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Logistics:

Senior Data Scientist at

Wordstream

5 Years in Paid Search

Voted the 14th Most Influential

PPC Expert of 2016

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.

But Exact Match Work Like That Any More

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

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 marksNon-English characters

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

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

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 SenatorsThese searches include the words from the keyword, but in a different order

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 SenatorsThese searches include added functional words

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”

Exact Match Keywords…Are Not Always Exact

Exact match keywords can show an ad anytime the search:• Exactly matches the keywordOR• 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.

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

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

#1Reconsider Your

Keywords

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

Change Match Types Quickly

#2Proactively Add New

Negative Keywords

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

Add Negative Keywords To Google & Bing Easily

#3Remove New Duplicate

Keywords

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:

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!

New Duplicate Keywords

Data source: Wordstream data, 100 clients using exact match keywords on the search network in March 2017

Pausing Duplicate Keywords

Pausing duplicates is a very manual process in AdWords, but is a simple alert in Wordstream!

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