phrase match only showing on exact matches

broadmatch doesn't help either

[annej]

I've set a phrase like "widget history" and had hope being a phrase match it would come up on searches with additional words in them like 'Idaho widget history' but I'm not seeing anything when I search these terms. It's not that there is no room for the ad, many bring up no ads at all on the search results page.

As it stands my campaign is too small to be effective as so few people search the exact page. I'd hoped to get all searches with the phrase in it.

I'm aiming at a nitch audience here.

[johnser]

Possibly related to: [webmasterworld.com...]

Follow the links...

[annej]

I've read through the links and see the problem. a word or phrase has to have a proven track record before they will broad match or even expand beyond a phrase match. Basically almost anything in a niche market would have to be tested this way. But since they are niche topic words it would take forever for them to be approved for broad matching. It looks like Google is moving more toward ad campaigns for the popular market and the niche markets will be left out.

I could actually add keywords that would show and get clicked on at a good ratio. I don't really want to do that though as my site would already be on the first page of the serps when a person searches these words so it's sort of redundant to do an ad too. Plus it sounds like it's the keyword that has to be approved this way not the ad.

Back to the drawing board.

[marek]

Does it mean, that phrase match started to behave like broad match? That would be bad news for clever advertisers, who carefuly pick exact phrases and negative keywords from server logs.

[annej]

It looks to me like they are treating phrases like broad matched. My ad is only being shown on the exact phrase searches I've set as a keyword. That means I have to think of every possible broader phrase which of course I can't. I will add some more combinations though.

Remember my phrases are really specific. More common key words may be fine.

I think I see what they are doing. They are trying to put a stop to the automatically generated word ads that trick the customer into clicking something totally irrelevant. But of course those advertisers have already found a way around it. Meanwhile someone in a niche topic is affected instead. Can't win I guess.

[johnser]

>>>>have to think of every possible broader phrase which of course I can't

Hence my point (linked to) above re "prepositions" before (& after) - You should be able to create a list of 2-400 in 2-3 hours max. Once done, use Excel to match them up before & after your target KWs.

Different themes of KWs require different lists - eg: "car hire" would use different pre&post words to "viagra" & "pregnancy" would be different again.

Ignore the above 3 words themselves - Instead, study the *types* of KWs that they are.

[annej]

Then I need to prepare a list of the phrase with logical prepositions then add them to the keywords. I already added several of the suggested phrases from the adwords tool.

[johnser]

Were there many words like in/of/on/and in the list of suggestions you were offered? I doubt it! Good luck

[eWhisper]

If your market is very niche, and your using a lot of 3+ word phrases, you might consider doing a little broad match testing to see if they'll show.

Also, with the new on trial/on hold stuff. For some accounts it's better to start with a smaller variety of slightly more popular 2 word phrase matches and use a lot of negatives to control the traffic.

Niche industries can still work on Google - just takes a bit more effort than before.

[annej]

It looks like I will need a lot of keyword sets in order to get many clicks. But don't I have to have a certain number of clicks in a given time to keep the keyword going? In that case it will be difficult.

I understand I need a certain click through rate but am I right in understanding there is also a time rate?

[eWhisper]

There is no true time frame. If you add words which don't get impressions for 90 days, then they will be automatically disabled.

However, if you have words that get 5-10 clicks a month, they won't be disabled except in the case where your CTR doesn't meet the minimum threshold set by Google.

[annej]

So they don't put a campaign on pause for slow words, just words that don't make the .05% mark. How can you avoid being put on pause or whatever they call it when a word doesn't get enough clicks?

[wayne]

Actually, it's 0.5%.

[annej]

I knew that. <blush>

I still don't understand how they decide to slow a word. Being in a niche topic makes it difficult. Impressions are slow to come so it takes a while to get the data. It appears to me that they slowed some keywords that hadn't had enough clicks to show if they were going to perform well or not.