How do you define your keywords with broad match? I'd like to keep the list as short as possible but still let Google know I'd like all the matches. Do you just make sure you include every word you want somewhere in the list and let Google worry about the combinations, synonyms, plurals, and misspellings?
the reason prices are higher is because you are competing with a lot more people when you only use broad matching. Plus, broad matches by definition aren't very targeted which means the factors determining your quality score will be negatively affected.
yes, Google takes care of all the combinations as long as you provide a basic list.
Thanks tomasvdb. Can anyone verify this? The last time I looked into this there was a consensus that even with broad match it is necessary to define each keyphrase if you want to make sure you'll "get it".
I can also tell you that your exact match keywords will convert better and at a lower cost.
If you want to start with a small list of broad keywords, you might just expand that list a little at a time with both long tail keywords and at least the exact match your keywords.
and "broad match" or broad match is the true broadmatch?
for example:
purple widget
could match:
broken purple brand widget
or
need to rma purple cheap busted widget
but [exact match] would make sure the entire combination is matched in that exact phrase.
I'm guessing by [exact match] you're simply doing keywords like [hand saw] and hoping it only catches the exact match of that query for what is a broad range of potential "What i meant to look for" type things?
[edited by: ByronM at 6:27 pm (utc) on May 27, 2008]
This creates a huge problem when i have broad terms in various ad groups that include that common keyword. Broad match 'red widgets' as i'm told, can also bring up results for 'blue widgets' because the word widgets is present.
It doesn't help that broad match terms compete against exact and phrase match terms which dillutes your ad group click through rate, which affects your quality score and thus your cost. It also doesn't help that when the budget for my red widgets ad group runs out, a search for red widgets can potentially bring up ads in a totally different ad group because that broad word exists as part of a greater broad term in both groups.
I have decided to remove virtually all of my broad match terms and stick with phrase and exact matching with a few exceptions, i.e. broad terms that have better CTR's and aren't too expensive to bid on.
If you do want to stick with broad matching, it will work for you if you have an expansive list of negative keywords included so those searches that don't apply don't end up triggering your ads just because the word "widget" was part of your term.
Tools like wordtracker are invaluable in showing the relative terms to your keywords and building up fantastic negative keyword lists. So with those tools at hand you can generally get a good broad match going but broad match takes away much of your ability to finely tune per keyword and compete for lowest CPC vs a broad CPC which may be harder to achieve.
I almost always use exact match, but by using exact match I almost always pay more than I would using broad match. I find it surprising that people are saying broad match clicks are more expensive than exact match clicks.
You may pay more in CPC at the click level but when you trend out your overall cost you're probably paying less because you're more tuned to your market than a broad match which will take a LONG TIME to tune.
at least in theory :)
I like that.
