Exact & Phrase Matches Remain Vital as Keyword Match Types

Since they enable advertisers to tailor their ad campaigns to the most relevant demographic, keyword match types are a useful technique for controlling ad spending because they generate targeted traffic and eventually higher conversion rates.

With more advanced targeting options available, some marketers are beginning to question if keyw
ord match types are still important.

This essay will look at the background of match types and discuss why they are still essential to current sponsored search campaigns.

A Brief History Of How We Got to Where We Are Now

When I first started in this profession, Yahoo! was by far the most widely used search engine. While Google only had two match types (standard and advanced), it had the three match types we currently have (exact, phrase, and broad; although for seven years, they also had broad match modified).

When Bing completely separated from Yahoo! in the mid- to late 2000s (because I still won't call it Microsoft Advertising), it had a setup akin to Google's.

Yahoo! ultimately made the conversion to three-match types when it switched from Overture to Panama (yes, I'm old) and then again when it debuted Gemini (may God grant that it never returns!).

Up until recently, phrase, broad match modified (when it was available), and broad (which was fairly random) were always promoted as being the most accurate to the inquiry.

Broad match modified and close match versions, however, lost their usefulness as stand-alone functions over time.

Around the year 2018, exact match also began to feel like a hybrid of phrase match and broad match modified. It also got a lot looser. Naturally, this revelation was not well received by the majority of the industry.

Since Google likely coined the phrase "key wordless AI" in February 2023, marketers are debating the match types' future usefulness.

People Didn't Take Match Type Changes Well (I Saw This At A Google Event After The Announcement) Large, sophisticated operations avoided broad match for years or utilised it sparingly due to the poorer Quality Score keywords it produced.

 Advertisers almost often used exact and phrase match, duplicating the keywords for both match types and placing the highest price for exact, followed by phrase. 

Others would use broad, but at the lowest bid (to minimise risks), primarily to collect data from the Search Query Reports and compile lengthy negative keyword lists (I still do this today). 

Dynamic keyword insertion (DKI) should never be used in ad groups with broad match keywords. This expert guidance is still relevant today.

 A hybrid match type that combines wide match modified with phrase match in a single keyword really floored me at the 2018 SMX West, it should be noted. James Svoboda of WebRanking is the creator of this match type. Sadly, it is no longer practical.

The majority of shopper marketing platforms, specialized/unique search engines like Yelp, Shopping (previously PLA), Dynamic Search Ads, Local Service Ads, and Local Search are all excluded from this history because they are "keywordless" searches. Not to mention the questionable Performance Max came before it.

 

Why Are Match Types Important If Keywordless Search Is the Future?

Since I've been donning my tinfoil hat on this for years, I'm glad you asked. 

My sole, marginally substantiated claim is that big search, a new term I hope sticks, is attempting to challenge our authority by forgoing the traditional keyword strategy in order to boost profits. I understand that for the time being, the band-aid is still in place and that we still have some influence over keyword-focused search. 

So focusing on match types is relevant and important.

Although they might not be applicable to everyone at this time, the following are some straightforward and fundamental responses:

Advertising does not always include shopping.

Some marketers lack the YouTube assets they need, and others dislike the awkward videos the engines produce for them.

As Max Performance expands. Not all advertisers will necessarily profit from employing it, despite the fact that it is malleable.

Not all advertisers want to utilise rotating images or placements for a variety of reasons.

Many marketers want to be able to monitor their spending and produce reports based on where their advertising are placed.

The truth is that many advertisers only care about showing up for a small number of specific search terms for a variety of reasons. And "keywordless" approaches simply fail to support that.

So why do phrase and exact match still matter?

Despite the neutering changes made by large search, phrase and exact match still hold sway.

When it comes to keyword-based search, exact match keywords continue to have the best relevancy (and subsequently Quality Score) to a search query.

 close behind phrase match in terms of cost per click (CPC) effectiveness.

Exact is less expensive because QS populates more frequently than Phrase. March 2023 author screenshot

Exact costs less than Phrase since Quality Score populates it more frequently.

The Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAG) technique to bidding is largely no longer used, but the demand for closely-knit ad groups persists.

The second need for these match types and the reason they are so crucial are frequently disregarded: budget usage.

Budget cannibalization is, in its most basic form, having a single pot of money that everyone can withdraw from with few or no limitations. Therefore, rather than everyone receiving an equal share, whoever takes the money first will get the biggest chunk.

As opposed to a specific keyword you're hoping to pay for, the website decides whether a keywordless search bid on a user inquiry is relevant to it.

In essence, this means that an advertiser may not appear for both if a high-volume search query syphons off the revenue from a mid- to low-volume search query.

In other words, even though you may bid on "everything" with a keywordless search campaign, it's likely that the majority of the money is spent on non-brand and/or high-volume inquiries.

Other potential queries that you could present (long tail, brand, mid-to-low volume, etc.) are not given enough (or any) budget to deal with.

Important information: Performance Max will soon be able to handle some of this with its campaign-level negatives (which already apply to shopping).

Therefore, if you want to guarantee your important keywords (such as brand, high volume/higher converting, etc.), a phrase and/or exact match keyword-based search programme is still absolutely necessary.

The Moral 

In the end, the following is the main takeaway from this article:

Big search is working hard to create a "keywordless" environment for search advertising.

The lack of transparency and control in keywordless search cannibalises other results while simplifying.

Today, "keywordless" search isn't all that much better than broad match.

Using phrase and exact match constructed ad groups is the only method to ensure that you are bidding on your intended query and minimise the lack of transparency.

Last but not least, because I never stated it before: A negative match is the most significant match kind.

 

 

ZK Marketing