Digital Marketing Agency | Portland PPC SEO Services | Anvil Media -
  • Services
    • Paid Media
    • SEO
    • Social Media
    • Content Marketing Services
    • Website Development
  • Outcomes
    • Clients
    • Portfolio
    • Case Studies
    • Testimonials
    • Awards
    • Industry Expertise
  • Insights
    • Blog
    • Articles
    • Cheat Sheets
    • White Papers
    • eBooks
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars
  • About
    • Our Philosophy
    • Our Culture
    • Executive Team
    • News & Events
    • Careers
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Anvil Newsletter
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in

When Exact Match Isn’t Exactly Exact Match…Variant Matching Coming to AdWords

by Anvil on April 23, 2012Adwordsppc

When Exact Match Isn’t Exactly Exact Match…Variant Matching Coming to AdWords

by Anvil on April 23, 2012Adwords

If you’ve logged in to your AdWords account recently, you’ve probably seen this alert:

New! Improvements coming to exact match and phrase match

Seeing as they’re putting in front & center, over & over again in everyone’s account, it must be kind of a big deal, so what exactly does this mean? In short, exact match is no longer exactly exact match — both phrase and exact match keywords will begin showing for close variations such as plural variations, common misspellings, and acronyms. Anyone with bad memories from the Expanded Broad Match rollout might see this as another attempt by Google to juice their ad revenue. But, it could actually make life a lot easier for those of us running paid search campaigns. Much more compact keyword lists means less time vectoring out keyword variations during initial builds, more manageable ad groups, and less anxiety over missing important variations. On the other hand, the change will require close attention once it launches in mid-May, and may require some proactive adjustments to your current campaigns:

  • If you have any terms for which singular/plural variations are important, negative keywords will become more important. For example, “Book of Job” could start serving for “books of jobs” and vice versa. Rather than just not bidding on a singular or plural, you will need to explicitly exclude that variation. (We have been working on getting confirmation that the phrase/exact match changes won’t apply to negative keywords, as that would make managing these situations all but impossible.)
  • Should you turn off all those keyword variations that you already have running? Probably not, at least in the short term. But, if you start to see impression volume drying up on variations with low/medium Quality Scores, it might be worth pausing those. Other variations with better Quality Scores may begin to absorb that impression volume (Google states that variant matches will not affect the “exact” keyword’s Quality Score).
  • If you’re using an analytics or paid search platform which uses manual URL tagging, remember that the singular/plural & variation data you see in your platform may not line up with AdWords data.
  • If you want to turn off variant matching, AdWords does give you the option under Campaign Settings, but advertisers will be opted in by default.
  • Finally, set aside extra time to watch Search Term reports in the days after it goes live — any big variant matching issues should be apparent pretty quickly. You may also want to dig into Segment by Search Term option (the Segment drop-down in the AdWords UI has gotten more & more powerful in recent months).

One final note: Google has obviously been on a long-term push for smaller keyword lists in recent years. The introduction of Low Search Volume/Rarely Shown Due to Low Quality Scores notices in AdWords, the AdWords Express product, and now variant matching, can all be seen as discouraging advertisers from creating giant, unwieldy campaigns. And, fighting Google is rarely a winning proposition — rather than trying to work around variant matching so you can keep your 200-word branded ad group intact, we would generally suggest you try to embrace the change and work towards more compact keyword lists.

  • Contact Us
    Contact Us
  • Search
  • Recent Posts
    • What Happens When Strategy Leads: How Digital Strategy Consulting Can Transform Your BusinessMay 16, 2025
    • Behavior Is the AlgorithmApril 16, 2025
    • Think of Automation Like an Employee—Because It Works Like OneMarch 31, 2025
    • Targeting on Facebook Ads for BeginnersJuly 14, 2022
  • Categories

Related Posts

  • Google Is Retiring Expanded Text Ads. Here’s What You Need To Know!
  • 2022 CBD Marketing Tips & Strategies
  • How To Audit A Google Ads Account
Ready to get started?

Take the next step toward growing your business. Tell us a little more about your goals and schedule an appointment.

Talk to Us

Blog

  • What Happens When Strategy Leads: How Digital Strategy Consulting Can Transform Your Business by Anvil Media on May 16, 2025
  • Behavior Is the Algorithm by Anvil Media on April 16, 2025

Twitter

Anvil Media, Inc. @anvilmedia

Testimonials

Anvil Media’s expertise in the PPC and SEO industry is unparalleled.Oregon State University

©Anvil Media, Inc. 2025
310 NE Failing St. Portland, OR 97212

  • Digital Marketing Services
  • Outcomes
  • Insights
  • About
  • Contact
  • Legal
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linked in
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • Pinterest