What's going on with Adwords

[Paz]

I did a search for "bedding", then almost immediately made another search for "used cars" and saw this (image manipulated to shrink size);

http://www.digital-m.co.za/images/used-cars.gif


So does that mean that Google are displaying Adwords based on search history or is this a glitch if you make quick searches? I bet Chiltern Mills would be unhappy here because they're losing out on clickthrough rate scores aren't they?

[Skylo]

Hey Paz,

There is nothing wrong with Adwords. In both cases, the first result you have highlighted looks as if they would have just advertised on the broad-matched term "Used" whilst the second result seems to be advertising on the broad-matched term "Car."

The problem is here that neither company has done in depth keyword research and you are 100% in saying their Quality Score will be affected due to a bad Click-Through-Rate. It is the responsibility of the advertiser to know the implications of very generic broad matched terms. If they wanted the broad term it would be a good idea to add negatives to their campaign to ensure they do not show for terms that could be matched with "Used" which I am sure you can imagine is quite a lot!

I could go on about this for ages as I see this problem so often when taking over a clients account.
Hope I answered your question though :-)

Ciao
Skye

[Skylo]

Hey Paz,

Um, please discount my post above. It would seem that there is a very likely scenario you saw those ads based on Google's "Expanded Broad Match". I will not go into the details of how it works as the following link will explain:

http://www.semclubhouse.com/expanded-broad-match-googles-eps-earning-per-share-equalizer.html

This is extremely disconcerting for me. It seems that we are affected by this on review of our current clients accounts. Google have forced us into a corner now. The scenario is such that if we had to switch all our advertising terms to phrase or exact matches we would stand the chance of losing a lot of traffic. Even though this traffic may not be relevant how do you explain this to a client?

I am taking this up with our Google reps now. Will post any responses I receive.

Skye

[Dave A]

Sitting on the publisher side of the fence, I'm half tempted to say "Go Google you good thing." But as a business man also I understand the important role of value in the relationship too. A fascinating insight.

In reading it though, a thought did occur. What would happen if Google started factoring in the browser's history into its targetting. Or other external non-keyword factors. I've got a sneaking suspicion they already do, otherwise why collect the data. But let's go extreme for a moment.

As an example - in radio advertising the best time to flight take-away commercials is a little while before dinnertime. The listener is tired, heading home, and might not be in the mood for cooking. You swing the impulse buy.

Applying this example to the issue of keywords, Google might have some difficulty explaining why they flighted a fast food ad on a business site at 4.30 pm in traditional keyword reports, because the key factors were not the keywords at all, but the time of day and the browser's click history!

Of course, a better conversion rate would indicate that Google had got the algo right.

Please don't shoot me - just a thought.