More On Match Type Optimization

Yesterday we discussed how you can use match types to group your ads. What we didn’t mention was that the inspiration for the post was this SE Roundtable blog post from last week.

We didn’t feel the need to address the post head on last week, but we’d like to respond to PPC Hero’s call for a discussion just this morning.

Our take is pretty much the same as the Hero’s. It is a little odd, first, that Google would make that recommendation, but secondly there is no real logical reason why you’d refrain from using all of your match types for your pay per click advertising campaigns. Yesterday, we recommended using the exact match type to target the most specific product name that you want to be found for in conjunction with the broad match phrase for the family of products those specific product types fall under. Keep in mind that this suggestion is made for groups of products that fall within the same family. But what if you have single products you want to target from a variety of product families. Can you group your keywords into one ad group using your match types?

Understand that match types are flexible. Use them to your advantage. One way to see them is by taking an analogy from battle planning. A general during war maneuvers might use obstacles to canalize the enemy into a kill position. A barrier might be used to block a pass so that the enemy is forced to find another way to its destination. Trying to maneuver around the pass, the enemy is then confronted with a natural barrier, a river, booby trapped with concertina wire. Now what?

In the same manner, match types can be used to send your customers where you want them. You can mix and match the various match types of achieve the desired ends in any creative manner possible. So let’s get back to our example, shall we?

We’ll say you have three products – A, B, and C – that you want to promote with a particular ad group. Each product comes from a different family of products within your inventory – say Families 1, 2, and 3. But all three of those families of product fall under the wider umbrella of Genus X, which doesn’t represent your entire inventory but perhaps a segment of your inventory. Confused?

Don’t be. You want to capture a targeted audience specific to these three products, but you don’t just want to use the narrowest match type possible because you might miss some opportunities. Here’s one way to mix your match types to achieve your goal:

[Product A]
[Product B]
[Product C]
“Family 1″
“Family 2″
“Family 3″
-Product D
-Product E
-Product F
Genus X
-Family 4
-Family 5

OK, so this is a raw example. Let’s insert real names for these variables:

Genus X = Gadget
Family 1 = Capsized Gadget
Family 2 = Crooked Gadget
Family 3 = Contorted Gadget
Family 4 = Buoyant Gadget
Family 5 = Dry Gadget
Product A = Locking Capsized Gadget
Product B = Locking Crooked Gadget
Product C = Locking Contorted Gadget
Product D = Unlocking Capsized Gadget
Product E = Unlocking Crooked Gadget
Product F = Unlocking Contorted Gadget

Again, this is just one example. There are various ways you could achieve the same results. The principle to understand here is that match types are available to help you reach the right market for your products. If you are advertising your locking gadgets through one ad group and your unlocking gadgets through another then you can reach that target market by grouping your match types with mixed and matched levels of targeting. That’s what match types are for.