not quite understanding MatchDriver

they should call it WalletEmptier

[oilman]

OK - I've finally stepped into the PPC world and opened an account at Overture. I've been doing some research and I'm having trouble understanding how match driver works.

Let's say I bid on 'blue widgets'...I also show under the term 'free blue widgets'. If matchdriver is matching me to the 'free' phrase why aren't all the other guys bidding on 'blue widgets' getting matched to 'free blue widgets' as well? The 2 serps are very different.

I won't even go into my rant about how idiotic it is that overture would have 'free' in the matchdriver system anyhow. I'm not giving away my widgets. I'm SELLING them for cryin out loud.

[webdiversity]

Are you saying that you ARE showing, or that you think you will show?

None of our ads ever get shown when someone uses free as part of the match driver, unless we explicitly include it as part of the key phrase.

[oilman]

I am showing. I bid on 'blue widgets' and show for that and 'free blue widgets'.

[jeremy goodrich]

Now, that is interesting news...more people that are paying Goverture money should definitely give them some feedback on how they are impacted by Overture's new tools.

The matchdriver was pitched as being 'beneficial for advertisers' but in reality, it's just beneficial for their bottom line...see how their revenue average per click went up this last quarter? Nobody but Overture has access to the information that would tell you what dollar amount came from match driver induced SERP's.

It could be a major issue, it could be a minor one, but for an advertiser - 'free' is a very bad choice to be in their software matching, I agree.

[pmac]

I would like to know how those terms are matched. As Oilman said, the serp for "fuzzy blue widgets" is very different than the serp "free fuzzy blue widgets".