Broad match, phrase match, or Exact Match and Why?

We are adjusting our adwords campaign. Do you use broad match, phrase match, or exact match...and why?

Also who gets value out of the content ads? Our CTR is about 7% on google and 0.6% on content. Any comments about value in content ads?

Dave

 

I use exact match and turn off the content ads.

Reasons....I am paying approx $1 per click so I only want the most qualified traffic I can get. Using exact match I know the person is searching for exactly what I am offering, the trick is to try and get inside the head of the person who types in the search terms. What are they looking for ?.
I assume they are looking for what they type in and not a variation of that. Broad match for example can bring up a totally different meaning to what they are searching for.

Similar reasons to that for turning off content ads, I'm not prepared to pay for clicks when the person is bought to my site primarily by accident. If they can't find what they are looking for at the original site and move on chances are they will do the same when they arrive at my site, I want to eliminate tyre kickers as much as I possibly can.

 

I participated in a long thread where this was discussed at length. You might find it interesting:

Can I get your opinion on "" -vs- []

 

Nice thread Bernard, Thanks.

Dave

 

Don't forget the most important matching option of all...NEGATIVE MATCH!

Content match is a waste of $$- IMO. I tried it out a few times and got no sales. And the referrals were mostly one-second/one-page visits.

I think content match is a complete waste of money for 95% of the sites out there.

(The success of content matching cannot be measured by CTR)

 

CTA may make sense for larger companies seeking to improve branding. A low CTR is actually beneficial for this purpose.

 

re Negative Match - this is so true. Rack your brains and analyze searches to rigorously exclude totally different concepts sharing the same acronym.
I wrote an ebook about a type of security (ADR), only to find out the hard way that of the 10,000 times per month people searched for "ADR", they were looking for ADR wheels 8500 times, and Alternative Dispute Resolution 1499 times!
No, ...indeed.. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed

 

If I'm doing exact match is there any reason to be concerned about negative phrases?

Dave

 

No. With exact match there are no other words involved, so you don't need to exclude them.

 

If you advertise using Google adwords then you should find the following free tool useful. It will format your list of keywords adding quotes and brackets, saving lots of time.

http://www.keywordsmaker.com

 

^^ Worst tool ever!!

 

I have created a similar tool for creating/managing local keyword lists, but it has many more features and it will localize a list. Something I could not find anywhere and the reason I holed myself up and created the tool in the first place.
Local Keyword Generator: http://5minutesite.com/local_keywords.php

I enter a US zip code & radius and it adds the location data to a keyword list. I also added a Permutator to manually add locations or combine keyword lists, options to create copies wrapped in match logic and a prefix/suffix options to wrap with any text you need. Not sure if you can use this, but I thought I would pass it along.

 

conciseusa, did you join these forums solely to promote your site/tool?

 

I'm not going to comment on self promoting but that is very effective for a local business service.

I've optimized my local service with content including many towns in the vicinity of my service so it shows up high (usually 1st) for service (red widget designer) for my appropriate sates, major city, and quite a number of towns in the region.

I ran your tool once, and it turns up a ton of towns/cities immediately with the 3 descriptions I inputted.

I can't speak for every local site but my site is both highly ranked for the generic term and virtually always #1 for relevant local terms. The relevant major city and states (both full name and initials) are critical money terms. Total traffic from localized terms are roughly equal to traffic from generic terms (which have a lot of 1st pages on the 3 major SE's). Localized searches are the money terms though with a far higher percentage of conversions.

Major cities and the state names generate lots lots more traffic than each and every city/town...but they all add up.

That is an excellent tool.

Dave

Self promotion or not...that is a great tool.

BTW the tool above, Rob, didn't do much for me.

 

I signed up because someone on these forums was looking for a tool that is exactly what I have created. You can read their question here:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=15544

I have made a variety of posts on different subjects. If my posts upset you, please accept my apologies.

 

Don't bother apologizing. That tool is extremely functional and helpful. It has tremendous application for quickly generating appropriate adwords exact match for potential local searches.

I rigourously study the local aspects of searches for my service. I have a basic 2 word keyword phrase with about 4 variations on the first word and about 10 variations on the second word.

After that I use two states and one city. For the states I need to optimize for the full state name and the initials. My service is strongly connected to a major city that borders two states so most of the local phrases connect with one of those 3 regions with full name and/or inititials. Additionally we sprinkle a variety of town names in our content. These town names are nowhere's as thorough as the number of town names that your tool provided.

Even as most of our phrases are either city or state I'm happily surprised at the number of visits we get w/ a town name and service.

Your tool generates a much larger list than we have added through content. It has excellent applicability.

I grew up in the Northeast where there are lots of small towns in close vicinity to one another. Incredibly effective tool.

Dave

 

Thanks for the positive comments on my tool. One of the features I have on the to do list is add a check box that adds `city full_state_name`. Currently I only have the state code because that is what is in the database I purchased. If you think of any other features that would help you, let me know and I will see if I can put them in.

 

Hi All,

Conciseusa I really like your zip code tool, it seems to do a great job. Unfortunately I am in the UK. Has anyone found something similar that might help me add area based search term quickly and easily to my account?

Many thanks

 

Man, conciseusa, that tool rocks!

 

I use all broad matches so far, although my keywords are pretty industry specfic, and more terms that are commonly only used if you're in the industry. I am not doing wheat bread or something really common like that though. I feel that for my keywords, that the exact matches are too limiting, but that varies quite a bit on the word you're searching, its best to probably have a mix. For keywords you're unsure about, do search on google and see what comes up. I also think about the errors people type in, the key, like some one above mentioned, is get inside the head of the person who is doing the search...