What were the changes that Google recently made to the exact match keyword in AdWords?

If you are running your own paid search campaign you may have heard that Exact Match has been updated by Adwords.

The update has come as a shock to many as Exact Match used to be exactly what it meant – the keyword you are bidding on will only show up for people that are searching for exactly that keyword.

For example in the old exact match:
Keyword “water damage” would not show up for “damage water” or other types of keywords.

However, the recent update makes it so that the keyword might be showing up for other searches as well.

To find out more watch this week’s video:

While Google claims it has advertisers best interest in mind, only time will tell if the change is better for everyone…

For more information take a look at our more in-depth article on Adwords exact match changes.

Transcription:

Hello, and welcome to another marketing contractor question of the week. This week I have Jamie here, who is our pay per click expert, if you will. The question this week is, Jamie, what were the changes that Google recently made to the exact match keyword in AdWords?

Good question. Recently Google switched up their algorithm a bit. Previously when you were bidding on an exact match keyword they would only show your ad if a user typed in that exact keyword. Nothing more, nothing less. Now they’ve switched it up so if the word order changes a little bit or if there’s plurals or close variance, that your ad can now show. So, for example, if you’re bidding on the term Cleveland Restoration Companies, your ad can now show for restoration companies in Cleveland, even though it’s not exactly what your keyword is typed in as. Google believes that they’re essentially the same meaning so this will help increase your impressions while keeping your click through rate relatively the same.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing, you would say?

I see it as both if we learn how to adjust to it. I think it’s a good thing in the fact that if their algorithm is correct and they’re able to really pull in new searches that are what you’re looking for, it can help you reach a new audience that you previously might not have been reaching. But it’s also going to mess up our data a little bit. So, us as advertisers, we like to have a really close eye on all the changes that Google’s making and it helps us make decisions so we’re just going to have to adjust a little bit.

Okay, awesome. Anything else to add or is that pretty much [inaudible 00:01:51].

I think that’s pretty much it. Another thing … Just one more thing. They said that they won’t switch you the meaning of your keyword though. So if you’re bidding on something like, flights from Cleveland to Phoenix, they won’t show your ad for Phoenix to Cleveland. They’re trying to keep it tight, keep their algorithm working for the benefit of us.

Awesome, well thank you very much and thank you for watching and catch us next week. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to us. Thank you very much.

Cool.