![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/phoenix-online-media-reasons-to-use-paid-advertising1.jpg\" "\\"phoenix-online-media-reasons-to-use-paid-advertising\\"")
<\/a>Recent changes to Google\u2019s AdWords tool allow PPC marketers to set up paid search campaigns without populating long lists of plurals, abbreviations, acronyms, misspellings and stems.<\/p>\nIn my last post<\/a>, I mentioned the need to review keyword match types regularly to ensure your paid search campaigns remain profitable. The recent AdWords changes<\/a> make regular reviewing even more important; especially for small and medium enterprises.<\/p>\n Here, ClickThrough Marketing\u2019s Paid Search Manager, Saiqa Bi, looks at the implications of the changes, and the potential pros and cons for internet marketing.<\/p>\n Before we delve any deeper into what the recent to AdWords functionality mean for you, it\u2019s probably worth a quick recap of what does what in AdWords:<\/p>\n After setting up an account, advertisers used to have to generate and populate long lists associated with their keywords (either positively or negatively), such as plurals, abbreviations, acronyms, stems and misspellings. Accounts which didn\u2019t do this background work generally didn\u2019t work; either because they failed to capture the right traffic, or resulted in extraneous and expensive click costs on irrelevant search terms.<\/p>\n Good paid search managers are well aware of the implications of irrelevant or negative results in a PPC campaign<\/strong>.<\/p>\n No travel agent, for instance, would want their paid ads to top the search results for a query like \u2018worst travel agent\u2019. But, with a phrase match campaign for the term \u2018travel agent\u2019, this is a real risk.<\/p>\n Phrase match allows paid search advertisers to ensure their websites return in searches for specific keyword phrases, like the term \u2018travel agent\u2019.\u00a0 This means if someone searches for anything with the phrase \u2018travel agent\u2019 in it, your paid ad will return in their search results. Which is great if your ad returns at the top of the results for a \u201cbest travel agent\u201d search \u2013 but not so great if your ad appears at the top of a \u2018worst travel agent\u2019 search.<\/p>\n As such, a lot of \u2018behind the scenes\u2019 work is necessary to optimise a paid search account so this kind of negative association doesn\u2019t occur; involving populating lengthy \u2018negative\u2019 keyword lists, as well as inserting any potential keyword plurals, acronyms, abbreviations, stems and misspellings.<\/p>\n All this changed on May 17, 2012<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Google has made changes to AdWords which, on the face of it, invite advertisers to trust Google with their paid ad budget. Google has altered its AdWords tool to try to make the arduous behind-the-scenes tasks slightly simpler for paid search managers.<\/p>\n The changes allow advertisers to set up accounts more quickly \u2013 as AdWords will automatically match plurals, abbreviations, acronyms and stems. For the hyper-cynical, this situation could be compared to handing your car keys and a blank cheque to a mechanic, and telling them to do \u201cwhatever they think is necessary\u201d on your car.<\/p>\n Most motorists who\u2019ve visited a reputable garage will have been offered extraneous and expensive work at some point. And they\u2019d probably guess the likely outcome of this hypothetical AdWords scenario is potentially a lot of expensive and ultimately unnecessary work; work that is bound to plump up the pockets of the mechanic, but will leave your pockets empty.<\/p>\n That\u2019s for the cynic, though.<\/p>\n Google AdWords continues to be a powerful and reliable traffic source for advertisers. For now, let\u2019s look at the pros and cons of recent AdWords changes for small, and big business.<\/p>\n In the short term, the changes may add to the workload, as advertisers will need to monitor SQRs more frequently whilst carrying on with everyday PPC tasks, such as adding unwanted queries as negative keywords.<\/p>\n In future, the variations shown by these changes could help paid search managers capture traffic they may not have originally considered, leading to longer term rewards<\/strong>, more<\/strong> visibility<\/strong> and more targeted and tailored ads<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Either way, ploughing through a pile of client search query reports is going to become a lot more interesting! Some will argue that the onus is on Google to ensure it doesn\u2019t return irrelevant results. After all, the search engine makes changes on an almost daily basis to try to deliver the most relevant results possible \u2013 so a sudden upsurge in irrelevant paid ad results isn\u2019t going to help its business.<\/p>\n It\u2019s up to Google to grow its revenue, and paid search is arguably its market to take. Whether the AdWords changes result in increased income for paid search advertisers, as well as Google, remains to be seen.<\/p>\n Thanks to Rob Cubbon<\/a> for use of the AdWords recap image and Phoenix Online Media<\/a> for the Google advertising image.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Practical tips to refine your PPC targeting Recent changes to Google\u2019s AdWords tool allow PPC marketers to set up paid search campaigns without populating long lists of plurals, abbreviations, acronyms, misspellings and stems. In my last post, I mentioned the …..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11000,"featured_media":14683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_glsr_average":0,"_glsr_ranking":0,"_glsr_reviews":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[310],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA brief recap on Adwords functionality<\/h3>\n
\n
Advantages and disadvantages of AdWords exact\/phrase match<\/h3>\n
Potential implications of Google AdWords changes<\/h3>\n
The pros and cons of AdWords changes to exact\/phrase match<\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/a>However, the natural search results<\/strong> are in stark contrast to the paid ad results: with \u2018Rabbit Hole Day\u2019 being mentioned a few times, for instance
\n(Rabbit Hole Day is a modern nod to the work of Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland<\/em>. Bloggers participating in Rabbit Hole Day throw away the rulebook for a day every year, on January 27, to celebrate the weird and wonderful world Alice found herself in after falling down a rabbit hole in the novel).
\nThe key question here is \u2018What is the user looking for?<\/strong>\u2019 If they are not looking for a holiday, are they actually interested in a half-hearted digital day for pretentious bloggers to ape the irrelevance and surrealism of one of the greatest fiction writers of modern times? They probably are. And if they are, then it\u2019s unlikely they will click on your paid holiday ad \u2013 so worries about irrelevant click costs aren\u2019t applicable. If they are looking for a holiday, then the irrelevancy of the natural search results (with such questions as \u2018what the hell is Rabbit Hole Day?!\u2019) will push them to the paid search results anyway, or they will switch to Google\u2019s suggested search of \u2018holiday\u2019 (showing results for holeday\/search instead for holiday).<\/li>\n
\nSome issues are worth considering, though. If you don\u2019t do the legwork and get your negative keyword lists right, you may find yourself showing for some unsavoury search terms<\/strong>. Most brands would prefer not to be associated with negative terms in search, so constantly checking and refining your campaigns is an absolute must<\/strong>. Left unchecked, an AdWords campaign could end up creating more negative associations. Consequently, paid search managers should plan to spend much more time looking at SQRs, and refining their negative matches in future.<\/li>\n
\nHowever, natural results<\/strong> indicate otherwise. Here, users could be thinking <\/strong>about <\/strong>where they could get a tyre repaired, they might want reviews from people who have had their tyres repaired, or, and let\u2019s stretch our imaginations a bit, they may want to find a garage boasting services like \u2018tyres repaired, exhausts fixed, windows replaced\u2019. Stringent reporting should show you how this kind of phrase is used by searchers, allowing you to tailor your ads accordingly.<\/li>\nTop Tips Summary: Effective PPC with Google AdWords changes<\/h3>\n
\n
<\/strong>Are the Google AdWords changes an improvement?<\/h3>\n