Google AdWords can be a great tool for B2B Companies looking to increase targeted traffic around competitive business terms. By identifying specific keywords and phrases built around valuable products or services to your company, you can essentially determine what price you are willing to pay in order to generate a money-making lead through a website conversion. But there can be a lot of muck you have to sift through in order to determine which keywords or phrases are actually successful in driving conversions.

There are many ways you can go about cleaning up your ad campaigns in order to increase your conversions (and thereby getting a better return on your investment), but one option we'll talk about today is how testing different match types can help refine your campaigns and increase your conversions. Testing different match types is important. People search in different ways, and it would be impossible for you to hand-check all of the different keyword variations someone may use when trying to find your business.

So instead, Google AdWords offers your to select a "match type" to define your keyword or phrase, which helps broaden or narrow the opportunities when your ads will show up in search results. Here are the most popular match types to consider when testing out keywords in your ad campaigns, with notes of why they are important accompanying them. For more information, review Google's Support page as well. For our example today, let's assume you sell throw pillows. ALL sorts of throw pillows. Purple ones, even (Skol, Vikings!):

Broad Match:

Broad Match, by definition, is going to match the keyword you've selected with the broadest possible keywords a user is searching. This will include bringing in variant terms of your own keyword, including misspellings, synonyms, similar searches, and more. In our example of "Throw Pillows", if someone were to search "buy throw cushions" or "who sells couch pillows", there is a good chance your ad would show in the results.

However, if someone was looking for a couch cushion (one they sit on) instead of a throw pillow (one they ... relax near?), showing up the results where they are asking "who sells couch pillows" when they didn't really mean pillows would be a poor match. So as you can see, Broad Match will cast the net wide for your keyword, but it may bring back some junk with it. too.

Phrase Match:

Phrase Match will get our ads to appear in more specific ways. What Phrase Match is looking for is any keyword phrase a user searches that closely matches the keyword you set. In our case, our ad campaign with the keyword of "Throw Pillows" would appear in search results when someone searched "Purple Throw Pillows" since it carries the phrase "Throw Pillows" in the term. Using Phrase Match allows us to still account for slight variations in terms, but is great when we've already narrowed in on a specific term we want to target or bid on.

Exact Match:

Exact Match takes us to another level when we are getting specific in which search results we want to appear in. Using an Exact Match keyword of "Throw Pillows" means we will ONLY show up if someone is searching for Throw Pillows. No "pillow cushions", no "pillow throwing fights", no "where to buy throw pillows." The keyword a user uses must match up EXACTLY with the keyword we targeted in order to appear. This is a great option if you've zeroed in on a high volume, specific term that you know users finding your site search and convert when using. Be careful though, as you basically acknowledge you are not competing for any other keyword variants when using this match type.

Modified Broad Match:

Modified Broad Match is a match type that probably doesn't get enough love by AdWords users. It is similar to Broad Match, in that it allows for a bit more flexibility than the other match types, but doesn't bring in synonyms or as wide a range of other close keyword types. The added bonus is that when used, your keywords can appear in a users search in any order. For example, let's say we used a keyword of "Purple Throw Pillows", we would still then be able to appear in a result for "Throw Pillows that are Purple" or "Buy Throw Pillows Purple" but we would NOT appear for "Purple Seat Cushions", which is great. Because, hey, that's not what we sell!

So using the Modified Broad Match gives you a bit more flexibility while also trimming away some of the unwanted search fat. Hopefully, you can see how tweaking your match type can affect the results of your ad campaigns. The best suggestion is to simply play around, test match types with keywords, phrases, ad copy, and more, and see what your results are.

There are plenty of other ways to test your campaigns in Google AdWords, with this just being one of many, so get out there and see what you can find. Of course, if you ever need additional help, you can always follow up with Ecreative to let us help you increase your return on investment through AdWords by running your Pay Per Click Program.

Want to learn more? Schedule your free consultation with an Ecreative expert today!