Sep

Should we add the same keyword with all match types in an Ad group?

Anshu Garg on September 27th, 2011

In last few days, I have received a number of queries related to the “keywords match types” from my visitors. The most common was- should we use the same keyword with all three matching options in one ad group?

So, here is the answer of this query-

Each of your keywords should only appear once in your AdWords account. Having a keyword appear multiple times makes your account statistics difficult to interpret and indicates that your account structure could be improved. Also, your keywords will compete against each other.

Note: If you have multiple keywords that are the same but with different match type, the system will prefer to use the keyword with the more restrictive keyword match type.

Also, there’s no definitive Quality Score benefit to be gained from adding the same keyword multiple times with different match types to your account. Identical keywords in your ad group will have the same first page bid estimates, regardless of their match types. The Quality Score used to determine ad position depends on the relevance of your keyword to the search query. This Quality Score is often higher if the search query matches the keyword exactly. However, this does not depend on whether your keyword’s match type is broad, phrase, or exact.

So, in my opinion we should avoid adding single keyword with different match types. If the objective is to get relevant traffic (impressions and clicks), then we should try keywords with phrase or exact match. If the objective is to get maximum impressions, then I would suggest adding keywords in broad match.

Hope this helps.

Contact me if you have queries related to AdWords, SEO, SEM etc. I would love to answer them