• Broad
• Phrase
• Exact
• Negative (can be broad, phrase or exact)

Here is a quick overview of what keyword matching is all about, for the non PPC folks:

Keyword matching allows you to control how precise a user’s search must be to trigger your ad on Google search pages. Defining how broadly or narrowly your keywords are targeted helps you reach the audience you want. Source AdWords Learning Center

However based on AdWords definition of match types, I think I have found a new one and I am naming it the 'bogus broad match'.

So what is the bogus broad match type?

Good question, it seems to be a hybrid of the broad match type and the ability to bid on partially related keywords. How and when it evolved I am uncertain, although I am pretty sure of its existence.

Let's look at the characteristics of a broad match first:

• Other words are included in the query
• Terms in the query are not written in the same sequence as your keyword
• The query is similar to your keyword. This includes plurals and synonyms.
• All the terms must be present

The bogus broad match takes all the above characteristics except for the last one "“ not all the terms have to be present.

By this I have had an experience of bidding on a two worded keyphrase and the ad showing for only a one worded search term.

An example of this would be to bid on the keyword phrase 'bank holiday' on broad match and for your ad to be shown for the search term 'holiday'. This would result in unqualified paid traffic landing on your site, eeek!

You may wander how I discovered what the actual search term was "“ this was not through a third-party analytics package, it was though AdWords very own Search Query Report.

This is difficult to prove without providing login details, and I am curious to see if anyone else has experienced a sighting of the bogus broad match type.

How to overcome the bogus broad match type?

If you believe in that the bb match type existing there is a way to overcome it and it involves the lesser known negative embedded match type. This did the trick for me, but seems a little unnecessary:

e.g.
Bank holiday
"“[holiday]

You may have to include embedded negative plurals and synonyms "“ although I have not had a problem with this.

It is always good practice to run search query report every now and then as part of campaign optimisation and if you do, you may encounter the bogus broad match – be warned! Of course, it could be a blip in the search query reporting or perhaps even a blip in my reporting – although I would like to say the latter is unlikely to be true as I have experienced it several times in the last couple of months. Anyone else seen the same?

1. "It’s an on-demand AdWords tool that provides personalized campaign ideas in just minutes"
2. "Since Campaign Optimizer is an automated tool, we suggest that it be the first step — not the last – in optimizing your account."

And here's what Google says it can be used for:

1. Change daily budget. Budget adjustments can affect your ad visibility and bring you more traffic.
2. Add new keywords. Campaign Optimizer proposes targeted keywords that relate to your landing page.
3. Change keyword matching options. The right matching option can help you reach customers more effectively.
4. Adjust keyword maximum cost-per-click bid. Your maximum CPC bid (in addition to your ad quality) affects your ad position.
5. Change ad text. Your ad text affects your click-through rate.

Google covers itself several times by stating that it's an automated tool and should only be used as the first steps of optimisation.

There are hints of useful optimisation tips for the novice AdWords user, although Google seems to have a very clear and loud optimized call to action of its own – "spend more money" and perhaps Campaign Monetizer would be a more fitting name? Not sure why I think this? Re-read the above bulleting points!

Unfortunately the monetization is geared towards Google's ever expanding pockets, rather than the average and often lonely AdWords advertiser. Those that have an understanding for AdWords are unlikely to find the basic suggestions of any use and those that don't are encouraged to spend more money with a lack of any real PPC optimization.

To justify the tools name it would have been nice to see it better integrated with the existing AdWords' conversion tracking. Albeit Google does state that the Campain Monitizer Campaign Optimizer should be the first and not last step in optimization, and although it does indeed make sense, I am still left questioning who will find the tool useful or benefit from it? The AdWords newbie, the intermediate PPC chappy, the seasoned veteran or perhaps Google itself? Me thinks the latter!

Am I being a too cynical? Are Google finally feeling the pinch and responding with subtle money spinners for a quick win? I will let you be the judge of this, although you may want to checkout the AdWords Top Ad Placement formulae post over at PPC Blog if you are still insure !

Do keywords with a low quality score create a bad neighbourhood for all others?

Should you ditch lower performing keywords? And are your keywords solo or team soldiers?

Well it appears that keywords are team players, they do influence each others quality score and you should consider dumping keywords with a low quality score as they can have a negative effect within the ‘hood!

How do I know? "“ well a combination of first hand experience, talking to Google and through fellow SEM pros.

Ask Google

During a recent visit to Google London, I asked these very questions and the answer I received was pretty straightforward and went something like this:

AdWords quality score is housed at an account level, with keyword quality scores having an accumulative affect on the overall account quality score. And the account quality score also has an impact on a keyword’s quality score.

What can we learn from this? Well it is safe to say that keywords with a lower quality score can have a negative influence on neighbouring keywords and that they aren’t solo soldiers "“ they are team players and if one gets hit by a low quality score then they all feel the pain to a certain extent.

First hand experience

Over the last year I have seen patterns to suggest that an account with a good account quality score, receives favourable quality scores for newly added keywords.

An example of this would be an advertiser that has a heavy part of their budget allocated to brand terms and has a particularly good account quality score.

As new non-brand terms are added, their associated quality scores are often very good initially and then slump after a while – kind of like a honeymoon period.

My take on this is that Google uses the account's overall history until the keyword has had time to build up its very own history and then allocates more weighting to the keyword’s quality score rather than the overall account quality score.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

It has been a little over a year since GA offered web analytics solutions for all, and although early adopters were keen to register and wait for its release "“ these adopters were often quite tech focused, or partial to a bit of geek activity.

For the not so geeky, a lot of newbies to web-mastering/analytics have been intimated by GA's interface and found it to be far too complex. In many cases this was true, as finding simple things often required rummaging around through data that was unnecessary for their needs.

The Second Wave of Google Analytics is Now

If you who have been hesitant or have colleagues that have been out of the analytics loop, now is a great time to step into the ring and flex your analytics biceps and discover just what you have been missing. It now really does has a nice homely feel.

The next wave of GA adopters are likely catch a second wind for the mighty 'G' and one that has the potential to be stronger than the first "“ unleashing Google further and deeper into the homes and offices of wanna be web marketers.

And what about the New Features?

The most useful features seem to be the customisable dashboards and the ability to email reports. Although I think the focus on this release, has been to make GA easier to use and less so on offering new features "“ a job well done!

If you are new to GA or want to see how some of the new visuals look in GA 2.0, a visit to mashable will land you with 27 jammed packed Google Analytics features . Avinash probes a little deeper and highlights 5 key areas you should spend some time on.

To finish off, Dave Cafferey suggests why perhaps you too should you use Google Analytics.

Here are some highlights:

• The UK market for Search Engine Marketing was worth an estimated £1.41 billion in 2006, according to E-consultancy.
• Shortage of talent continues to be an issue "¦ there are not enough knowledgeable SEO people to go around.
• Growth of Social Media Optimisation and tracking "“ understanding the impact of social media on brand perception and search rankings.
• Before embarking on social media optimisation, it is important to understand the possible return on investment.
• Spending specifically on Paid Search amounted to £1.26 billion in 2006, equivalent to 90% of the total spent on Search Engine Marketing. Paid Search is becoming more like SEO due to importance of landing page quality.
• The landing page quality score introduced by Google means that paid search is increasingly becoming like natural search (search engine optimisation) "It really is bridging the gap between PPC and SEO" .
• Search has become much more granular than just looking at keywords. It is also important to look at demographics, time of day and other factors relating to the searcher's profile."Click profiles will become more valuable."
• Ideally, advertisers should treat Paid Search as a cost of sale rather than allowing budget to dry up to the detriment of the company when there there is still excellent ROI to be made.
• A lot of the SEO companies, such as Spannerworks, are offering social media optimisation services. "Traditional PR people often don't have a clue about online PR."

AdWords Editor 3.0 now available

Even though I don't use AdWords editor on a day-to-day basis, I do find it really useful especially for bulk changes or for setting up new campaigns. I have found the latest update of benefit tool, the changes this time are subtle, although it's continuing to improve all the time.

AdWords Keywords Search Tool Showing Search Volumes per Month

This is very much at the rumours stage, but it appears that Google is to offer a similar feature to Yahoo Overture Inventory Keyword Search "“ whereby search volume estimates are given for keywords for a given month. Currently a rating of 1 to 5 is given for search volumes, so let's hope Google gives us that extra bit of detail we all crave.

Google Content Network Ads to Show Sites URLs

Google plans to start showing publishers urls to AdWords advertisers, so you can see exactly where your ads are showing on the Google Network. Up until now you can only get this information from raw logs. I highlighted a Google Analytics hack for this back in December, and although this is a very useful addition to the armoury, I do not think it is as thorough as it could be "“ so I certainly welcome AdWords becoming more open.

Quality Score Update

Last month saw the latest quality score updates going live and you can also see a report (Great, Ok, Poor) of how various keywords are performing by customising columns within your AdWords account to show the quality score status. Many advertisers were seeing bugs with the launch of the quality score update, although this seems to have settled down now.

Yes, that’s how you too can get a taste of this mysterious data that Google seems to be stashing away from Joe Public. Again, I must thank the chaps at GA-Experts for their hard work in proving they truly are market leaders in the field of anything related to Google Analytics.

Let’s See a Quick Example

The GA-Expert’s referral data filter displays not only the Pay per Click source, but the website that shows your sponsored ad.

google, www.tripadvisor.com[cpc]
ysm, www2.nuseek.com[ppc]
msuk, search.msn.co.uk[ppc]

And the Filter

Simply follow the steps that have been kindly supplied by GA-Experts:

1) Create a new profile that is a copy of your existing one.
IMPORTANT: This filter should be ringfenced in its own profile, as you only want this filter applied to PPC referrals.

2) Add a filter to show only PPC referrals in this profile. This screenshot shows how.

3) Add the filter that shows the Search & Content Network referrer, as per this screenshot.

4) Wait for the data. All referral reports will now show the exact PPC referrer.

What does this mean?

An obvious use of this data is to exclude certain sites from your Pay per Click campaigns that are not performing and not providing a satisfactory ROI. This can be done for the Google Content Network Network, but I do not think this is currently available with Google Search Network and with Yahoo.

Another great benefit is if you have or plan to setup an affiliate program. We all know PPC can be a great keyword research tool for SEO, but did you know it can be a really useful for scouting potential affiliates as well? Website owners who have AdSense on their site are obviously commercially aware and Google has categorised such sites as being relevant to your site too.

By setting up Goals in Google Analytics and applying the above filter it is easy to see which websites from the Google Content Network are performing well. You can then review and anticipate if such sites will provide better ROI and greater Net Return as part as part of your affiliate campaign or remain as part of your Google Content Network. This has certainly helped wanders for one of my clients!

If you are an AdWords marketer and are with me this far, I am sure you share the sadness I feel . If not, don’t worry, read on and I will share the sadness, but also the shining bright light to AdWords keyword happiness!

Ok, an example perhaps?

Sure – by default, a broad match for a keyword or keyphrase is used in AdWords.

So, Let’s say I bid on the term ‘Google Analytics’ with a broad match in AdWords and a visitor enters ‘The Cheaters Guide for Integrating Google AdWords & Analytics’ into a search engine.

Providing I had bid enough and the Quality Score for the keyphrase was also high enough, the ad would show – but up until now, the only data that AdWords or Analytics would provide about the search keyphrase are the keywords that I bid on and not the exact words that the searcher entered.

This is ok for an exact match, but what can you learn about the search behaviour for a broad or phrase match? Very little! I originally thought Google had selectively chosen to exclude this data for commercial reasons in an attempt increase its ever expanding money pockets.

Fear Not…

The guys from GA-Analytics have been busy formulating a filter to solve this exact problem. In fact, I have found it very useful for Yahoo & MSN PPC campaigns too.

It turns out that Google is not being quite the scrooge I first thought. But they certainly don’t make it easy! Luckily the GA-Analytics boys do:

1) Create two filters as per the images here:

Override Bid Term 1 & Override Bid Term 2

2) Create a new profile for your existing site. This keeps the detailed keyword data in a separate profile. You can apply this filter to your main profile(s) if you prefer, but a separate profile allows for continuity and top level reporting in your main profile with keyword detail available as required.

3) Apply the two filters to the new profile, in the order Override Bid Term 1 *then* Override Bid Term 2

What does this mean?

This awesome extra bit of detail can help in the refinement of your Google AdWords campaigns. It can really boost your long tail keywords strategies. The long term concept focuses on a smaller volume of searchers for more specific niche terms.

Long tail keywords are often less competitive and have the potential to have a really high conversion rate for your products and services. Oftentimes, the more keywords a searcher users, the closer they are in the ‘buying search process’ – wohoo, real them in baby!

It can also be used to identify keywords that are not relevant and do not convert for your product or services. You can build up a list of negative keywords for all or some of your campaigns.

I really love this filter. Remember though, filters can be used to include or exclude data. For this reason I would make sure you make a duplicate analytics profile when applying a new filter, until you get your bearings and are sure you haven’t filtered out any useful data!