AdWords: Managing broad, phrase and exact keywords - when do the ads show?

[DejanM]

I've been optimizing my campaign today and I noticed some of the ads for certain keyword aren't showing.

Originally Posted by Google AdWords

Showing ads right now?
No
> One of your other ads is showing for this keyword

Now I've read somewhere you need to target all keyword phrases (broad, phrase, exact) when creating your campaign. So all my adgroups include all three variants of each keyword.

Here's my question. These are the ad groups:

Ad Group 1:
keyword, "keyword", [keyword]
- AD1

Ad Group 2:
keyword phrase, "keyword phrase", [keyword phrase]
- AD2

Ad Group 3:
long keyword phrase, "long keyword phrase", [long keyword phrase]
- AD3

If somebody is Googling for long keyword phrase - which ad will it show?

I've been trying to make sense out of which keyword ads is Google showing and why and I'm totally lost. It looks totally random to me - one [keyword phrase1] is showing, while "keyword phrase2" is not and then again keyword phrase3 is showing.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Lucid]

The order is exact, phrase then broad.

If you have an exact match to the search, that keyword will be triggered. If you don't have one, the system looks for a phrase match. It will trigger on the closest matching keyword. If there is still no match, it looks for broad matches.

Note that broad matches are not exact matches on the words. To use Google's term, they are expanded. A broad may trigger on plural/singular and synonyms. In your example, a broad may trigger on the search "long keyword sentence" or "large keyword phrase" or "wide keyword phrase". It could even trigger on words that sound the same such as beatles and beetles.

There is a new type called broad modified (+long +keyword +phrase) which will trigger on exactly those words and not synonyms or sound-alikes.

[DejanM]

Lucid, thank you for your reply, it cleared quite a few things.

What about non-showing ads? What can I do here?

BTW: I've just bought your ebook, going to read it today.

[Lucid]

Thanks for buying the book. It might clear up your other questions.

> What about non-showing ads?

I think if you have set up your campaign the way you show here that you're doing it wrong. It looks like you are using a one-word keyword in one group (which I would never do) and that you have one ad in each group.

Unless the search volume is low, you should have impressions in every one of those groups. I think you may mean non-showing keywords. You want to trigger ads more often on phrase and exact so tweak them (remove broads, especially short tailed ones).

[DejanM]

I'm reading the book and it's great. Though I thought I had quite a lot of theoretical knowledge there are some great new points in the book. And it looks like I'll have to do more in the keyword selection and grouping stage.

Originally Posted by Lucid

Unless the search volume is low, you should have impressions in every one of those groups. I think you may mean non-showing keywords. You want to trigger ads more often on phrase and exact so tweak them (remove broads, especially short tailed ones).

I meant non-showing keywords, yes. I've already noted as mentioned in your book to remove the broads. I'll be doing once I get more info.

I'll read your book to the end this weekend and then I'll come back here if I have any more questions.

[jhonsean]

Keywords, phrase and broad when we manage it we must sure that the all of these are in well balanced in optimization. Not showed ads maybe you overlooked something try to analyze the situation.

[John Hocking]

If your keyword is not showing up for a match type, you may need to raise your bid. The different match type can have different rates to show an ad.

[DejanM]

@John: The error I receive is not for a bid. I've posted it in the first post.

[John Hocking]

Do you have any other ads running that are using the keyword phrase that is not showing up?

I think Google added a check to only allow one ad per account to be shown per keyword phrase.


You might also check out this help topic
Why is my 'Eligible' keyword not showing ads? - AdWords Help

Usually if a phrase is not running, you are bidding too low or have a bad quality score.