Does Broad match supersede narrow match?

if you run them on the same keywords?

[GerBot]

Say I'm running a broad match on widgets and an exact match in the same group for blue widgets.

When a surfer searches for blue widgets, which ad will show up:

Broad, narrow or both?

thanks

[StupidScript]

Only one ad will show for any one search, in the following order of preference: exact match, then phrase, then broad. Whichever is the closest match.

In your example, [blue widget] would be the closest match to a search for "blue widget", and so would take precedence over the broad "widget" ad buy.

[ztalk112]

A related question . . .

Exact matches take precedence over phrase and broad matches in the same Ad Group . . . but does that extend to how bid prices are determined as well.

For example, if you islolate CTR for the sake of discussion by assuming that two ads have the same CTR . . . does an exact match bidder on 'blue widgets' have to compete on price with a competitor broad match bidding on 'widgets' alone?

Thanks in anticipation.

[StupidScript]

Excellent question ... for which I have no answer. I sure hope someone has already researched that, as I, too wish to know.

[tomld2]

As a new adwords user I haven't experimented at all with exact or phrase matches. Is is a good idea to run both broad and exact matches for the same 'set' of keywords to pick up priority of matching exact searches? Also can you get better placement than a competitor with a lower bid but using an exact match compared to their broad match?

Are there any good resources explaining the best use of broad, exact and phrase matching?

[FromRocky]

I agree with what StupidScript said in msg #2 but with an assumption that the position rankings are the same for both exact and broad match keywords. This is what will take place initially.

We normally set the same Max. CPC for each match and their CTR's were also assigned by Google's AdWords to be the same since both are the new keywords. Thus, their ad position rankings will be the same. Once the exact match took precedence over the broad match, the ad position ranking for the exact match will be higher and the difference in ranking between two will be increased with time.

However, the position ranking will be changed once the Max. CPC is changed. Thus, the broadmatch can be prefered if you increase its Max. CPC so that its ranking is higher than the one from the exact match.

[eWhisper]

For example, if you islolate CTR for the sake of discussion by assuming that two ads have the same CTR . . . does an exact match bidder on 'blue widgets' have to compete on price with a competitor broad match bidding on 'widgets' alone?

In short, yes. What happens is this process [webmasterworld.com], message 10 & 11, happen for everyone. So if advertiser A has an exact and advertiser B has a broad, the bid rank formula is applied with the keywords chosen from the above post.

We normally set the same Max. CPC for each match and their CTR's were also assigned by Google's AdWords to be the same since both are the new keywords. Thus, their ad position rankings will be the same.

Not necessarily. Your initial 'phantom' CTR is the average for all advertisers bidding on that keyword at the moment you enter your keyword into the system. So if 'widget' overall has a 3% CTR, and 'blue widget' is averaging a 5% CTR for all publishers, that's what your initial CTR is until your word starts to gain its own CTR over its first 1000 impressions.

[GerBot]

Now for the simple question

one ad group with two search phrases
Both phrases are broad matched and have the same CTR history, bids are also the same:

widget company
blue widget company

the surfer searches for:

blue widget company

which ad will be displayed?
widget company
or
blue widget company

[AdWordsAdvisor]

GerBot, I'm sorry to say I am not following your question. Seems like some info is missing. Could you please restate it?

Do you really mean one Ad Group? And if so, I guess you mean one Ad Group with two ads, right?

Well, if this is the case then the system just rotates the ads, and which ad shows is not connected to which keyword was searched at all.

If you meant two Ad Groups, then it'd be a different story.

<added> Oops, just noticed that this was asked and answered in another thread. Oh well, everyone's got to be redundant from time to time! ;) </added>

AWA

[perfectseats]

From what my account rep at google has told me it works like this:

I have an exact match on blue widget at .25, a competitor has a broad match on widget at .50. The competitors ad will always appear before mine on the search blue widget or blue widget company or big blue widget, etc..

If this is not true please let me know, becasue i need to make some changes.

[FromRocky]

I have an exact match on blue widget at .25, a competitor has a broad match on widget at .50. The competitors ad will always appear before mine on the search blue widget or blue widget company or big blue widget, etc..

This statement is true only under one condition: the competitor's CTR for this broad term is always equal to or higher than 50.01% of the CTR on your exact match of blue widget.

If your CTR is 1, the competitor needs a CTR of 0.51 to have his ad on top of you.

[perfectseats]

and because there is no way of knowing the competitor's CTR. it is always a shot in the dark?

Adwords should provide more info so we can make an educated guess at bid prices.