opportunity to be smarter than your competitiors and improve your performance.
- This slide features data from a KeywordFirst client. Exact match produces a significantly different result than exact match close variant. The impact is far less dramatic when you compare phrase match with phrase match close variant, but there’s still a difference. This data is consistent with what KeywordFirst has seen across its client base.
- One of the best ways that you can regain control is to regularly mine your SQRs for close variants that don’t align with your business and add them to your negative keyword list.
- It’s also important to evaluate your campaign structure and eliminate keywords that contain misspellings, plurals, stemmings, etc., because Google now views them as the same as the original keyword. For example, if your original keyword is running shoe and you also bid on running shoes, it’s like you’re bidding on the same term even if their performance looks a little bit different. This drives up your costs because they’re fighting with each other in the account. Also, not consolidating your keywords produces a split click history, which negatively affects your Quality Score (the metric Google uses to determine ad cost and position). A lower score means higher costs and lower positions. If you have time to mine your data, keep the keyword that’s performing the best or that has more history. If not, simply eliminate all of the plurals, misspellings, etc. All of the clicks the eliminated words were getting will eventually shift to the one that you keep.
- Reduced account complexity and fewer keywords make it easier to manage and quicker to make decisions. You’ll also build up your click history faster, which will have a positive impact on your Quality Score. You may also see an increase in volume.