Surprise, surprise. Google is making big changes again. Back in February, they announced some planned changes in regards to the Ads platform, with alterations set to be made to two of the keyword match types: Phrase Match and the broad match modifier (BMM).

What Google wants to achieve for advertisers is to make it easier to reach potential customers, no matter how they are searching. As a reminder: Google’s keyword match types are what controls which searches can trigger the ads of an advertiser.

What do the changes look like?

Two changes are prominent in the changes:

1: BMM traffic will now trigger Phrase Match campaigns.

2: BMM will be retired from July 2021.

In Google’s own words: “With these improvements, you can reach the searches you want just by using Phrase Match” and with an example of how it will work, “With the updated Phrase Match, you can reach people looking to move from NYC to Boston, for example, without showing up for people looking to move from Boston to NYC.” Check out this visual that Google has provided to better explain the example:

Why is this change happening?

The logic behind this change is that advertisers using phrase match are missing relevant traffic, and advertisers using the broad match modifier are driving irrelevant traffic at the moment. Because of this, Google has decided that a mix of the two match types will benefit advertisers.

How will this affect my campaigns?

Just like with any previous changes that Google has made to match type behavior, keyword matching is becoming less and less targeted. This does mean that your existing keywords will now be triggered for broader and possibly irrelevant search terms, reducing the effectiveness of the existing campaigns we have in place. It may sound like this change will simplify running Google Ads campaigns, however, this is not the case. The truth is that this opens your Google Ads campaigns up to less relevant traffic and will affect your campaigns overall performance negatively.

How are we dealing with the changes?

Here at Direct Clicks we always stay on top of the many changes Google implements, and we do so by analysing the campaigns we manage and making the required changes to optimise and maintain campaign performance. If you have noticed any changes with your keyword effectiveness over the first half of 2021, feel free to reach out to discuss these changes and what your next steps could be!