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This is the 9th post in the SEM Intermediate Series, a collection of posts intended for search engine marketing professionals looking for guidance in monitoring and adjusting the key performance indicators (KPIs) that determine the success of a PPC campaign. This series is a continuation of the SEM Beginner Series.
If you haven’t already read the SEM Beginner Series on match types, match type refers to how your keywords are matched to search queries. Microsoft adCenter has three different match types: Broad, Phrase and Exact. Be sure to review keyword performance by match type as your match type strategy will affect your account KPIs, including impressions, CTR, and CPCs.
Bidded vs. Delivered Match Types
It is important to understand the difference between the bidded match type and the delivered match type in adCenter. If you have an expert knowledge of these concepts, then feel free to skip ahead to the recommendations below.
In short, the bidded match type is the match type you are explicitly bidding on in adCenter and the delivered match type is how your keyword compares to the user’s query. Note that the bidded and delivered match types are not necessarily the same!
If you bid on the keyword “purple jacket” on Broad match only, the bidded match type is Broad – easy enough. However, you may still get Phrase and Exact match traffic because both match types are contained within a Broad match. For example, a search for “purple jacket” will trigger your keyword, as will “long purple jacket.” The delivered match types for these examples are Exact and Phrase, respectively, even though you are not explicitly bidding on Phrase or Exact match. A search for “purple leather jacket” will trigger your keyword, and both the bidded and delivered match type is Broad.
To review bidded match type data, look at keyword-level data in adCenter; to review delivered match type data, pull a Keyword Performance report and add the additional “Delivered match type” column.
Match Type Recommendations
1. Consolidation is Key
All of the match type variations of the same keyword should be contained in one ad group. In other words, do not create separate ad groups for each match type. To understand why, keep in mind that by bidding on Broad match, you will also get Exact and Phrase match traffic, and by bidding on Phrase, you will also receive Exact match traffic.
The charts below explain the effect of creating separate ad groups by match type:
As you can see, by bidding $1 on Broad for “suitcase,” you are also bidding $1 on Phrase and Exact for “suitcase.” In addition, there is a separate Phrase ad group with an explicit $2 bid on Phrase, meaning there is an implicit $2 bid on Exact.
By using this structure, you have three different bids for the Exact match type for “suit case” and two different bids for the Phrase match type. If you consolidate these keywords into one ad group, the adCenter appearance and behavior will be identical:
2. Place Your Bid
If you are explicitly bidding on Broad match, it is in your best interest to also assign bids to Phrase and Exact match types. Bidding on the more granular match types gives you more control over your match type bids.
As you know, a $3 bid on Broad alone is also a $3 bid on Phrase and Exact. It is unlikely that each of these match types will perform the same; often, Exact match keywords will have the highest CTR and the lowest CPC. Even though Exact match may be outperforming the other match types, if you are only explicitly bidding on Broad, you cannot adjust your bid for Exact – it will inherit the $3 Broad bid. The key takeaway here is if you have a Broad bid, make sure you also have a Phrase and Exact. Similarly, if you have a Phrase bid, make sure you also have an Exact.
3. Track and Review
When analyzing keyword performance, it is important to consider match type. If you generate a Keyword Performance report in adCenter without adding the “Delivered match type” column, you will see aggregate keyword performance for of all three match types, which may be misleading.
For example, Stefani’s goal is to keep CPCs at $2.50 or less. When she reviews the performance for the keyword “hairspray,” she sees that CPCs are at $3.00:
If she does not look deeper, she might decide to remove this keyword from her account due to the high CPC. However, when she looks at the performance of the same keyword by match type, she will see the following:
For this keyword, Broad match is driving a CPC above her $2.50 goal, so she should delete this match type. If she had simply deleted the entire keyword, she would have lost 16 clicks that are meeting or exceeding her performance goals.
Be sure to consider match type performance in your keyword decisions. If you have enabled adCenter conversion tracking, then you can also see conversion data by match type.
Match types can be a tricky subject, so it is important to understand adCenter behavior when making match type decisions. If you have any specific questions about this post or optimizing by match type, feel free to leave a comment below.
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I am bidding on Exact Keyword but report shows Delivered Match Type as phrase & broad i.e. Shows phrase and broad match type against keyword running in exact match type in bid match type report. ...how can this be happen..?
Hello Maman,
Thank you for your post.
We are unable to investigate without having more details about your account. Please contact our support team and they will be able to assist you with this issue.
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Microsoft Advertising Support
Hi Manan,
There are a few quick things I'd recommend looking at:
1. Was the match type for these keywords changed recently? If the keywords were recently changed from broad/phrase to exact, then be sure you're only pulling the report starting from the day AFTER they were changed to exact match.
2. Are these keywords duplicated elsewhere in the account? Double-check that there isn't a broad or phrase match version of the keyword in a different campaign or ad group.
3. Are you bidding on content? Content keywords might show "Broad" in the Delivered Match Type column.
If none of these appear to be causing the issue, then I'd recommend contacting adCenter support: support.adcenter.microsoft.com. They will be able to troubleshoot with your specific account.
Kyle
I don't see how to add the "delivered match type" column to my report. Do you do this as an option when setting up the report or is that an option on the display on all reports?
Why is it necessary to pull these reports instead of them running real time?
Hello Richard,
In order to display the delivered match type column in a report you will need to selct this option before running your report. You can add this by clicking on Change Columns and Layout and then select add or remove columns. From here you will be able to add in the delivered match type column. There is also an option to run a scheduled report so that you do not have to run the reports manually all of the time. I have provided you a link below to a help topic for reporting.
adcenterhelp.microsoft.com/help.aspx
Thank you.
Microsoft Advertising Support.
Hi - I have a follow up question on this -- just so I'm clear -- you are recommending that it is better to not have separate ad groups set up for different match types -- so, if I am bidding on the keyword, "baseball cards" - it would be better to just have this keyword and my selected match types in the same ad group versus having one ad group for EXACT (with various keywords) and one ad group for PHRASE. If I'm bidding on EXACT and PHRASE for the keyword "baseball cards" within the same ad group -- what is generally the best bidding strategy -- bid more for exact and less for phrase?? Thanks.
-MM
Hello MWM,
Yes, it is suggested practice to have all match types for the same keyword in the same adgroup. Bidding strategy will depend on the keyword itself mostly. There is a tool within adCenter where you can check your performance estimates for your keywords. This will use data compliled over the last thirty days in your distribution area to show you an estimate of the traffic you may receive for your bids and keywords. By checking these estimates you may see that phrase is more expensive for some keywords and broad is more expensive for others, depending on how many other users are bidding on that particular word or phrase. I have provided a link to a help topic that explains this in full.
I hope this answers your questions.
Britt.H - MSFT
Hey, So which match type should we considered in report.... Whether it should be bidded match type or delivered match type.....
In point 3 you suggest deleting the Broad match type which has a CPC over $2.50, if you do this wouldn't that mean that Broad Match delivered traffic will switch to the Phrase match type keyword? isn't it best to lower the Broad Bid to default min bid $0.05 or £0.05?
Hello Richa and Carl,
Richa, the bidded match type shows results for the match type you are bidding on currently and the delivered match type shows which match type the keyword was actually delivered as. This is meant to show you oppurtunities that you may not be utilizing with your current match type selections.
Carl, the reason point 3 suggests removing the broad match type is because they are paying a high CPC for that keyword and it is also getting a lower CTR%. Moving the keyword bid for that match type down to 0.05 will possibly cause it to have no performance and a keyword with 0 performance will affect the over CTR% of your ad group.
I hope this has addressed your questions.
Britt H - SUP
Britt H
Thank you for your reply, that does make sense but is it right that if the match type is deleted, the Broad match traffic will possibly find its way to Phrase match type keywords, hence effecting Phrase CTR's?
Thanks
Carl
Carl,
It is possible that you may start seeing some of the traffic that went to their broad keyword tied to their phrase match type. However, the way that broad and phrase matches apply to keyword serach queries is different so you not see as many impressions for keywords that are not relevant.
I have included a link below that goes to our help topic regarding match types.
Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Britt H,
So what, if the performance of a keyword goes down? Is it a determining factor while selecting and ranking ads?