Phrase and exact match

Wrong match seems to be chosen

[UpDown]

I have several adgroups in a campaign. The first group includes a broad match 'blue widgets'. Another group includes a brand and uses exact match [x7 blue widgets]. Note the number in the brand name in case it is relevant.

I get a lot of searches for the exact phrase [x7 blue widgets] but the ad that is shown is the broad match rather than the exact match.

This is not what I would expect. I thought exact match was always chosen in preference. Both ads have the same maximum bid, optimization is turned on as default. Am I mis-understanding?

[FromRocky]

How can you know a lot of searches for the exact match "x7 blue widgets"? The reason I ask is that number of searches for term "blue widgets" are much higher than the term "x7 blue widgets". You get exact match when someone has to search for "x7 blue widgets", therefore, you will get less number of the exact matches comparing to the broad matches for "blue widgets".

[your_store]

Both ads have the same maximum bid, optimization is turned on as default

It sounds like the CTR for your broad match is over powering your exact match. An easy solution would be to add the negative -x7 to your blue widgets ad group and a broad matched x7 blue widgets to your other ad group. The broad matched x7 will make sure you don't miss queries such as blue widgets x7.

As for ad optimization, it has nothing to do with this occurance. Ad optimization controls which ad is shown not which keyword is triggered.