AdWords shows ads for unrelated keywords, sometimes

[nielsencl]

If you do any advertising with AdWords, you may want to know that while you spend time picking out all the best and most effective keywords, Google may be showing your ads for things that are 100% OFF-TOPIC.

I just found out about this last week and raised all kinds of hell with our reps. They treated me like I was a nut case and said that the value of the clicks and conversions make this type of activity justifiable. I disagree and just found an article in the Wall Street Jounal that seems to agree with me.

To see if it's been happening to you, go to the keywords tab of an AdGroup and you will see a link that will show you what actual searches your ads have been showing for. I didn't know about "Broad Match (Session)" until I saw this report and those are most of the worst ones with this problem.

 

[enlytend]

Broad match became extended broad last year and that's when they introduced showing ads across a search session as a "feature" of the new broad match. Useful in some cases, but in many others... not so much!

Try modified broad (which is pretty much like the "old" broad match) ... and a good list of negative matches.

Do you follow their blog? http://adwords.blogspot.com - they change the program all the time and it's the best way to keep up with it.

 

[nielsencl]

Thanks. Putting a plus "+" in front of a keyword or keywords is what you are talking about for modified broad match ie. "+domain +names".

But while I agree that the new broad match can offer some good things, it has done a lot of damange in one account where I looked back over one year of searches.

What I have found is a solid percentage of what most should agree are very bad matches. A two-keyword phrase gets matched to another phrase where the last word is the same, but the first words are completely unrelated. If you get clicks for those the oney is 100% wasted.

What was very disturbing is that much of the junk that our ads were shown for wasn't even session-match, but normal broad match. In short, I have to go through our accounts and closely look at everything and ad tons of negative match keywords.

 

[pertosda]

It is highly advisable to check the Search Query Report on a regular basis in order to detect unrelated keywords... and yes, add them to the negative kw list.

 

[nielsencl]

Yes, and if you use the keyword tool you may see some of the matches you don't want ahead of time and can block them before you get any impressions or clicks.

 

[Peetr]

Using broad match is pretty inadvisable anyway since it makes it impossible to identify high-converting keywords.

 

[nielsencl]

Well, if you are getting conversions it doesn't matter as much, but these days you and look at the "search queries" in Google and find out what is really getting impressions and clicks for any keyword - no more guessing.

 

[Peetr]

Well, if you are getting conversions it doesn't matter as much, but these days you and look at the "search queries" in Google and find out what is really getting impressions and clicks for any keyword - no more guessing.

Precisely. So since broad match means leaving things to guess work it’s inefficient.

 

[BillyConnite]

I always stay away from broad matches. I can only see the merit in exact match keywords, but that's me. I can't stand the idea of a single impression based on a vastly-related 'key'word.

 

[enlytend]

Using broad match is pretty inadvisable anyway since it makes it impossible to identify high-converting keywords.

You can identify the exact keyword that brought in a conversion if you track everything through. And it's easy to see what matches got clicks/impressions in adwords - from your Keywords tab, there's an option to "show search terms".

That said, it has limited use, but it can be helpful in the beginning of a campaign to help identify additional keywords and negatives you might otherwise have missed. Look at the reports, create new exact-match adgroups for the "good" keywords, negative match the "bad" ones. If a search fits both an exact match and a broad match in your campaign, exact match takes precedence. Rinse and repeat.

 

[BillyConnite]

You can identify the exact keyword that brought in a conversion if you track everything through. And it's easy to see what matches got clicks/impressions in adwords - from your Keywords tab, there's an option to "show search terms".

That said, it has limited use, but it can be helpful in the beginning of a campaign to help identify additional keywords and negatives you might otherwise have missed. Look at the reports, create new exact-match adgroups for the "good" keywords, negative match the "bad" ones. If a search fits both an exact match and a broad match in your campaign, exact match takes precedence. Rinse and repeat.

That's true, i guess that helps you really find the most specific exact keywords that you might be looking for. And perhaps exact keywords that you might not have thought of, or were suggested via their keywords tool.

 

[nielsencl]

"show search terms" was what I was talking about when I said to review the "search queries". If you only use exact match, you are missing out on many different variations of what people use to search with. If you have ever seen the explanation of what the "long tail" of search is, then you will understand what I am saying.

In some cases, broad match can work fine if the number of conversions are high. Other times it's a complete waste. Then loking at the "show search terms" can show you why it is a waste and allow you to learn new keywords or to change your ad text to match what people are looking for.

Google used to have an option for showing your ads for related keywords but then they made it the default about a year ago. That made broad match less useful, but then the also added broad "session match". What that means is if someone searched for your keyword, and then searched for something else, even if completely unrelated, Google may show them your ad again. This is a form of what is known as "remarketing" and is 100% against what Google has said about providing "relevent" search results. Your only protection is to use exact or phrase match, or add negative kewords for the things you don't want to show for.

 

[BillyConnite]

This is a form of what is known as "remarketing" and is 100% against what Google has said about providing "relevent" search results. Your only protection is to use exact or phrase match, or add negative kewords for the things you don't want to show for.

Session match might even ignore exact keywords anyway unfortunately. Given its purpose, it's entirely possible as long as someone searches for your exact phrase, then searches for something totally different google might still show your ad. Not sure on it, but it's possible considering it's purpose.

 

[nielsencl]

No, my understanding is that "session match" can only take effect if you have a broad match keyword.

I have several adgroups that only use one exact match keword and there are no others that show up under "show search terms". I would expect phrase match to work the same way but I have not checked it.

 

[BillyConnite]

Fair enough, that's good news then, i hope exact matches always stay implicitly exact.

 

[enlytend]

Session match only occurs on broad match keywords and I'm 99% sure it respects negative match settings. Thankfully, it doesn't affect your quality score - THAT would be really ugly!

Probably helpful to some people, depending on the vertical and where the visitors are in the purchase cycle.

 

[ericsimmon]

You can restrict it to "exact match".

 

[BillyConnite]

You can restrict it to "exact match".

Perhaps you should read a bit more eric, you are making a lot of short posts here very quickly, try reading the thread and posting something a bit more useful.

 

[Peetr]

You can identify the exact keyword that brought in a conversion if you track everything through. And it's easy to see what matches got clicks/impressions in adwords - from your Keywords tab, there's an option to "show search terms".

That said, it has limited use, but it can be helpful in the beginning of a campaign to help identify additional keywords and negatives you might otherwise have missed. Look at the reports, create new exact-match adgroups for the "good" keywords, negative match the "bad" ones. If a search fits both an exact match and a broad match in your campaign, exact match takes precedence. Rinse and repeat.

True. In fact I’ve done this using phrase match so I’m not sure what I was saying.

 

[ericsimmon]

Very useful info indeed. Can you explain something about local PPC?

 

[nielsencl]

Local PPC was thought to be the idea of creating campaigns that only target a small group of people in a limited geographic area. Local PPC was later abandoned as ineffective and now people use FaceBook and Twitter as a replacement.

 

[habeeb24]

Very interesting posting and i get lots of information from this post about Google adwords.. thank you for share this post.

 

[DomainNameSalez]

Local PPC was thought to be the idea of creating campaigns that only target a small group of people in a limited geographic area. Local PPC was later abandoned as ineffective and now people use FaceBook and Twitter as a replacement.

That's right. Local PPC has lost the value it used to have as people now spend more time on Facebook. Makes sense to advertise there if you need really good targeted leads.

 

[enlytend]

Local PPC was later abandoned as ineffective

????

TOTALLY depends on your market (some demographics spend more time on FB than others) ...and on how "local" you are. I wouldn't recommend it for a bagel shop, but an accountant or a roofing/siding business?

While focusing on local search should always be a priority for local businesses, if it's within your budget it never hurts to run a few tightly-targeted local adgroups.