Google Ads has 3 main components that constitute the entire PPC campaign. Those 3 in order are Keywords, Ads, and Landing Page. Everything that you do to create or optimize your PPC campaign revolves around these 3 things. Sometimes we tweak the keywords which trigger the Ads. PPC Services – other times we change the Ads a little bit to help improve clicks and conversions. And many times we tweak the landing page to improve the quality score of our keywords and in turn the entire campaign.
Someone well-versed in PPC Campaigns will tell you that having great keywords is the bread and butter of PPC. There is no other way to master PPC, until and unless you have mastered the keywords for your campaigns. And for the same purpose, Google Ads provides various types of keywords “Match Types” for fine-grain control over your campaign keywords.
Every match type has its advantages and disadvantages. So, according to your requirements, you should know which one to use and when. Let’s have a look at all the 5 Keyword Match types that Google Ads provides us.
1. Broad Match Keywords – Best PPC Services
This is the default match type that is assigned to a keyword. Any keyword that you add to your AdGroup will have Broad Match type by default.
To use a Broad Match keyword, just enter your keyword normally. The plain text is your broad match keyword. For example: – data integration software, online mobile store, best chicken soup restaurant, etc.
All these 3 keywords are your broad match keywords. By using broad match keywords, our ads will be triggered on searches that include the keyword, its misspellings, synonyms, related searches, plural words, and other similar variations. The order of the words in the keyword does not matter. Also, the keyword will trigger an Ad even if just one of the words in the keyword is searched for. Google might show ads for keywords that are not even on your list but are relevant to help you target a wider audience.
Advantages: –
- Helps to get more traffic
- Helps to get new keyword ideas
- Get more data about the traffic
- Spend less time building a keyword list
- Building Brand Awareness
Disadvantages: –
- Getting clicks from irrelevant users
- Conversions might drop
- Cost of the campaign increases
- The quality score for the keywords decrease
2. Broad Match Modifier Keywords – PPC Services
Broad Match Modifier type keywords are in a sense an “advanced” version of Broad match type. This type of keyword match type helps you have a little control over the kind of search terms that trigger your Ads. The search variants do not include synonyms and related searches.
To use Broad Match Modifier, we use the (+) symbol before each word in our keyword. For example: – +data +integration +software, +online +mobile +store, +best +chicken +soup +restaurant.
Having control over the searches means we can specify what words we want for our Ads to be triggered.
Advantages:-
- Gives better control over Broad Match Keywords
- Can help to stop irrelevant clicks
- Can improve campaign conversions
- Helps to generate more precise keyword ideas
- Increase Click-through rate (CTR)
Disadvantages: –
- Ads will not be visible to a larger audience
- Traffic will be less as the search terms will be restricted
- Quality Score might not be good enough
- Campaign costs can still be high
3. Phrase Match Keywords – PPC Marketing Services
Phrase match type is a restrictive match type as it allows you to have great control over when your ads should appear. PPC Marketing Services – if you are very sure about the keyword that you are targeting, you should go with the Phrase match type.
To use Phrase match, we include the keyword inside quotation marks (“ ”). For Example: – “Butter cookies”, “Latest movie tickets”,“SEO Tutorials” and so on.
When using Phrase match, your ads will only appear if the user search term contains the keyword in the same order AND contains ALL the keywords. However, the search term could include anything BEFORE or AFTER the keyword. But the order of the keywords will not change. Misspellings, singular and plural forms, acronyms, stemming, abbreviations, and accents of the keyword will be taken into consideration.
Advantages: –
- Refined control over Keyword search terms
- Reduction in campaign cost and greater ROI
- More directed traffic with high conversion estimates
- Get rid of unnecessary searches and Increase CTR
- Have your Ads appear in Bold
- Improved Quality Score
Disadvantages: –
- Might be missing an important audience
- Difficult to gather new Keyword Ideas
- Lesser traffic to the website
- The number of clicks and impressions will be reduced
- Does not help with Brand awareness
4. Exact Match Keywords – PPC Services
Exact Match type is the most restrictive type of keyword match type and it is to be used ONLY, ONLY when you want to target an exact search by a user. When using the Exact Match type, your Ads will be triggered only when a user searches for the EXACT keyword. No words should come before, nothing can come after and nothing can come in the middle as well. The order of the words should be the same as the keyword itself.
To use the exact match type keyword, we enclose the keyword inside square brackets ([]). For example: – [Wedding Gown], [Photo Editing Software], [Intel i5 processor], and so on.
Though the Ads might show up for misspellings, singular and plural forms, acronyms, and stemming. But it is rarely a case when the search term is different from the exact match type keyword.
Advantages: –
- Finest control over Keywords
- Reduced cost of bidding and overall campaign
- Improved rate of conversions
- Improved CTR
- Directed traffic with high-intent users
Disadvantages: –
- Reduced traffic to the website
- Less impression and clicks
- Brand awareness might be limited
- No way to improve the keyword list
5. Negative Match Keywords – PPC Services | SEM Services Company
Negative keywords should be the most important thing that you should consider when creating a campaign. this special match-type keywords will help you reduce the cost of your campaign the most. These should never be ignored and duly taken care of.
Using negative match type keywords means telling Google NOT to show our Ads for the specified keywords. If you are using the match types Broad match, Broad Match Modifier, and Phrase match, be sure to include negative keywords which might trigger your Ads. You can use this type for specific services or products that you don’t offer and show it to people who are more interested in the product that you are selling.
To use the Negative match type keyword, we use the negative symbol (-) before the keyword.
For example: – If we do not offer free download material or free consultation, we use the keyword (-free) in our campaign to stop showing ads for searches including the term (free) in them.
Advantages: –
- Increase Return on Investment (ROI)
- Ward away unwanted clicks and impressions
- The overall increase in campaign performance
- Improved CTR for keywords and increase in relevant clicks
Disadvantages: –
- Using too many negative keywords can restrict your Ads to potential customers
- It is tricky to use and one needs to be careful about the same
Best Practices – PPC Services
There is a lot to understand on how to use the specific type of keywords and what is the best way to use them. But the use of specific keyword types depends on the primary objective of the business/individual.
If the aim is to improve brand awareness and let more people know about you, then one should opt for match types that give higher impressions. But, if the aim is to get more conversions, then one should opt for match types which are restrictive when it comes to impressions and clicks. In Google SEM Services – if the aim is to get more traffic to the website, one can opt for a combination of Phrase Match and Broad Match Modifier.
