Say No to AdWords “improved” Phrase and Match Types … for now

It’s been quite a busy week for Google AdWords. There have been lots of PPC changes. Most for good, but then there is the “improvements” to match types.

Google announced new matching behavior for phrase and exact match keywords on April 17th. According to the announcement:

This sounds like a great idea, from a novice point of few, but once you dig deeper it’s covered with potential problems.

1. 1. Who asked for this? – I do not know of a single PPC professional who wished that phrase and exact match would be more “broader”. Through great tools, like #ppcchat, many paid search experts chat frequently about issues and features in this strange profession we chose. However, this was not a problem. And trust me, we have a long list of issues and features we want. This is not one.
2. 2. It’s not Exact match anymore – By definition exact means … well exact. For Google to dictate what they think we mean is counter-productive. When we choose Exact match on a keyword it’s for very good reason. It means we want to match, and only match, that keyword.
3. 3. What are “Close Variants”?- This phrase was used in Google’s description of this new feature. However, it’s a concerning two words. That’s too broad of a statement to me. What is a close variant? There is too much opportunity here for Google to miss the mark on this one. Every missed keyword is money spent. I do not want a close variation, especially if I am bidding exact (see problem 2).

Opt out
The bright side of this is Google is allowing users to opt out of this match type. For most PPC professionals, that’s a no-brainer.

Could this work?

Let’s be clear. I am not saying this may not work in some instances. It very well may. However, I do know it won’t work for ALL. And as a default setting, that’s what Google is telling us. For us that are deeply into AdWords hours a day, we will try it. We test, test, then test again. That’s what we do. If we opt-in, it will be a slow process.

However, the real problem is Google is once again taking advantage of the PPC “ignorant”. They will assume that most marketers will not be aware of this change and thus not opt out. It’s another chance for Google to grab that extra nickel and dime from thousands of accounts. That adds up.