Keyword Match Type STRATEGY

I always use all three match types right away. So:

+fast +cars
"fast cars"
[fast cars]

This to gather data on how people actually search. It helps too for potential negatives and usually with a two-word keyword like that, you may need lots of negatives. In fact, these keywords may be too generic.

A bit of research in the keyword tool can help in finding out what the relative volumes are before running the campaign. But I don't check that most times as the keywords are specific enough.

I typically would not use "cars that are fast" as a phrase or exact, unless there is a high percentage of searches. The broad modified keyword will tell you that. For me, a keyword would need at least 5% of the search volume before having the phrase and exact variants.

Note too that common words like "that" and "are" are not often used. People don't search that way in general. No need to go overboard like I've seen once with 2000 keywords, most of which will rarely be searched such as "helmet for a motorcycle". Stick with the main words which are helmet and motorcycle. The rest is basically fluff. You'll find that the vast majority of searches are [motorcycle helmet] with some using the plural and the phrase match will trigger searches such as "womens motorcycle helmet". You can grab those searching "motorcycle helmet for woman" with your broad matched keyword and all will be fine.

Hi, taguinod

LucidWebMarketing gave you a good advice about trying all match types. I would agree with that except if the keyword is very general and broad. Like, for example, if I would sell watches, I would probably avoid using the word watches with broad or maybe even phrase match because there are just too many possible variations.

Similarly, I wouldn't even bother putting a keyword as exact match if it has less than 100 searches a month as it would take too long to actually understand how the exact match is performing because it would only get a few clicks a month.

A lot of also depends on your budget. If your budget is like a few hundred $ a month and the search volume for your keywords is in the millions or hundreds of thousands then I would suggest starting with more exact match and less broad match keywords at the beginning.

Agree, you don't want to use general or broad keywords, no matter the match type. I would not use watches as in your example. One-word keywords are usually a bad idea. You need to be more specific such as "women's watch" or "timex watches" or whatever more precisely describes what you are selling.

As for not using a keyword if it has less than a certain number of searches, the search volume is irrelevant. If the keyword describes what the product is, who cares if there are few searches. You still want to grab their attention when it is used. Not doing so is leaving potential money on the table and you are not gathering information. I have many campaigns where the search volume was low. One client had almost 2000 ad groups in 2015 where the impressions were less than 100. They totaled 3565 clicks and $4600 in revenues over 143 sales, a fair percentage of the yearly sales. So no, I don't advocate not using certain keywords just because of low search volumes.

Agree on using all three match types and make sure search volume is at least 100/mo otherwise ads will likely not ever show. Then routinely review your Search Query Performance report to view actual visitor search terms. Mine exact phrases and negative keywords from there. Focus on building your exact phrase match keywords as ideally those will represent 90%+ of your click traffic. This will lower your avg. CPC and increase your ad position, especially if your ad text and landing page main elements (title, H tags) correspond to the actual search queries.

Generally i use keryword search or site which tells the benefits or rank related keyword match for domain name.