WARNING! Broad Match is completely out of control now!

[tonerman]

Broad match has gotten completely out of hand on showing ads for queries not in an advertiser's keyword lists.

As many of you know I sell toner cartridges. All ads contain printer model or part numbers combined with the words "toner" or "cartridge" or "toner cartridge", like "HP 2100 toner cartridge".

In my thread "Up the creek with Google Broad Match" I highlighted the fact that Broad Match would often show ads and get clicks for queries that did not match your keywords. Usually it would show an ad for a query that contained a model number that was not in your list of keywords. Other forum members pointed out that broad match would also show ads for query "words" that were not in the advertiser's keyword lists also - not just numbers.

If the user clicks on the ad they arrive on a page that does not match the product or information they wanted and they blow right back out. The only way to stop this is to monitor all your Google PPC traffic with a log analyzer so you can detect the problem on the first bad click and put up appropriate negative key words to stop it.

Now Broad Match has gone further afield. It is showing ads for my products when the query is just "laser cartridges" or "toner cartridges". No brand name, no model numbers, no nothing as a qualifier. It shows the same ad for one of the products we sell (the Samsung ML-2150D8 toner cartridge.)

ALL the keywords for this product's ad group have the word "Samsung ML-2150" or "Samsung ML 2150" or "Samsung ML2150" in the keywords. The ad for this campaign got two clicks today for the two above queries: "laser cartridges" and "toner cartridges".

The way to stop this is to make the words "laser cartridges", "toner cartridges", "laser cartridge" and "toner cartridge" exact match negative CAMPAIGN keywords in every one of my campaigns - otherwise it will just go grab an ad from another ad group to display. Frankly, this is even more outrageous than the prior problems. Thankfully I caught this the first time it happened today.

As Broad Match continually expands outward advertisers are going to really get hurt by this new and inexcuseable behavior. I am going to contact whoever looks after my account at Google and demand a refund for these two clicks. There is no point in expecting Google to fix this. They simply send you an email telling you that "due to the specificity of your keywords, expanded matching may not yield the most relevant results. Therefore, I suggest changing all of your keywords to either phrase or exact match."

What kind of bull hockey is this when Google renders your broad match keywords completely meaningless? Somewhere along the way I hope enough of us advertisers can find a way to make enough noise to stop Google from completely disrespecting our money and our hard work developing relevant keywords, advertisements, and landing pages. Why do we bother? Google doesn't use our keywords anyway. They make up their own and charge us for them.

Suggestions welcome! Tonerman

[tonerman]

We sell products for a lot of different brand products like IBM, Xerox, HP etc. All of our ads are targeted at specific model and part numbers. When I initially posted this thread it had expanded to showing ads for "types of products" without a brand or model name in the query,

Today it started showing ads and I am getting clicks for queries with a single word brand name in the search query like "Xerox".

That means I will have to take every brand based campaign and make exact match negative keywords for every brand we sell. Broad match is an ever-widening algo. No wonder their revenues keep increasing! I just wish it was not at my expense. :(

[sem4u]

From your examples broad match looks far too broad.

You need to have either exact or phrase matches for your keywords. If you use phrase match then add appropriate negative keywords to your campaigns and/or AdGroups. It would be useful if negative keywords could be added at account level.

[tonerman]

From your examples broad match looks far too broad.

You need to have either exact or phrase matches for your keywords. If you use phrase match then add appropriate negative keywords to your campaigns and/or AdGroups. It would be useful if negative keywords could be added at account level.

"It would be useful if negative keywords could be added at account level." I agree - it would save a lot of work. However, if you use only Exact and Phrase Match you lose to much traffic. I tried going all phrase and exact match and lost to many clicks.

I use all three match types now with a lot of negative match terms. Because Broad match has started becoming Any Match :) I look at all click querys daily in case I need to add additional negative matches. You have to be careful with the type of negative match you use so you don't shoot yourself in the foot. For instance, I run a lot of ads for specific Xerox products. I added "Xerox" as an exact match negative keyword to stop the problem of the one word query "Xerox" triggering ads, but still allowing my ads to appear for a query I want like Xerox 4312 toner cartridge.

Google is not going to get rid of broad match or the problem of completely useless ad clicks as a result of it. The advertiser is going to have to do what I am doing - watch your clicks like a hawk and be sure you know the exact query term that triggered the click from your log files.

Google is very concerned about landing page quality lately. One way they could improve it quickly for all Google search users is to tighten up Broad Match's lousy landing page performance. In the case of "Xerox" as a query I believe the user wanted the URL for Xerox's website. My ad that appeared was probably at the top of the SERPS and he clicked on the top query not knowing that it was ad for a specific Xerox product being sold by someone else other than Xerox itself.

That's a good example of how you erode user satisfaction with Google search.

[projectphp]

Man, can someone fix this broken record?

A sample of previous topics on this issue by tonerman (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/search.php?searchid=435817).
WARNING! Broad Match is completely out of control now!
More Broad Match bad news.
Poll: Is Google AdWords Broad Match Guilty Of False Advertising?
Expanded Match spinning further out of control!
Poll: Up The Creek With Google AdWords Broad Match
Stopping Broad Match with Expanded Match Rip-off!

[tonerman]

Man, can someone fix this broken record?

A sample of previous topics on this issue by tonerman (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/search.php?searchid=435817).

This is the broken record speaking! I feel your pain. You know, I hoped I could generate enough advertiser awareness to the cost of this issue to trigger some response by Google to the problem. It never happened. Some of the later posts were meant to tell people who might have been concerned that the problem was become worse. I've done all I can and so I won't post anymore.

Not mad about anything and don't mind being called a broken record. I wanted awareness and I think I got it. Peace!

[sem4u]

Do you have any ads set up like this?

"Xerox toner cartridge"

Then add as negatives product numbers that you don't sell.

This is what I would do.

[tonerman]

Do you have any ads set up like this?

"Xerox toner cartridge"

Then add as negatives product numbers that you don't sell.

This is what I would do.

No - that is to broad a query for me. We don't sell them all. But I am learning that adding popular model numbers you don't sell before they trigger impressions and clicks is a good preventative measure. I haven't done it yet, but it's in my mind if needed for a particular type or brand of products.

[Mel66]

I for one don't mind the "broken record" at all, and would like to publicly thank Tonerman for keeping everyone up to date on the latest examples of broad match gone wild. Instead of just whining "broad match sucks," he's given detailed examples we can all learn from. Yes, his issues don't apply to every Adwords advertiser - but they do serve as a caveat and a lesson to everyone who's using broad match. The takeaway from all this is, track everything and watch your campaigns like a hawk. Always good advice, no matter what you're advertising.

I had hoped Tonerman's threads would have elicited a bigger response from Google, but oh well. You have to try, and I applaud him for that.

Melissa

[fulton savage]

Now Broad Match has gone further afield. It is showing ads for my products when the query is just "laser cartridges" or "toner cartridges". No brand name, no model numbers, no nothing as a qualifier. It shows the same ad for one of the products we sell (the Samsung ML-2150D8 toner cartridge.)

tonerman, do all of your keywords have a printer manufacturer and model number? Even one "toner cartridges" keyword would trigger this kind of matching.

I still think that if you have a list of model numbers you sell carts for you should put those in phrase and exact match keywords, and then just have a group of broad matches on each company name + "toner cartridge."


A google search on "adwords broad match" ranks your topics higher than google: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-30,GGLG:en&q=adwords+broad+match

[fulton savage]

Broad Match - This is the default option. If you include general keyword or keyword phrases-such as tennis shoes-in your keyword list, your ads will appear when a user's query contains tennis and shoes, in any order, and possibly along with other terms. Your ads will also automatically show for expanded matches (https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6136), including plurals and relevant variations. Because broad matches are sometimes less targeted than exact or phrase matches, you should create keyword phrases containing at least two descriptive words each. You can also try the Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) and the other three matching options to further refine your targeting. Finally, keep in mind that other advertisers may have bid for the same broad-matched keyword combinations that trigger your ads, increasing your actual CPC amounts. Using exact, phrase, or negative matches can help you keep your costs low.

I underlined relevant variations because this is what is screwing you over, man. In addition to plurals, Google will decide that "toner cartridges" is a relevant variation of "HP 2100 toner cartridges." My best guess is that the product names/numbers, especially in this case, are unimportant looking to Google.

[tonerman]

I appreciate your kind remarks. Based on my campaigns, even with vigilence I get one or two clicks a day for stuff I don't want. In my case the average CPC is over $2.50. Multiply this across all Google advertisers, and consider how few advertisers are really aware of this issue, and Google has to be making a barrel of money off "invalid" (my term, but it sure fits) Broad Match clicks. Before I choked down on it about 10% of my daily ad spend was mis-matched ads and querys along with totally irrelevant landing pages in relationship to the query. Even with my daily efforts it often runs over 5% of my ad spend.

I stop this stuff as soon as I detect it and I have a custom report in Nettracker that generates all the queries for Google for the day. I can push a button and export it all to a spreadsheet. I then scan all the queries and create any necessary negative match terms I need immediately. I upload them with Adwords Editor.

If I added the time I spend each day managing my campaigns to my click costs I bet my overall Google ROI would start looking pretty poor. In fact, while I have no intention of ending PPC campaigns on Google or anywhere else, I am going to start building my business through more traditional print advertising channels versus Google PPC. There is more than one way to drive targeted traffic into a website. Frankly, I'd like to get rid of PPC because of the management time involved and the lower ROI's we get today.

[tonerman]

tonerman, do all of your keywords have a printer manufacturer and model number? Even one "toner cartridges" keyword would trigger this kind of matching.

I still think that if you have a list of model numbers you sell carts for you should put those in phrase and exact match keywords, and then just have a group of broad matches on each company name + "toner cartridge."


A google search on "adwords broad match" ranks your topics higher than google: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-30,GGLG:en&q=adwords+broad+match

The majority of my keywords are the brand and model coupled with "toner", "cartridges" "cartridge", or "toner cartridge", all 3 and 4 word (or more) keywords minimum. There's a lot more terms I won't discuss because I can't share them. The problem with the term "Xerox toner cartridge" is that Xerox makes hundreds of different toner cartridges. Sure, some of the visitors would find what they need on our site, but many more visitors wouldn't. I don't want a net that big.

The only way to get all the traffic you want is with Broad Match. Unfortumately it also comes at the price of some traffic you don't want and that should not be occurring. Why it occurs is solely due to Google. Why all the fuss at us about landing pages when Google doesn't even match the ads it shows with the query term? :rolleyes:

[tonerman]

I underlined relevant variations because this is what is screwing you over, man. In addition to plurals, Google will decide that "toner cartridges" is a relevant variation of "HP 2100 toner cartridges." My best guess is that the product names/numbers, especially in this case, are unimportant looking to Google.

You are probably dead on. However, you might have continued underlining by including Google's comment that "Because broad matches are sometimes less targeted than exact or phrase matches, you should create keyword phrases containing at least two descriptive words each."

What does that mean? Why bother with the additional words if Google is going to ignore them?

[tonerman]

.....broad match gone wild.Melissa

Hmmmm?? Maybe I can sell video's of.....??? Nah, not quite as big an audience for videos of broad match gone wild as there is for the other Gone Wild subject. :)

[Marcia]

I think the subject has been well covered with the numerous threads and posts made in them, and would like to suggest reviewing all threads for a comprehensive picture - even though it does involve switching around among the various threads that have been started and posted in, since the information is scattered around among them.

Apologies for not having it all in one thread for ease of reference for members and being able to follow trains of thought and advice, but if anyone wants a list of the URLs for the threads posted, simply PM me to do so and I will, or check tonerman's profile.

Meantime, with all of that information and advice under our belts, it seems it's time to call it a wrap.