How Using AdWords Pay Per Click Keyword Matching Can Give You The Edge

By Anthony Buchalka

Unless you properly take better advantage of the AdWords Pay Per Click keyword matching options that AdWords makes available, chances are that you're missing out on potential customers and creating a higher cost per click (CPC) for yourself.

As the name suggests, AdWords pay per click broad matches are usually less targeted than exact and phrase matches. Broad matching is the default option under which your ads will appear for expanded matches such as plurals or relevant keyword variations.

Conversely, when you utilize AdWords pay per click phrase matching, your ad will appear for your chosen search terms in the order that you specify, and sometimes for other terms, too. Exact matching is by far the most targeted option to use (see below), so don't neglect it!

You ad will appear for the exact keyword you specified with exact match.

The AdWords pay per click negative keyword option is also a great tool as it allows you to specify the keywords for which you don't want the ads to appear.

Here's a quick example of how the AdWords Pay Per Click keyword targeting options work:

Broad match - With broad match, the Google AdWords system automatically runs your ads on relevant variations of your keywords, even if these terms aren't in your keyword lists.

Keyword variations can include synonyms, singular/plural forms, relevant variants of your keywords, and phrases containing your keywords.

Broad match -If you're currently running ads on the broad-matched keyword cricket bat, your ads may show for the search queries such as cricket bat and ball, or buy a cricket bat.

One of the primary benefits of broad match is that it helps you attract more traffic to your website but be careful as the traffic is not necessarily very targeted (although it can be).

Be careful in the beginning with AdWords pay per click broad match.

Phrase Match - If you enter your keyword in quotation marks, as in "cricket bat" your ad would be eligible to appear when a user searches on the phrase 'cricket bat', in this order, and possibly with other terms before or after the phrase. For example, your ad could appear for the query 'buy cricket bat' but not for 'bat for cricket', 'cricket ball and bat', or 'cricket trousers'.

AdWords pay per click phrase match is more targeted than broad match, but more flexible than exact match. And I always use it!

Exact Match - If you surround your keywords in brackets - such as [cricket bat] - your ad would be eligible to appear when a user searches for the specific phrase cricket bat, in this order, and without any other terms in the query.

For example, your ad wouldn't show for the query 'new cricket bat' or 'cricket bats'.

AdWords pay per click exact match is your most targeted option.

Although you won't receive as many impressions with exact match, you'll likely enjoy the most targeted clicks - users searching for your exact keyword typically want precisely what you have to offer them.

I use this all the time as well.

Negative Keywords - If your keyword is cricket bat and you add the negative keyword free, your ad will not appear when a user searches on 'free cricket bat'.

Negative keywords are especially useful if your account contains lots of broad-matched keywords.

It's nearly always a good idea to add any irrelevant keyword variations you see in as a negative keywords.

I suggest you take the time to track and test the different AdWords pay per click matching techniques, and to tweak your selections to improve your conversions. You will find in some instances, that all the 3 keyword matching options may work for you.

Generally it's wise to begin with exact and phrase matched first though.

Anthony Buchalka is a successful internet marketer with 4 years extensive experience in online marketing in a wide range of marketplaces. Anthony's popular and complimentary Google AdWords report that discusses "How To Prevent The 10 Biggest Google Adwords Mistakes", is now available at no cost from http://www.ppcfuel.com