Upcoming Adwords Changes

[del]

Hi,

What does everyone make of the changes to adwords - the announcement about "Expanded Broad Matching and Increased Ad Quality"?

Seems like google is doing something to help alleviate the problem of blanket advertising on the adwords network.

This will certainly help with the more competitive terms, especially if you use a hugly competitive word/phrase as part of a more specific phrase!

About time something was done!


Cheers,

Del.

[french dread]

These changes seem like a trick to display more ads and generate more revenues based on related search words.
I am a little afraid, as the trafic could be less targetted, and we loose some control on ads display, except if we choose more strict matching options.
I wish we could keep the current matching system

[Curious_Mark]

I see it as having the same potential as that damn MatchDriver Overture uses. That said, if implemented well, it could be a positive addition for some. I myself never deviate from the exact match. I write more ads, but it is beyond worth it.

I say to people with only a few products/services, you should always, always, use the exact matching option. There are many great reasons to do this. Heck this is true even if you have a hundred products as long as the extra work doesn't bother you.

I have one client now selling one software tool. We have 12 campaigns with many ads running, all using exact matching and it is fantastic.

:)

[del]

Hi Mark,

Yeah, we always put way more emphasis on exact matching almost to the exclusion of the less specific boundings.

We find that we acheive far better results like this, and if google implement these weightings in the right way, it will certainly be beneficial to our clients!

And of course benefit the searcher.


Del.

[Dan0]

Google isn't removing your ability to use exact matching, negative matching, phrase matching, etc. This thing won't change any of my campaigns one bit. On the other hand, if you're advertising for very generic terms, and getting a high click-through, you may get more traffic this way.

[Curious_Mark]

Absolutely, good points to note DanO. From my perspective, one extra you get with exact matching, and a really big extra at that, is the greatest keyword research. I will take a search term or phrase, try to get every iteration of it covered with exact matching, and then watch the keyword research data flow in.

It is incredible. For example I was able to see how many people searched for a phrase with a dash in it or without the dash. Seeing as how the data is free of the skewed view that say Overture would supply, being pure Google searches, it is crucial to gather.

:)

[Dan0]

Originally posted by Curious_Mark
From my perspective, one extra you get with exact matching, and a really big extra at that, is the greatest keyword research.
Right on... and every referral is another vote for that search term's relevance, too.

[del]

Totally agree, the information you get from exact matching outweighs the work required to create the terms for the ads.

[Bernard]

While there will certainly be cases where expanded broad matching will be desirable, there are also cases where it is not. IMHO, that Google does not offer the advertiser a choice in the matter is very poor form. AdWords best selling point used to be that it offered an advertiser complete control over the distribution of ads.

There are cases where broad matching is necessary, and expanded matching on words outside of the organic term are unwelcome. See this thread for an example:

http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10939

To me, this is much like LookSmart syndicating ads to search queries that match on terms in the ads' descriptions (which LookSmart controls). It takes control away from the advertiser.

This should be an opt-in feature or have an opt-out possibility at the very least!

[del]

Just seems fair to me.

If you are not getting the clickthrough on a more specific term, then you should drop down the rankings and not remain artificially high because your clickthrough is high on an unspecific term (which might not even be related or relevant!).

For example if you rank high for "blue widgets", and therefore "blue widgets uk" and you only supply the US, and you are not getting the clickthrough on the uk specific searches, you should drop down the rankings for those terms.

The problems come when there are a large proportion of searches for "blue widgets" that outweigh "blue widgets uk", so clickthrough is not affected enough to drop the ad down the results.

I for one do not want to see a company paying a fortune per click to be top for "insurance" and are therefore top for a lot of other terms that have "insurance" in it that they do not deal with.

I think Google are doing the right thing, it makes perfect sense and is just a refinement of the current algo.

It will also benefit searchers.

Less weight on unspecific terms for adverts that belong to advertisers who rely on blanket marketing seems fair.

We do not want overture-like price wars, do we?


Del.

[Bernard]

Del,

One of us is confused. The way that I understood it, Google will not be dropping broad matching ads from broad matches where the CTR is low (while the overall CTR remains high).

They will only be dropping the *extended* broad matches over time. The problem is that while they are experimenting with extended broad matches, they can be potentially lowering your overall CTR (and possibly necessitate a higher bid to maintain positions on desired search queries).

[del]

Hi Bernard,

Nope, we're both right, but we're talking about different things. ;)

I'm talking about the part of the announcement headed "Increased Ad Quality", where google will be dropping ads that use broad and phrase-matching for searches where they have low relevance (based on CTR), even if they have a high CTR for other searches.

You're talking about the first announcement headed "Expanded Broad Matching".

We tend not to use broad matching (ever) and go for exact matching for campaigns, so the first notice does not affect us or our clients!


Cheers,

Del.

[Bernard]

If some of your broad- and phrase- matched keywords have variations with a low relevance factor, we will stop showing your ad on those variations.

Del, The e-mail is not 100% clear if that statement applies only to extended broad matching or to normal broad matching results. The preceding paragraph discussed extended broad matching.

The CTRs from expanded broad matching and ads on our ad network do not affect the CTR we use to rank your ads or determine whether or not to show your ads.

I just re-read the e-mail. I was wrong on that point. Thank goodness!

[Dan0]

Google's secret sauce is just Adam Smith's "invisible hand" - they order the ads so that they make the most money.

Let's say that I have a 10 cent bid for a search term, and a 3% click-through rate. You have a 25 cent bid with a 1% click-through rate. My ad's going to come first, because the average revenue they get by displaying my ad is higher.

The expanded broad matching is going to work the same way, because they're not stupid. It's mainly going to come into play more when there aren't enough "exact match" or "phrase match" bids.

For an advertiser, the question is very much like what you have to consider with content-targeted ads.

[Bernard]

> > Original Message Follows:
> > ------------------------
> > From: Bernard
> > Subject: Re: Google AdWords Announcement: Expanded Broad Matching and
> Ads
> > Quality
> > Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 11:10:29 -0500
> >
> > Google Team,
> >
> > I am very disappointed that you are not making this expanded broad
> > matching schema an opt-in service. At the very least you should be
> > offering an opt-out mechanism similar to the CTA feature.
> >
> > I agree 100% with the first post in this public thread:
> >
> > http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1138&hl=
> >
> > Cordially,
> > Bernard Ertl

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> > Hi Bernard,
> >
> > Thanks for your constructive criticism regarding our recent decision
to
> > add expanded matches to AdWords. We like to hear from our
advertisers.
> >
> > I apologize for any inconvenience this change may have caused you.
> > However, Google strongly believes in the importance of relevant and
high
> > quality advertising.
> >
> > We believe this change will allow you to reach your potential
customers
> > more effectively and help develop a user confidence that continually
> > brings users back to AdWords ads. This results in higher traffic to
your
> > site, thereby increasing your return on investment.
> >
> > We appreciate your understanding.
> >
> > Please feel free to email us at adwords-support@google.com if you have
> > additional questions or concerns.
> >
> > We look forward to providing you with the most effective
advertising
> > available.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Cliff
> > The Google AdWords Team
> >

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Original Message Follows:
> ------------------------
> From: Bernard
> Subject: Re: [#4170817] Google AdWords Announcement: Expanded Broad
> Matching and Ads Quality
> Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 13:34:19 -0500
>
> Cliff,
>
> While I'm sure that expanded matches will allow advertisers to reach
more
> potential customers, my concern is that without offering advertisers the
> choice on whether or not they wish to participate, Google is removing
> control from the advertiser. You guys obviously understood this point
> when you introduced the CTA option. I'm puzzled why you are choosing to
> disregard advertiser concerns now.
>
> Cordially,
> Bernard Ertl

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Hi Bernard,
>
> Thanks for your reply. As you already know, there is no opt-out option
> for expanded matching. However, there are other ways in which you can
> control your keyword list. The following is taken directly from our
> Expanded Matching FAQ:
> https://www.adwords.google.com/select/expanded_matching.html
>
> Maintain control of your keyword list.
>
> We know that control is important to you, so you have final say in where
> your ads appear. Using our keyword suggestion tool, you can view
examples
> of the additional matches for your broad-matched keywords, and see where
> your ads may appear. You then have a few options:
>
> Do nothing but enjoy the additional coverage that will come your way.
>
> Create negative matches out of any expanded matches you don't want your
> ads to appear for.
>
> Add the expanded matches to your keyword list. This will give you
> clickthrough rate (CTR) reporting for your additional matches. However,
we
> recommend that you just give the feature a try since we automatically
tune
> the expanded matches over time.
>
> Change your keyword matching option from broad to phrase or exact if you
> don't want your keywords automatically expanded.
>
> Please feel free to email us at adwords-support@google.com if you have
> additional questions or concerns.
>
> We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising
> available.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Cliff
> The Google AdWords Team
>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: Bernard
Subject: Re: [#4170817] Google AdWords Announcement: Expanded Broad
Matching and Ads Quality
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 15:27:17 -0500

Cliff,

The verbiage on the page you linked is not 100% clear. Does the keyword suggestion tool report *all* of the extended broad matches for a given term? If not, there is no way for an advertiser to add all the necessary negative keywords to prevent extended broad matching.

Why should the onus be on the advertiser to add negative keywords? Wouldn't an opt-out feature be much cleaner and less costly to advertisers?

Cordially,
Bernard Ertl

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Bernard,

The keyword suggestion tool will report all the expanded broad matches. This will allow you to either create negative keywords or use exact match keywords.

I will forward your opt-out suggestions to those in charge of our user interface design.

Please feel free to email us at adwords-support@google.com if you have additional questions or concerns.

We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available.

Sincerely,

Cliff
The Google AdWords Team

[ihelpyou]

That's a good suggestion Bernard. I too am surprised they did it that way.

It's also great they feel strongly about conversing with advertisers thru email to solve concerns and problems.

[Curious_Mark]

Ditto, good post Bernard.

:)