Pick the Right Keyword Type for Cost-Effective PPC Campaigns

baseball card values
"baseball card values"
[baseball card values]

Do you know the difference between these three variations on the same keyword search phrase? You should. That is, if you want to conduct a cost-effective pay per click campaign.

Broad Match Type (baseball card values)

When creating a Google AdWords campaign, this is the default keyword match type and the one that will probably give you the most impressions. That's not necessarily a good thing. Using this match type means that your ad will appear whenever a user searches for any word in the phrase, in any order. In this example that means your ad will appear if someone searches for "baseball card values" or "baseball hall of fame" or "stock values" or "card shark," to name a few.

I doubt that you'd be targeting all four of these example phrases with the same ad, so you need a way to minimize the irrelevant searches. Enter Negative Keywords. By putting a minus sign in front of a keyword, you tell Google that you don't want your ad to appear when that word or phrase is used in a search. In this case, you'd probably want to add "-stock values" and "-card shark" to your negative keyword list.

Phrase Match Type ("baseball card values")

Now we're getting a little more control over the situation. By putting your keyword search phrase in quotation marks, Google will only display your ad when a user types in that phrase and in the same order.

So, for example, your ad would appear for "baseball card values over time" or "i want to know my baseball card values" or "are your baseball card values declining."

Exact Match Type ([baseball card values])

This is where the rubber meets the road and you have the most control over who will see your ads. Brackets around your keyword search phrase tell Google that you only want your ad to appear when that exact phrase is entered.

For instance, your ad would appear for "baseball card values" but would not appear for "rising baseball card values" or "baseball card values declining" or "baseball bats" or even "baseball." It will only appear for the exact phrase "baseball card values."

Now that you know how to control your keyword search results you're one step closer to creating a high performing AND cost effective PPC campaign.