Are exact matches becoming a bad thing?

[ogletree]

Since CTR is king now should we let broad and phrase match terms with high CTR catch terms instead of low traffic low CTR terms with low QS's.

I'm only talking about when an exact match has a low Quality score.

I have seen where I have to broad match phrases one is singular and one is plural. The singular is a 7 QS and the plural is a 5QS. Seems to me it is best to just pause the plural and let the singular pick it up.

[James_WV]

It all comes down to how profitable the exact is when compared to the broad - it may well be that even with a lower QS your exact match phrase may be more profitable than your broad match (this almost always the case with me).

Would definitely not say exact match is becoming a bad thing

[ogletree]

The broad match would still catch the same term. If you can get 2-3 better QS the cost is going to be cheaper. Only reason to keep the exact match is to have a different bid and/or landing page than the broad term. If you have the same bid and landing page then there is no reason to keep an exact match at 2 lower QS than the broad.

[James_WV]

yeah, your broad match will still catch the term - but it'll also catch loads of others that aren't as profitable. If you want the proof then set up a campaign with all your phrases in exact match, then set up a campaign with all your phrases as broad match, but with all your exact phrases as negatives - huge difference in ROI

[ogletree]

How can there be a huge difference in ROI if your getting the exact same traffic. You would actually get a better overall ROI if you don't do the 5QS exact term and let the 7QS broad match catch it.

I understand that your way gives better reporting and gives you more options. I'm just saying at some point when you have done all that you say and you keep getting a 5QS on an exact term and a broad term is at 7QS or better you can just pause the exact term or let the phrase match get it.

[Philosopher]

You shouldn't be getting the exact same traffic. The broad and phrase matched keywords will generate more traffic as they will also catch lot's of other phrase variations where the exact will only match that phrase.

Let's say you have an exact of "best purple widgets" that you know converts at 5%. You can bid exact and likely have a lower QS and higher CPC, but you'll get traffic you know converts.

If you tried to use broad or phrase, you'd also get phrases such as "10 best purple widgets" that may convert at a rate of only 1%.

You'll end up getting more traffic for less per click, but overall, you may end up spending more to make less.

Obviously, that's what negatives are for, but it's hard to get every negative.

In the end, sometimes it is better to pay more per click for laser targeted traffic than paying less for marginally targeted traffic.

[avalon37]

Philosopher's comments are 100% spot on. Usually conversion is much better on exact match clicks and the the extra cpc price still is worth it.

[patrickSMC]

Agreed.

I think a strategy to try, then, is to bid higher on exact matches to maximize impression share on high converting words, and bid lower on phrase and broad match respectively in order to cast a wider net.

[ogletree]

You guys are not listening to me. The term will still get the same conversions and ROI. The term comes up if it is exact, broad, or phrase. It still gets clicked on and still gets the same ROI. Making it exact does not help the term at all if it ranks the same in both match types. If the bid is the same for broad and exact and you don't plan to turn off the broad it is better to turn off the exact if you get a worse QS. If you have the exact match running for a while and it still gets a lower QS than the broad match and turning off the exact match keeps the term in the same position then you don't lose anything other than a nice report on how well that exact term is doing. If you have had it up for a little while you know how well it does you don't need that report.

I am talking about a very specific situation. Some people don't bid down broad matches. They want to rank top 3. They just put in negative keywords to clean it up. I am only talking about a situation where exact match gives a lower QS than the broad match.

[eWhisper]

Ogletree - do you see a different quality score between broad and exact match often?

In January 08, Google stated that displayed quality score is only based off the exact match variation of the keyword.

As the quality score you see in your account, is not what's actually used to determine the ad rank (due to real time matching) then what you are proposing sounds good, but might not actually work in reality due to that last second real time analysis of keyword to variation.

I generally find that when you have a broad matched word that's doing great, there are a few variations where it does well, and other variations where it doesn't do well. In Google's system, that keyword could look like it has a high QS, yet on the words where it's not doing well, it actually doesn't have a good QS.

Ok - posting before finishing first cup of coffee - hope that makes sense. If not - then I'll clarify :)

[ogletree]

Thanks eWhisper you answered my question. I forget about the new real time QS stuff.