This is a rather unimportant example in itself, however, though cases like this do not happen frequently, it can shed a light on how phrase match works in practice thereby helping you understand this subject more thoroughly.

An advertiser recently setup a campaign using all phrase match terms such as

“his phrase 1″,

“his phrase 2″,

etc.

However he noticed that he wasn’t getting any impressions or clickers…so when he tested it himself searching for his phrase 1 (not in quotes) or his phrase 2 (not in quotes) nothing came up. But then he tried “his phrase 1″  (in quotes) and “his phrase 2″  (in quotes) and it did come up. He thought this didn’t make sense to him because he was of the opinion that using the quotes with phrase match was supposed to make his ads come up if someone just typed in those terms…not having to use quotes in the search query…and that’s what Google’s Instrutions seemed to indicate….

First off, the right approach requires the use the Ad Preview Tool linked-to below

* Ad Preview Tool

https://adwords.google.com/select/AdTargetingPreviewTool

for viewing his own ad so as not to accrue false stats. The advertiser’s anticipation that his ad should display for his phrase 1 (not in quotes) and/or his phrase 2 (not in quotes) each and every time is not correct. Especially the frequent combination of a low budget and a popular keyword may cause the system to show an ad only every 10th or 100th time so as not to deplete the budget too early during the day. The phenomenon the above advertiser experienced was due to this fact.

Next time, he searched for “his phrase 1″ (quotes) and/or “his phrase 2″ (quotes) thereby matching his actual phrase match keywords. This time, however, he happened to search for very rare search queries since users don’t often use speech marks in the search terms. Consequently the system was happy to deliver his ad each and every time.

“Phrase Match” is a more controlled option than broad match. If an advertiser has the phrase match keyword “can crusher” the ads are eligible to appear if someone types can crusher in that order and possibly or with terms before or after the keyword phrase. For example electric can crusher, or make your own can crusher . Phrase match is more targeted than broad match but still allows for the AdWords system to add terms they deem related.

Google’s idea behind “phrase match” is to allow advertisers to create a small keyword list and allow the AdWords system to determine what other related terms the ads should show on. This keyward targeting option is more controlled than Broad Match, but it can still be controlled further with [Exact Match].

While Phrase match is more controlled than Broad match it will still often allow for advertisers ads to appear on search results that they would not like to appear on. The below screen shot is a perfect example. This advertiser does not have instructions on how to make a can crusher but his ads are showing to people looking to make a can crusher and they are also clicking his ads.

What can this advertiser do to further control the keywords? They can either add -negative keywords for words such as -build to prevent the ads from showing on this particular search query or go with [exact match] keywords.

Why Prevent Adverts Appearing?

It may seem strange, especially to new AdWords advertisers, that you’d want to stop adverts from appearing. However, you pay for every click. If the clicks have a low conversion rate, then you’ll find it hard to make a profit. Relevant keywords will have a higher conversion rate. Google will also penalise you for choosing poor keywords – you’ll pay more per click than an advertiser who has the right keywords. This is because Google is trying to optimise search results for search users, not advertisers.