Revolutionize Your PPC Strategy with Keyword Match Types

If you’ve got a basic understanding of PPC strategy and keyword match types, you may be wondering how you can take your campaigns to the next level. 

There are a few more advanced keyword match type strategies that you can implement for your PPC strategy. 

Read Next: The Rise Of Voice Search And Its Impact On SEO Strategies 

Types of Keyword Match Types for PPC Strategy

Keyword match types are parameters that tell Google Ads (or other PPC platforms) how closely a search query needs to match a keyword in order to trigger an ad. 

Before we get to the PPC strategy, here’s a reminder of the 4 main types of keyword match types: 

• Broad Match: This is the default match type and will show your ads to a wider audience, including synonyms and related searches. 
• Broad Match Modifier: This keyword match type allows for more control by indicating certain words in the keyword that must be present in the search query. 
• Phrase Match: These require the search query to include the keyword phrase in the exact order but allow for additional words before or after. 
• Exact Match: The most precise of the bunch, this type only triggers ads for exact keyword matches.

Advanced Keyword Match Types Strategies 

All right, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get back to the topic. These are the strategies you should be using to take your PPC strategy to a more advanced level: 

Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are an often-overlooked aspect of keyword match types, but they can be incredibly powerful. Negative keywords allow you to exclude certain search terms from triggering your ads, which can help you avoid irrelevant clicks and wasted ad spend.

But there’s more to negative keywords than simply excluding irrelevant terms. In fact, with the right negative keyword strategy, you can actually increase the visibility of your ads and drive more conversions.

Target Specific Audiences with Negative Keywords

One approach is to use negative keywords to target specific audiences. For example, if you’re running a campaign for a high-end product, you may want to exclude search terms related to budget or discount shopping. Your ads have a better chance of only being shown to people who are more likely to be interested in your product and willing to pay a premium price.

Target Specific Stages of the Buying Funnel with Negative Keywords

You can also use negative keywords to target specific stages of the buying funnel. Say you’re selling a product that is typically purchased after a lot of research and consideration, try to exclude search terms related to early-stage research or information gathering. 

This puts your ads in front of people who are closer to making a purchase decision and more likely to convert.

Target Specific Types of Users with Negative Keywords

Or use negative keywords to target specific types of users. Like, if you’re running a B2B campaign, it’s best to exclude search terms related to job seekers or students. You want people who are more likely to be decision-makers or influencers within their organization to see your ads. 

Broad Match Modifier with Negative Keywords

Broad Match Modifier keywords allow you to add a plus sign (+) in front of a keyword to specify that the word must be included in a search term for your ad to show. This can help you reach a broader audience than exact match or phrase match keywords, while still maintaining some control over which searches trigger your ads. The downside of BMM keywords is that they can sometimes trigger your ads for irrelevant searches.

That’s where negative keywords come in. Negative keywords allow you to exclude certain search terms from triggering your ads. For example, if you’re selling running shoes and you don’t want your ads to show for searches related to “running shoe repair”, you can add “repair” as a negative keyword.

Use BMM Keywords with Specific Negatives

One strategy for using BMM with Negative Keywords is to use more specific negatives. 

For example, if you’re targeting the BMM keyword “+blue +running +shoes”, you might add negative keywords like “-women’s” or “-cheap” to exclude irrelevant searches to maintain the benefits of BMM keywords while reducing irrelevant clicks.

Use BMM Keywords with General Negatives

Another strategy is to use BMM keywords with more general negatives. For example, if you’re targeting the BMM keyword “+running +shoes”, you might add negative keywords like “-repair” or “-used” to exclude irrelevant searches. 

This can be a good approach if you have a wide variety of products or services and want to exclude a broad range of irrelevant searches.

Use BMM Keywords with Negative Keyword Lists

You can also use negative keyword lists to exclude large numbers of irrelevant searches at once. 

For example, if you’re running a campaign for a luxury shoe brand, you might create a negative keyword list that includes terms like “cheap”, “discount”, and “clearance”. Then, you can apply that list to all of your campaigns to quickly exclude irrelevant searches.

Use Search Term Reports to Identify Negative Keywords

Regularly reviewing your search term reports can help you identify new negative keywords to add to your campaigns. Look for search terms that triggered your ads but aren’t relevant to your business and add those terms as negatives. 

Monitor Your Campaigns and Adjust as Needed

As with any PPC strategy, it’s important to monitor your BMM with Negative Keywords campaigns regularly and make adjustments as needed. 

Keep an eye on your click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost per click, and adjust your keywords and negatives accordingly. This can help you continually improve your campaigns and get the best results possible.

SKAGs (Single Keyword Ad Groups)

SKAGs are a more advanced strategy that involves creating individual ad groups for each keyword, with only one keyword per group. The result? Highly targeted ads and landing pages, which can improve relevance and quality score.

While this strategy can be time-consuming to set up and maintain, it can be highly effective for high-value keywords with a lot of competition.

Use Modified Broad Match Keywords

One of the biggest challenges with SKAGs is that you’re limited to using a single keyword per ad group. But, by using modified broad match keywords, you can expand the reach of your ad groups without sacrificing targeting. 

Modified broad match keywords allow you to add additional words to your keyword phrase that must be present in the search query for your ad to show. For example, if your SKAG keyword is “+black +boots”, a modified broad match keyword might be “+black +boots +for +men”.

Use Negative Keywords

While SKAGs are great for targeting specific keywords, they can also result in your ads showing up for irrelevant searches. 

To combat this, it’s important to use negative keywords to exclude irrelevant searches. Like, if you’re targeting the keyword “black boots”, you might want to exclude searches for “black boots repair” or “black boots store”.

Use Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)

Dynamic Keyword Insertion is a feature in Google Ads that allows you to insert the search query into your ad headline or description. 

This can help increase the relevance of your ads and improve your click-through rates. But it’s important to use DKI with caution, as it can sometimes result in irrelevant or nonsensical ad copy.

Test Ad Copy Variations

One of the great things about SKAGs is that they allow you to create highly targeted ads. However, it’s important to test different ad variations to see what works best. You can test different ad headlines, descriptions, and calls to action to see what resonates with your target audience.

Use SKAGs for Remarketing Campaigns

SKAGs aren’t just for search campaigns – they can also be used for remarketing campaigns. By creating SKAGs based on the specific pages that users have visited on your website, you can create highly targeted ads that are tailored to their interests. 

Like when a user has visited your website’s “black boots” category page, you could create a SKAG based on the keyword “+black +boots” and show them an ad that highlights your selection of black boots.

Final Thoughts

These keyword match type strategies can help you take your PPC strategy to the next level. By using negative keywords, pairing phrase match with modified broad match or broad match modifier with negative keywords, or implementing SKAGs, you can improve relevance, targeting, and ROI.

By understanding and utilizing the different match types available, you can optimize your PPC strategy for success.

Thanks for reading, and happy optimizing.
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