Because I do not always know which kind of cookie recipies people are looking for I have a broad matched term 'cookie recipe'.
Because of the broad match searches like 'nut cookie recipie' or 'chocolate chip cookie recipie' etc display my ad. All is well. It is my best performing word (8%) and and generates a few thousand $$ for google per year and lots of customers for me.
Suddenly I realize that although CTR is going up the total number of clicks is tanking for 'cookie recipe' and after an hour with GAW support on the phone here is my theory:
With the NEW broadmatching logic the system looks at your term's 'expanded broad matching performance' meaning how the extra matches that their system adds to your words perform. If that separate (Broadmatched) performance does not meet an unspecified threshold THEY TURN OFF ALL BROADMATCHING on that term, expanded or not! Effectively making it an Exact Match.!
This is all INVISIBLE and not listed in the reports. So numerous word which I think are broadmatching are not and the only way to find out is to regularly perform searches on my terms.
Their solution for me is to make up ALL possible exact matches! Can you believe it? There are thousands. And the whole beauty of GAW (IMHO) was broadmatching.
The CTR is now higher (was 8% now 10%) but the number of clicks is a small FRACTION of what it was.
I spent hours last night making new broadmatching permutations "Walnut cookie recipe", "Sugar cookie recipe" etc....
guess what.. This morning i find that although the new ones work they only work as semi-exact matches!
So 'GOOD walnut cookie recipe' does not display my ad! What is even more annoying is that 'GOOD walnut cookie recipe' does not display a SINGLE AD.
Remember my 'Cookie Recipe' broad match (Under the old system) had 8% CTR!
[edited by: qfguy at 4:35 pm (utc) on Jan. 6, 2004]
As far as I can see, if you enter "cookie recipe" as a broad match or a phrase match, then it should still appear if someone enters the term "walnut cookie recipe" when someone searches. It wouldn't, however, appear if you'd used "cookie recipe" as an exact match.
The phrase "new cooking recipes" might return your ad if you were using broad match but not using the other two. Is this what you're saying has now changed?
If the CTR for 'cookie recipe + something else' is not high enough then 'cookie recipe' will no longer broad mach at all. Only 'cookie recipe' and 'recipe cookie' will display your add.
For me, broad match is working correctly, even on an ad group with only 4% CTR or so.
But on my BEST word it is no longer working.
sorry, meant exact or semi-exact matches. have edited my post
Todd
