Tag: search ads

  • Google’s change to how they are pacing your Google ads Daily Budget

    Google’s change to how they are pacing your Google ads Daily Budget

    Attention all Google Ads advertisers who use daily budgets and ad schedules: Your spend is about to change!

    If you’re reading this before Jun 2026 we hope you have time to adjust your budgets. 

    If you’re reading this after June 2026 trying to figure out why your Google ads spend increased, we hope this answers your questions

    WHAT is the change Google ads is making to budget pacing

    Google announced that it is changing how Google ads utilizes its daily spend limits effective June 1st 2026. 

    Pre June 1st 2026 (Google’s old budget pacing):

    Advertisers set their daily budget, and google would pace their spend based on the daily budget times the number of active days in the ad schedule. 

    • EX: Your daily budget is $100/day running Monday-Friday (about 21 days in a month). Your monthly spend would come out to $2,100.

    Post June 1st 2026 (Google’s new budget pacing):

    Google will pace towards your daily spend times 30.4.

    • EX: Your daily budget is $100/day running Monday-Friday (about 21 days in a month).  Your monthly spend will now come out to about $3,040

    That’s right, advertisers who use the ads schedule can expect to see potentially drastic differences in their monthly spend. 

    A few things will remain the same:

    1. Google will not spend over  twice your daily budget in a day.
    2. Google still adheres to your ad schedule and does not show ads on days you have blocked. 

    WHY is Google changing their Ads Budget Pacing?

    Google says it’s making this change to “support more predictable monthly spending for Google ads campaigns… This change ensures your campaigns can achieve their full monthly spending potential, even when they run on a reduced schedule.”

    What do we think of the change?

    In all honesty, we aren’t too pleased. 

    This change is about to have potentially huge impacts on businesses’ spend and there is no way to opt in or out. The change is going to happen whether advertisers realize it or not. 

    For people who are involved in their ads account, they can make changes to accommodate for this new pacing. But, we know there are plenty of small businesses out there that won’t notice until the end of June when their advertising  bill is way higher than they planned. 

    I understand having tools to help advertisers reach their monthly budget more efficiently. In fact, most of our clients, and people in marketing, set advertising budgets as monthly goals not daily. So yes, 100%,  making it easier to reach a monthly budget is welcome. However, I would have liked to have seen this as an additional spend option not a reconfiguring of active budgets. People have set up entire programs around daily budgets, because that was the only option, so we predict Google’s switch up in June to create big waves for businesses across the platform.   

    So come June 2026, if you look at your spend and go “oh sh*t why did my advertising spend increase this month?” it is likely because of the changes Google made to how they are pacing their Google ads budgets. 

    Hopefully you are catching this now and adjusting your budgets accordingly!

  • Our Favorite 2025 Google PMAX Campaigns Updates

    Our Favorite 2025 Google PMAX Campaigns Updates

    For a while, Google has been pushing advertisers toward a fully automated system – you input limited information, and Google runs with it. And the Performance Launch Campaigns were a perfect example of this. 

    You could see conversions, but had little insight into what was or wasn’t working, or why. For a long time, it felt like that was just the direction things were heading. But now? Google has been rolling out updates that pull back the curtain and give advertisers a real look at what’s happening behind the scenes.

    In full transparency, when Google Ads first released PMAX campaigns, I was skeptical. It required advertisers to give up a lot of control and, in the beginning, offered very little visibility into what was actually happening. You could see total impressions, clicks, and conversions, but had no idea where they were coming from. When metrics shifted, there was no clear explanation for why. Advertisers were essentially left to blindly trust that Google knows best. That didn’t sit well with a lot of seasoned advertisers, who were vocal about their frustrations.

    Luckily, Google listened.

    In the past year PMAX campaigns have come a long way when it comes to reporting and advertiser input. Let’s break down what PMAX has to offer, because if you wrote it off when it first launched, you might be surprised by what’s changed.

    SEARCH TERM REPORTS

    Believe it or not, PMAX campaigns didn’t even have search term reports when they first launched. Crazy, right? Anyone used to running standard search campaigns, where manual search term optimization is part of the routine, was suddenly staring at a black box.

    On top of that, PMAX doesn’t use exact or phrase match keywords. Instead PMAX has advertisers inputting broad search categories and left them hoping Google would figure the rest out. And with no search term report to reference, there was no way to verify if it actually did.

    To be fair, Google didn’t leave us completely in the dark. They did technically offer “Search Insights,” which organized your search terms into broad “themes” and provided some metrics. But there was no detailed list of the actual terms you were showing up for, just vague categories. Not exactly what performance-driven advertisers needed.

    In 2025, Google released Search Term Reports for PMAX campaigns, and to every advertiser’s relief, it works exactly like the one you’d find in any standard search campaign.

    The PMAX Search Term Report shows what people actually typed into Google to trigger your ad, along with a full breakdown of metrics: impressions, clicks, conversions, CPC, and more. That data helps advertisers answer questions like:

    • Are we targeting the right search term categories?
    • Does our messaging and creative align with what people are searching for?
    • What’s actually helping us hit our KPIs?
    • Do we need to tighten up our asset groups, or should we consolidate them?

    Search term reports are great for answering big-picture questions, but they’re also a goldmine for building out negative keyword lists, which brings us to our next update.

    PMAX Introduces Negative Keyword Lists

    Negative keyword lists give advertisers the ability to tell Google what terms they don’t want to show for. Whether applied at the campaign level or through a shared list, they help guide Google in the right direction without completely taking the wheel.

    When PMAX first launched, negative keyword functionality didn’t exist. Advertisers had no way to exclude irrelevant terms at any level. This, rightfully, frustrated a lot of people. Concerns over Google’s arrogance came to the forefront. Advertisers felt Google was unwilling to let advertisers set even basic guardrails. 

    Don’t get us wrong, sometimes Google really does know best. But advertisers should at least be able to filter out the obviously irrelevant stuff. A commercial painting company, for example, should absolutely be able to exclude terms like “home” and “residential.” That’s not micromanaging; that’s just common sense.

    Fortunately, that wish came true. Google now supports negative keywords on PMAX campaigns, and they work exactly the same way they do on standard search campaigns. Which begs the question, why wasn’t this available from the start? But I digress.

    We know Google advocates for keeping PMAX targeting as open as possible so the algorithm can optimize with as much data as it can get. That said, we still encourage you to use negative keywords strategically. You know your business. If certain terms simply aren’t relevant, there’s no reason to burn ad spend on them.

    CHANNEL PERFORMANCE ON PMAX

    In April 2025, Google added Channel Performance to PMAX, and honestly, it might be my favorite update yet.

    The Channel Performance Report breaks down how PMAX is utilizing the various channels at its disposal. You can now see where impressions, interactions, and results are coming from, all organized by channel. It also shows how your budget is being allocated, including the percentage of ad spend going to each channel, making it easy to track month-over-month shifts at a glance.

    You still can’t tell Google which channels to prioritize, but this report gives you a much clearer picture of what’s happening under the hood. More importantly, when you see a shift in performance, you now have somewhere to look for answers. A few examples we’ve seen with clients:

    • Impressions up, CTR down: Google pushed more budget into YouTube or Display that month.
    • CPC up, conversions up: Google leaned harder into Search ads.

    That kind of context changes everything when you’re trying to explain results or make strategic decisions.

    Wrapping Up

    These 2025 updates genuinely changed the PMAX game for us. We went from skeptics to believers, and the difference is transparency and control. These new reporting tools and controls, paired with solid conversion tracking, can produce an efficient, well-rounded campaign that actually makes sense to the people running it.

    If Google keeps moving in this direction, blending automation with real advertiser input, they’re building something hard to compete with.

  • Keywords, Search Terms, and Search Themes: What’s the Difference?

    Keywords, Search Terms, and Search Themes: What’s the Difference?

    Your Back to Basics Guide: Keywords, Search Terms, and Search Themes

    In today’s Google Ads 101 lesson, we’re tackling keywords, search terms, and search themes—breaking down the similarities and differences between these concepts so you can set up and optimize your account with confidence.

    This post is perfect for beginners! But it’s also perfect for those looking for a refresher. Why? Because Google Ads is constantly evolving! Keywords and search terms aren’t new. In fact, they’ve been around since the inception of Google Ads in 2000, but they don’t look the same as they did then. They don’t even look the same as they did a year ago! So buckle up as we break down what these terms are and how to best use them for your campaigns.

    Quick Definitions

    First, a few quick definitions before we dive deep:

    Keywords:

    Words or phrases that advertisers tell Google they want to bid on and appear for when users search related queries. What you WANT to show up for.

    Search Terms:

    The exact words and phrases that people searched for in Google when they received an ad. What you ACTUALLY show up for.

    Search Themes:

    A broad topic or concept that groups related keywords together, used primarily in Performance Max campaigns to guide Google’s automated ad delivery toward relevant search contexts.

    Keywords

    Keywords are one of the key components advertisers need to run search campaigns. They’re the search queries you’re willing to pay for when someone searches them on Google. Think of these as your wish list of searches you want to show up for. When you add keywords to your campaign, you’re essentially giving Google instructions about which search queries should trigger your ads.

    However, not all keywords work the same way. Google Ads offers three match types that control how closely a user’s search term needs to match your keyword before your ad can appear. Google provides the following definitions for each:

    Broad Match:

    “Ads may show on searches that are related to your keyword, which can include searches that don’t contain the direct meaning of your keywords.”

    Phrase Match:

    “Ads may show on searches that include the meaning of your keyword. The meaning of the keyword can be implied, and user searches can be a more specific form of the meaning.”

    Exact Match:

    “Ads may show on searches that have the same meaning or same intent as the keyword.”

    What match type is best? Well, that depends on who you ask. Google will recommend broad match every time because they believe their system can leverage its machine learning to find relevant searches beyond your exact keywords.

    Now if you ask us…we have a different answer. While broad match keywords can be great, we often find that broad match can be, well, too broad, causing advertisers to bid on search terms that aren’t relevant and thus wasting ad spend.

    We usually start clients with phrase match, which provides a good balance between Google finding relevant queries while not giving up too much control. From there, we analyze the data and can either open it up to broad match or tighten it down further with exact match, depending on what each account needs.

    Keywords are added at the ad group level, allowing advertisers to target multiple products or services within one campaign while still being able to create tailored ads for each grouping.

    Within your Google Ads account, the keyword report gives you powerful visibility into performance metrics like impressions, clicks, conversions, and cost-per-conversion for each individual keyword. This data is gold for understanding which keywords are actually driving results and which ones are just burning through budget without delivering.

    Search Terms

    Keywords are what you WANT to show up for but Search Terms are the ACTUAL phrases people typed into Google that triggered your ad. Sometimes these match your keywords perfectly, sometimes they’re…creative interpretations.

    On the search terms report, advertisers can view almost all of the same metrics that they get in the keyword report, including impressions, clicks, conversions, etc. This list allows advertisers to assess how users are searching and discovering their ad.

    Key Ways to Use Search Term Lists:

    Build out negative keyword lists: Scan your search terms to identify irrelevant queries that are triggering your ads, then add them as negatives to prevent wasted spend. For example, if you sell premium furniture and keep seeing searches for “cheap” or “free,” those are prime candidates for your negative list.

    Assess if your keywords are hitting or missing the mark: Compare your intended keywords against actual search terms to see if Google’s match types are working in your favor. If your phrase match keywords are pulling in completely unrelated searches, it’s time to tighten up your match types.

    Filter for broad, phrase, and exact match keywords: Use the match type filter to see how each type is performing and which ones are generating the most relevant traffic. This helps you make informed decisions about where to invest more budget or which match types to scale back.

    Discover new keyword opportunities: Your search terms report often reveals high-performing queries you hadn’t thought to target directly. Add these winners as new keywords to gain more control and potentially lower your cost-per-click.

    Discover new landing page opportunities: If you’re seeing consistent search patterns for specific products, services, or topics you don’t have dedicated pages for, that’s a signal to create new targeted landing pages or ad content to existing pages. Better landing page relevance means better Quality Scores and better conversion rates.

    Search Themes

    Switching gears a bit here. Keywords and search terms are crucial parts of search campaigns, but search themes are actually a component of Performance Max (PMAX) campaigns. So why are we tackling them in the same post? Well, for one, their names can get confusing—Search Terms vs. Search Themes—so it’s easy to mix them up, but they are different! In fact, search themes are actually more closely related to keywords than they are to search terms.

    Remember how we said Google wants more control?

    Just like keywords, search themes are your way of telling Google what products or services you want to show ads for. Except this time, you don’t have match types! Search themes are like broad match keywords. You tell Google the idea of how people are searching for you, but then you hand the reins to Google and let them optimize.

    When PMAX campaigns first launched, Google was met with a lot of pushback from advertisers who didn’t appreciate the lack of transparency about where and when their ads were showing. It felt like sending your ads into a black box and just hoping that Google would perform. If you’re going to be investing a lot of money into this type of campaign, you want to know what’s working and what’s not.

    Now Google has implemented more reporting tools, including search term reports and negative keyword lists for PMAX. You heard that right! When PMAX first came onto the scene, advertisers not only couldn’t view the search terms, but they couldn’t negative match on the campaign either. Talk about flying blind.

    Wrapping Up

    Keywords. Search Terms. Search Themes. Three different tools for three different jobs. Keywords help you target the right searches. Search terms show you what’s actually happening. Search themes let Google’s AI explore opportunities you might miss.

    When used correctly, these three concepts work together to improve your campaign performance, maximize your ad spend efficiency, and drive better ROI from your Google Ads campaigns. The smartest advertisers don’t just understand the difference, they actively use all three for ongoing campaign optimization.

    Not sure where to start or need help with PPC management? Our team specializes in data-driven strategies that actually deliver results. Let’s talk.

  • A Guide To Google Ads With Wix

    A Guide To Google Ads With Wix

    Using Wix to Set-up Google Ads

    Starting a business means juggling a hundred things at once. Two of the big ones are building a website and getting that website in front of people who actually want to buy from you or use your services.

    If you’ve ever built a site, you’ve probably heard of Wix, the drag-and-drop website builder that lets you skip the code. What a lot of business owners don’t realize is that Wix also lets you run Google Ads right from your site dashboard.

    We first wrote about this back in 2024. Since then, Wix has overhauled the whole thing. It’s no longer a simple search ads tool. It now runs on Google’s Performance Max campaigns. So we figured it was time for an update.

    Here’s everything you need to know in one place: how it works now, what’s improved, what’s still missing, and whether it beats running Google Ads directly.

    First, the Big Change: Wix Is Now Performance Max

    In 2024, Wix only let you run search ads. That’s no longer the case.

    When you create a campaign in Wix today, you pick one of two goals:

    Drive traffic and get leads. This creates a Performance Max (PMAX) Leads campaign, built for service businesses that want calls, form fills, and site visits.

    Boost product purchases. This creates a PMAX Sales campaign, built for eCommerce. Your products can show across Google Search, YouTube, Google Images, and the Display Network. This option only appears once you’ve connected Google Merchant Center and submitted your products.

    If you’re not familiar with Performance Max, here’s the quick version. You hand Google your text, images, and a few targeting signals, and Google’s AI decides where and when your ads show across its entire network. PMAX used to be a bit of a black box, but over the years Google Ads has expanded their reporting to include detailed search terms data and channel performance data.

    How to Set Up Google Ads on Wix

    Before you start, Wix requires three things: your site has to be published, on a paid Premium plan, and connected to a custom domain. Once that’s done, setup looks like this.

    1) Choose Your Landing Page and Language

    Pick the page on your site where people land after clicking your ad, and the language of that page. You only get one language per campaign.

    2) Set Your Location Targeting

    You can target up to ten cities, zip codes, or regions, or you can target a radius around a street address.

    3) Set Your Ad Schedule

    Run your ads all the time (Wix’s recommendation) or only during certain days and hours. If you want phone calls, scheduling ads for business hours is a smart move. There’s also an optional call button you can add to your ads.

    4) Pick Your Search Themes

    Wix used to call these “keyword themes.” Now they’re “search themes,” which matches Google’s PMAX terminology. You get up to 10, and Wix can suggest some using AI. For comparison, the Google Ads platform lets you add up to 50 per asset group, so choose your 10 carefully.

    These are signals, not tight keyword controls. Not sure what the difference is? Our back-to-basics guide on keywords, search terms, and search themes breaks it down.

    5) Add Your Assets

    This is where things have gotten much better. For Leads campaigns, you can now write up to 15 short headlines, 5 long headlines, and 5 descriptions. You can also add up to 20 images and 5 logos. Wix will even generate headline suggestions and images with AI if you’re stuck.

    6) Set Your Budget

    Choose one of three preset budgets or enter your own daily spend. Wix says you can start as low as $150 a month, and it recommends a budget of about 5% of your monthly revenue.

    Heads up: your campaign can spend up to twice your daily average on busy days. It won’t go over your daily average times 30.4 for the month, though.

    And just like that, you’ve got a Google Ads campaign running through Wix.

    Pros of Running Google Ads Through Wix

    Pro 1) It’s Still Easy

    Wix’s guided setup is about as beginner-friendly as paid advertising gets. There are step-by-step prompts, AI suggestions for search themes and ad copy, and far fewer settings to trip over than in the full Google Ads platform.

    Pro 2) Everything Lives in One Place

    You don’t need to create a separate Google Ads account or learn a new platform. Your ad data syncs into Wix Analytics right alongside your organic traffic. For a busy business owner with 101 tabs open, that’s one less tab to worry about.

    Pro 3) Way More Ad Reach Than Before

    Thanks to Performance Max, your ads aren’t stuck on search results anymore. PMAX campaigns offer more variety in ad placements allowing you to reach potential customers across multiple channels. 

    Pro 4) Free Ad Credit for New Advertisers

    If you’ve never run Google Ads before, you may qualify for up to $500 in promotional credit from Google after spending $500 in your first 60 days. Terms apply, but it’s a nice boost for getting started.

    Cons of Running Google Ads Through Wix

    Con 1) Your Data Is Still Limited

    Wix’s reporting has improved, but it’s still nowhere near what the full Google Ads platform offers. Things like detailed audience insights, impression share, and granular keyword data are what let you make smart optimization decisions. Without them, you’re mostly trusting that things are working.

    Con 2) Limited Control

    Easy doesn’t always mean better. You get search themes, not actual keywords. And while you can exclude terms, you can’t run structured A/B tests or fine-tune bidding strategies.

    In the Google Ads platform, you can do things like A/B asset experiments in PMAX campaigns. In Wix, “testing” means running a second campaign and comparing results by eye.

    The most glaring difference between the two would be, in Wix you can set one goal for a campaign “Boost product purchases” (Sales) or “Drive traffic and get leads” (Leads). The Google ads platform lets you get more detailed and allows you to choose multiple primary conversion actions. These goals can be the make or break of a successful campaign. 

    Con 3) PMAX or Bust

    Here’s the big one: in Wix, Performance Max is the only campaign option. You can’t run a standard Search campaign, a Display campaign, a YouTube campaign, or any of the other campaign types Google offers.

    PMAX can be a great tool, but it’s not the right tool for every business or every goal. Sometimes a tightly controlled Search campaign is exactly what you need, especially on a smaller budget. In the Google Ads platform, you get to choose. Curious what the options are? Check out our Google Ads campaign types breakdown.

    Con 4) No Asset Groups, Limited Campaigns

    In the Google Ads platform, a single PMAX campaign can hold multiple asset groups. Each one has its own headlines, descriptions, images, search themes, and landing page. That lets you organize by service, product line, or audience, and see what’s working for each one.

    Wix doesn’t have asset groups. Each campaign gets one set of assets, period. If you want to promote a second service with its own messaging, you need a whole separate campaign.

    On top of that, you can only have one live PMAX Sales campaign per site and up to five live PMAX Leads campaigns at a time. That’s a pretty tight ceiling if you offer more than a handful of services.

    Con 5) You’re Locked Into Wix

    This one hasn’t changed. You can’t connect an existing Google Ads account to Wix, and campaigns built in Wix can only be managed in Wix.

    If you grow and want to switch to Google Ads directly, your Wix campaign history doesn’t come with you. As far as Google Ads is concerned, you’re starting from zero.

    Con 6) Wix Takes a 15% Cut

    This is the one most Wix advertisers don’t realize: Wix charges a 15% service fee, which means part of what you’re billed never goes toward your ads. It goes straight to Wix.

    Google Ads doesn’t do that. When you run campaigns directly through Google, you pay for your clicks and that’s it.

    Sure, 15% might not sound like much on a small budget, but it adds up fast. That’s money that could be buying you more clicks, more leads, and more sales. And unlike an agency management fee, that 15% doesn’t get you a strategist looking at your account. It just gets you the tool.

    So, Is Using Wix to Run Google Ads Worth It?

    Honestly? It still depends on your business.

    As an agency, we wouldn’t run client campaigns through Wix. It doesn’t give us nearly enough data or control to make intelligent decisions or room to grow..

    But we live and breathe this stuff. If you’re a small shop that just wants to run a few ads without learning a whole new platform, Wix is a solid, low-friction way to dip your toe in.

    That said, if you have any plans to grow your ad presence, we almost always recommend starting in Google Ads, whether you work with an agency or manage it yourself. Here’s why:

    No extra fees. Every dollar you spend goes toward your ads, not a 15% cut to Wix.

    More insights. You get search terms, channel performance, audience data, and impression share, the stuff that tells you what’s actually working.

    Room to grow. You get every campaign type, asset groups, full conversion tracking, and an account history that’s yours to keep.

    Starting in Google Ads also means you won’t have to start over later. Everything you learn and every bit of data you collect stays with you as your business grows.

    Here’s our rule of thumb: Wix is fine for a little advertising. But if ads are going to be a real part of how you grow, start in Google Ads.

    Ready to Graduate From Wix Ads?

    If you want the full power of Google Ads without the learning curve, that’s what we do. We’ll start with a free PPC auditto see where you stand, then build a strategy around your goals.

    Thinking about moving off Wix altogether? Our website development team can help with that too.

    Contact us today for a free PPC management quote.

    Updated: September 2026

  • Google Ads Phrase Match Types Compared in 2023

    Google Ads Phrase Match Types Compared in 2023

    Should You Switch to Broad Match Keyword?

    We have all been there. Going through our campaign recommendations and being told once again to change all our phrase and exact match keywords to broad match. Moving people to Broad Match Keywords seems to be one of google’s biggest goals as of late.

    Don’t worry, you are not the only one receiving this recommendation again and again. In fact, we manage a number of accounts and about 90% of them receive this recommendation repeatedly. 

    But is changing your keywords to broad match always the best move?

    Our short answer is no, switching all your keywords to broad match without analyzing them is not the best move, and here is why.

    Match Types Looking Different Nowadays

    If you’ve not managed the day-to-day of a campaign in a few years you may be out of the game and may have missed the memo that keyword match types are not what they were five years ago. In fact they are not even what they were a year ago.

    Google still has the core match types: broad match, phrase match, and exact match. However, their definitions have changed in the past few years and google completely went away with broad match modifiers in July 2021. We would argue that the new definitions for the match types have actually blurred the lines between them. 

    Let’s take a look at the new definitions for each match type and what that means for the search terms google pulls. 

    KEYWORD MATCH TYPE DEFINITIONS

    This is how google now defines each term: 

    Broad Match Keywords: The search term has to be related to the keyword but does not need to have the same meaning.

    Phrase Match Keywords: The Search Term has to include the same meaning as the keyword.

    Exact Match Keywords: The search term has to have the same meaning as the keyword.

    SOME EXAMPLES

    Keyword: Auto Shop
    Broad MatchPhrase MatchExact Match
    Car Towing company Purchase a FordCustom Auto Shopauto shop labor rates by stateAuto Shop 

    These rules make sense and are pretty straight forward, but here is where the waters get really muddied. Google has also introduced “close variants”. What does close variant mean? Well, it means that exact match keywords are no longer just exact match and phrase match Keywords are no longer just phrase match. Close variants are not a setting like phrase or exact match, rather if you set a keyword to exact match google might show search terms that are exact match “close variant”. Same goes for phrase match. Here are some examples of close variants for the same keyword “Auto Shop”.

    Keyword: Auto Shop
    Phrase Match “close variant”Exact Match “close variant”
    car accessory shop exhaust shop near me bmw performance shopauto store car shops auto places

    As you can see some of the phrase match “close variant” examples start to look similar to the broad match search terms. We have even seen the same search term appear as both a phrase match “close variant” and an exact match “close variant” for the same keyword. 

    Right about now is when you might be asking the same question that we were asking: Can you turn close variant matches off? Nope. Truly there is no off switch. There have been a handful of articles written about stopping google ads from showing close variants, but these articles all include tips on negative matching and account organization. Sadly none of them include a magic answer about where a hidden off switch button is. That being said, if you are interested in these other tactics Browser Media goes into detail on close variants and ways to prevent them.

    What Keyword Match Type Is Best For You?

    Now that we have looked at the match type definitions, let’s get into what this looks like in practice and assess if changing your exact match keywords to broad or phrase match is the best fit for your company. 

    Our biggest observation that companies need to look out for is the difference in search terms when using exact match vs phrase match for general industry keywords, like “automotive shop” or “Restaurants in Chicago”. The difference being that exact match will get you search terms with the same meaning as your keywords but phrase match will get you names of other companies.

    Let’s use “Restaurants in Chicago” as our example. Some exact match search terms would be “best chicago restaurants”, “chicago restaurant” and “must try restaurants in chicago”. Whereas, Phrase match search terms that include competitor names would include “portillos in chicago” and “cooper hawks Chicago”. 

     If your company doesn’t want to bid on competitor search terms, you will need to monitor the search terms closely and frequently negative match when using phrase match. If you don’t have the bandwidth for negative matching, then using more specific keywords or sticking to exact match keywords is the way to go.

    Don’t get us wrong, phrase match keywords will bring in non-competitor search terms as well which may in fact be helpful for your company, but you will need to be thorough in your negative keyword build-out. 

    So those are observations on the actual search terms that appear but what about numbers? How do the match types perform compared to one another? 

    Our campaigns, that span across industries, show consistently that exact match keywords out perform broad match and phrase match keywords in terms of CTR and Conversion rate. However exact match keywords also have a higher Cost Per Click. 

    Thus if your goal is number of ad impressions and brand awareness, broad match is the way to go. However, most of the time companies value conversions over impressions in which case the exact match keywords are your friend. 

    Our Recommendation

    Our biggest recommendation is to not switch all your keywords to broad match at once without doing your research and being prepared that your metrics might take a turn. Understand that making the switch from exact match to phrase match or phrase match to broad match is going to bring in search terms that your campaigns haven’t seen yet. 

    One option we recommend is to take it slow and try a few keywords at a time to see if you like the results of broad match keywords. From there, you can make the call if your other keywords should follow suit. 

    That being said, here are some questions to ask yourself before making the switch:

    Do I have the time to sort through search terms and build out negative keyword lists?

    What are my KPIs? Do I value conversion rates or impressions?

    Do I want to bid on competitor terms?

    Do I have the time to do deep dives into individual keyword performances?

    Final Take Away

    Don’t be pressured by Google recommendations to change all your keywords to broad match without understanding what that is going to do to your campaigns.  Remember, you know your account. You know your keywords and your metrics. You can make the best decision for your campaigns, whether it is taking Google’s recommendation or once again hitting that pesky dismiss button and keeping your exact match keywords.

  • Is Paid Advertising Evil?

    Is Paid Advertising Evil?

    Are Search & Display Ads Evil?

    In the year 2023, we have all experienced ad overload from a company. That’s right, you viewed a product one time on Nike’s website, now, every time you open up Facebook, BOOM Nike ad. Okay open up Instagram, BOOM an in-feed Nike ad. Surely there won’t be a Nike ad while reading your local morning news website. Wrong. There, on the side, is a Nike banner ad. These ads even find their way onto your solitaire app. 

     While some people do actually find these ads helpful, others of us feel like we are being bombarded or even stalked by these companies. Why are they showing up everywhere? Are they invasive or helpful?

    So, is ALL paid advertising Evil? 

    Truthfully our answer is no, paid advertising isn’t usually evil and in fact can be used for a lot of good.  And yes this is coming from someone who makes a living running these ads but bear with us here. 

    We understand that companies have their own view on paid advertising. Some love it and will pour all their money into running +50 campaigns and other companies fear that paid advertising comes off as sleazy and inauthentic to consumers. 

    But with paid advertising there are so many forms of targeting and placements, that labeling them all the same way isn’t the best route. We have created an Authenticity scale that uses two metrics, control and helpfulness. The Goal of the Authenticity scale is to help advertisers determine what their comfort zone is when it comes to paid advertising. 

    First we are going to do a brief recap of search ads and display ads. Next we will outline what the Authenticity Scale is and how to use it. Finally, we will break down a handful of examples and place them on the scale to help you get the hang of it. 

    SEARCH vs. DISPLAY ADS

    Let’s quickly layout 2  kinds of Google ads, search and display ads, before we dive into the Authenticity of advertising tactics. 

    1. First, Search ads. Search Ads appear alongside organic results when a consumer enters a query in the search engine. Advertisers bid on search terms and if those terms are queried then their ad may appear. For example, if Nike bid on “Running shoes” and someone searches “Best tennis shoes for running” then they will be met with a Nike ad like the one below:
    1. Display ads. Display ads can appear in apps, in video, or as banner ads on websites. They will look something like this: 

    Now that we have nailed down two ad types, let’s jump into our Authenticity Scale.

    ADVERTISING AUTHENTICITY SCALE

    Paid advertising comes in many forms. In order to determine an ad’s Authenticity, we are going to utilize two different scales.

    1. Control: The control an advertiser has over who, where, how a consumer is receiving ads. 
    2. Helpfulness: The extent to which an ad is helpful to the consumer. 

    When using this two point scale ads are going to fall into a Green Zone, Blue Zone, and Orange Zone. 

    Ads that are high on both control and helpfulness are going to be in the Green Zone. The Green Zone consists of ads that will almost always be beneficial for both company and consumer.  

    Next are our Blue Zone ads, which are ads that will be in the middle of either control or helpfulness. These ads are usually still beneficial for company and consumer, though seeing as they fall in the middle of one or both of the scales we can’t be certain about either customers intent or placement of ads. 

    Now for our Orange Zone ads. Orange Zone ads will fall low on one or both of the scales. Just because ads are in the Orange Zone doesn’t mean they are evil, however, we understand there is a time and a place for them. We recommend using Orange Zone ads when the primary focus is for brand awareness rather than high conversion rates. 

    Let’s look at this on a graph.

    Advertising Authenticity Score

    PUTTING THE GRAPH TO WORK

    Now let’s put this graph to work and plot where different advertising strategies fall.

    SEARCH ADS IN THE ORANGE ZONE:

    I am going to play devil’s advocate right off the bat, and give an example of advertising that is closer to the ~evil~ side, or inauthentic side, of advertising.

    Competitor Search ads. For a company like Nike, this would be bidding on terms like “Adidas Shoes”. On our first scale, Control, competitor search ads actually rank very high. We would know where these ads are showing and for the exact search terms they are showing for. 

    On our second scale, Helpfulness, Competitors Search ads rank very low placing them in the Orange Zone. If a consumer searches, Adidas shoes, chances are they know what they want and it’s not Nike Shoes. With this method of advertising, the goal is less about being helpful and more about disrupting a consumer’s actions. Getting Nike’s name in their last minute, one, probably won’t have a high return on investment, and two, is disregarding the consumers preferences and is thus more invasive.   

    Therefore, Competitor Search ads are in our bottom right corner in the Orange Zone.

    Advertising Authenticity Score

    SEARCH ADS IN THE GREEN ZONE:

    Now let’s look at Search ads that are on the flip side of the Helpful scale in our Green Zone.

    Branded Search Ads. Pretty self explanatory, but Branded Search ads re when a company bids on its own name. For example Nike bidding on  “Nike” or “Nike Shoes”.  

    • Control: These ads like Competitor Search ads rank high on control. When bidding on branded terms you have a narrow and controlled pool of search terms your ads are showing up for. 
    • Helpfulness: Unlike Competitor Search ads, Branded Search ads are high on Helpfulness. When a consumer is searching for your company, they are point blank looking for you and exactly you. Therefore you want to be front and center for them when they search. 

    Non-Brand Search Ads. Some examples of Non-Brand Search keywords for Nike are “Athletic shoes”, “gym shoes”, or “best sneakers for running”. 

    • Control:In terms of control Non Brand Search ads rank just below Branded Search Ads. The only reason there is a little less control is because there is a wider pool of search terms.
    • Helpfulness: Believe it or not, non brand search ads we still classify as high on the helpfulness scale. If a consumer is searching for a product and just doesn’t know the name of a company that supplies said product they are still information gathering. 

    Let’s go back to Nike but pretend that this consumer who is searching for running shoes does not know any of the big brands. The consumer searches for “running shoes”. They are looking for a high quality product, so why not Nike. Whether Nike is bidding on these terms or not other people will be. Therefore, even if Nike is the first organic result, they won’t be the first company that consumers see because there will be ads at the top. If Nike is the best option for the consumer and they simply don’t see them because their organic result is buried under ads then both consumer and company are missing out. Thus you want to be there as an option in their search for information.

    Since both our Brand and Non-Brand Search ads ranked high on Control and Helpfulness, that places them right in our Green zone. 

    Advertising Authenticity Score

    DISPLAY ADS IN THE BLUE ZONE

    Let’s dive into which Google Display ads fall into our Blue Zone. 

    Consumer Renegament Display ads: targeting previous consumers based on email lists. This is not people who have simply visited the site but people who have actually purchased the product or service.

    • Control: Medium High. Since this ad type is based on email lists from the company we know exactly who we are targeting. The only reason it is bumped down a few points is because of the nature of display ads. In this scenario we aren’t picking specific placements on the google display network so the ads could be running on a variety of sites and apps.
    • Helpfulness: Medium. Truthfully this one depends on the product being sold. For instance if the product being sold is a Refrigerator, consumers probably aren’t going to be in the market for a new refrigerator for many more years. Therefore hitting them with a display ad 3 months after purchase isn’t helpful.ing.  

    However if the product being sold is a face wash, hitting the consumer with an ad 3 months after initial purchase to remind them to place a new order before they run out can be very helpful. We know these people have used the company’s product or service, and assuming a positive experience, they most likely like the company and would purchase again. 

    Site Remarketing Display Ads: targeting those who have visited the companies site without purchase.

    • Control: Medium. We know for the most part who is being hit with the ads but it’s a wider pool than consumer re-engagement and it’s on the Display network.
    • Helpfulness: Medium. Hopefully the consumer is at least interested in the company, hence spending time on the site. However we don’t fully know their motives for being on the site or their impressions of the company after the visit. 

    Blue Zone ads tend to be reconnecting with people who are at least aware of the company’s name. 

    Advertising Authenticity Score

    DISPLAY ADS IN THE ORANGE ZONE

    We talked about Competitor Search ads being in the Orange Zone but let’s finish filling this zone out. 

    In Market Display: Using Google’s AI, we are targeting those who are in the market for a product. For example Nike’s In Market Display ads would be targeted at people who are “in the market” or looking to purchase running shoes. Again, who is in the market for new running shoes is determined by google not the advertiser. 

    • Control: Low. The nature of display ads already knocks it down a few pegs, but the second reason it loses points is because we are relying on google’s targeting metrics. What exactly makes someone “in market” for new running shoes? We as advertisers have less control over who sees the ads when google is at the wheel. 
    • Helpfulness: Medium high. Since we are targeting people who are in-market or actively looking for a new pair of running shoes, showing Nike’s name is hopefully beneficial. 

    Interest Display Ads: Using Google’s AI to target people who have interests that would align with a company’s target market. Using Nike again as an example, they could target people with interests in playing sports, running marathons, or even coaching.  

    • Control: Medium low. We have an idea of who is getting targeted but again it’s a very wide pool that google has created. Also, as stated before, the display network naturally has less control than search ads.
    • Helpfulness: Low. Honestly with this group we truly don’t know if they are interested in running shoes at the moment, they might be swimmers or love their new balances. The positives for running ads like this would be more for brand recognition. Getting your company’s name out there so that they are remembered when the consumer is looking for your product even if they aren’t in need of it at the moment. 

    Look Alike Display Ads: Target people who match a profile (lookalike) of those who have purchased a product or used your service. Lookalikes are again determined by google’s AI.

    • Control: Low. Again, this is reliant on what google demes a lookalike. Maybe Because we don’t know what metrics google uses to compare, we deem these pretty low on control.
    • Helpfulness: Medium low. Going on the idea that google is in fact showing us to quality consumers we rank this medium low. Ideally they will be similar to previous consumers but that’s not to say they are in the market for your service right now. 

    As we state early, just because an ad is in the Orange Zone doesn’t mean it is evil and invasive by nature. For our Green and Blue Zones we are looking for conversions and a lower cost./conversion. For these Orange Zones ads on the other hand it’s best to have a totally different goal. That goal being brand awareness. Many of these ad types tend to have high impressions which is a great metric to use when trying to measure the success of a brand awareness campaign. 

    Advertising Authenticity Score

    WRAPPING UP

    We went over a lot of ad types and tactics today and, let’s be honest, that’s just breaking the surface, since we didn’t even touch on Social media advertising. With all the different kinds of targeting and placements out there, it can get overwhelming for a company to decide what direction they want to take and what kind of advertising aligns with the values of their company. By looking at each tactic individually and using this two point scale companies can better understand if said tactic fits within their comfort zone. 

    Now what about our very first example of one person getting bombarded with every ad on every network for Nike Tennis Shoes? Yeah….we would consider this the closest thing to invasive evil advertising. Though we would also be lying if we said these ads have never worked on us.