This should help you:
Broad Match - This is the default option. If you include general keyword or keyword phrases-such as tennis shoes-in your keyword list, your ads will appear when a user's query contains tennis and shoes, in any order, and possibly along with other terms. Your ads will also automatically show for expanded matches, including plurals and relevant variations. Because broad matches are sometimes less targeted than exact or phrase matches, you should create keyword phrases containing at least two descriptive words each. You can also try the Keyword Tool and the other three matching options to further refine your targeting. Finally, keep in mind that other advertisers may have bid for the same broad-matched keyword combinations that trigger your ads, increasing your actual CPC amounts. Using exact, phrase, or negative matches can help you keep your costs low.Phrase Match - If you enter your keyword in quotation marks, as in "tennis shoes," your ad will appear when a user searches on the phrase tennis shoes, in this order, and possibly with other terms in the query. For example, your ad will appear for the query red tennis shoes but not for shoes for tennis. Phrase matching is more targeted than broad matching, but slightly more flexible than exact matching. To ensure your ads are as targeted as they can be, you may want to include at least two descriptive words in your keyword phrases.
Exact Match - If you surround your keywords in brackets-such as [tennis shoes]-your ads will appear when users search for the specific phrase tennis shoes, in this order, and without any other terms in the query. For example, your ad won't show for the query red tennis shoes. Exact matching is the most targeted option. Although you won't receive as many impressions with exact matching, you'll likely enjoy the most clicks, because users searching for terms in this manner typically want precisely what your business has to offer.
It's been my experience that broad match does not really match in any order.
We have examples where broad match is for (eg) Chicago Green Widgets and if you do a G search for that, you'll see our AdWord ad. But, if you enter Green Widgets in Chicago or Green Widgets Chicago you won't see our ad.
The Adwords tech I talked to didn't have an explanation for it.
Makes it pretty frustrating when your competitors are showing up under a broad match but you don't.
What can you do if "broad match" does not "match broad"?
We have examples where broad match is for (eg) Chicago Green Widgets and if you do a G search for that, you'll see our AdWord ad. But, if you enter Green Widgets in Chicago or Green Widgets Chicago you won't see our ad.
We're going back a bit, but this is the explanation that I was given. Based on comparing my broad matching capabilities in my older campaigns vs. campaigns that I've recently started, I'm inclined to believe the following is still part of their algo:
At the outset, your broad match may behave more like an exact match. Over time Google will experiment on variations of that broad match and expanded broad match (the latter you may or may not desire).
Now if those variants and expanded matches perform well during the first few shots Google gives you with them, you'll continue to show for them. If not you're stuck with 'chicago green widgets' - assuming that performs well. Remember, you can have 'silent' disabled keywords that you can now find one by one with that beta-acting magnifying class tool.
The time frame it will take for this determination to be made and the CTR required to sustain these variations is one of the great unknowns of course.
I've noticed my 3 year old campaigns will show for anything even remotely related to the keyword, including a vast number of synomyms (so I have to pile up on -keywords).
When I was naive and first started those campaigns, I literally copied keywords from the Overture search query stats, not realizing they appeared in alphabetical order of the keywords which often made little grammatical sense. Of course, far fewer people searched for 'bars widget yellow' than the freer flowing 'yellow widget bars'. However in time, I got enough clicks on Google's experimentation with variations so 'bars widget yellow' became a useful broad keyword. Now 'looking for a yellow widget bar' will turn up my ads!
Of course, not all that can be attributed strictly to longevity. Adwords was easier to use before it's algo became totally inscrutable (and less profitable). When I was naive, I made a lot more money too (:-
OTOH, newer campaigns initially won't show a broad match if an extra preposition is included in the search.
So the advice from Google is that if you want be sure to show for a given variation like 'green widgets in chicago' or 'green widgets chicago', be sure to include those in your keyword list. I realize you were providing hypothetical examples, but actually the two variations you wish to show for sound like more likely queries and may do better than what you specified.
Use the Overture/YSM keyword tool to get ideas. A totally freeware product called Good Keywords shells those results in a very easy to use form (I think I can say that?).
Keep in mind while Google may consider the article 'a' an important part of your query on a broad match, at least initially (despite what they tell the searcher on google.com), most tools (and search engines) exclude articles and prepositions as part of the search.
BTW, so does MSN Ad Center which is much more intuitive than Adwords. Now if they had more of a search market share....
Remember also the only punctuation Google acknowledges is the apostrophe, so where appropriate include "smith's widgets" as well as 'smiths widgets'.
HTH,
Israel
Remember also the only punctuation Google acknowledges is the apostrophe, so where appropriate include "smith's widgets" as well as 'smiths widgets'.
Not to go off-topic here... but, Google acknowledges many more symbols than just apostrophes... dashes, accents, periods, and many more.
not to go even more OT, but in my experimentation, you can use, say, dashes in keyword lists. However, if I substitute a space in my kw list instead, then search using a dash my ads will consistently show up.
IMHO, the extra punctuation just confuses my own kw lists, even though Google will break out impressions and clicks among those variants if I do include them as I used to.
Has your experience been different?
Yes, I do notice differences in what triggers an ad and also in the price and value of each variation... Google may substitute some common variations, but for not-as-common instances - such as dashes in proper names - in my experience, it could very well be the difference in your ad showing or not. Similar with other puncuations such as accents, umlauts, periods, commas, etc.
To your point... it can add quite a bit of fat to your keyword lists, but - depending on your types of keywords and/or vertical, it can have enough value to be worth it.
