Broad Match Modifier No More? Here’s What You Need to Know
After July 2021, the broad modifier match modifiers have been discontinued. But, as a dependable match type for experts and a go-to match type for beginners, how is this change going to affect everyone?
TL;DR: The broad match modifier has been completely replaced by the phrase match type, and will officially go away from July 2021. The order of keywords for the phrase match types will no longer be prioritized, essentially pulling in the properties of the broad match modifiers and combining them with that of phrase match types.
Remember when Enhanced CPC (cost per click) strategies were used to only increase your manual bids by up to 30%?
Those were the days.
Now we have “smart” bidding strategies and “smart” campaigns everywhere. Like Performance Max campaigns, the latest addition to the list of these automated campaigns is based on machine learning.
Changes happening to Google Ads platform as a whole isn’t a new thing. Just last month, I was handling a new ads account for a client. I tried to initiate a fresh PPC campaign when I found out that responsive text ads are the default ads now. I had no option for text ads at all. It was already taken away.
Most of these changes generally have one thing in common: Google pushing the platform towards machine learning.
A machine learning algorithm, to be good at prediction, requires a ton of real-life data. I don’t really need to tell you how much data Google has in order to pull this off. So it makes sense for Google to bundle its services with its ability to determine results based on historical data. If you want conversions why not just show people who’re more likely to convert rather than to people who might not?
While it does seem logical, advertisers do have their reservations against giving up control over the performance of their campaigns. More on that in another post.
Google also wants to give you the best result possible with the least amount of effort. This allows them to, like Facebook with their Boosting/Promoting options, lower the barrier of entry so that more and more people can start advertising on its platform with lesser things to worry about.
What these changes do is they make us advertisers adapt, change our approach. Sometimes, subtly. Other times forcibly.
One of those major changes happened last month. The broad match modifiers have been merged into the phrase match type. From July 2021, we can no longer use broad match modifiers.
Here, I’ve briefly talked about everything you need to know about the change and how you can adapt to the same.
About Broad Match Modifiers and Phrase Match Types
Broad match modifiers are denoted by + as a prefix to the keyword and are basically the go-to match types for beginners and experts alike. With broad match modifiers, you can control the exact words that are present in the search terms without having to worry about the order they are typed by the user.
I say this is the go-to match type for most advertisers because:
- It’s broad enough to reach more queries than phrase or exact match types, while still being focused enough to reach relevant searches, unlike broad match type
- Since the relevant queries can be in any order or formats, broad match modifiers were versatile enough to cover all of them without having to worry about the order of the queries
Let’s look at some examples below:
| BMMs | Covers these searches | Doesn’t cover these searches |
| +chocolate +icecream | Chocolate flavoured ice cream BR chocolate ice cream | BR’s chocolate bundle Strawberry icecream |
| +BR +chocolate +icecream | BR’s chocolate ice cream bundle Chocolate ice cream from BR near me | Chocolate ice cream Strawberry ice cream delivery from BR |
Phrase match types let you choose a set of words, or a phrase, that need to be present in the user’s queries. But the queries have to be in the exact order of your phrase match type keyword. A change in the order of a query even with those same words will not trigger your ad. Phrase match types are denoted by “” at the beginning and end of the keyword. Also, no words can come in between the phrase.
Here are some examples:
| PMTs | Covers these searches | Doesn’t cover these searches |
| “chocolate icecream” | Chocolate ice cream delivery BR chocolate ice cream | BR’s chocolate flavoured icecream BR icecream chocolate flavoured |
| “BR chocolate icecream” | BR’s chocolate ice cream bundle Nearby BR Chocolate ice cream for delivery | Chocolate ice cream by BR BR’s chocolate flavoured icecream |
One way broad match modifiers have an advantage over phrase match types is that when the same keywords are used in broad match modifiers the volume of relevant queries increase because the order of the words wouldn’t make any difference.
Phrase match type’s upper hand would be in terms of relevance. When someone types in the same words as the phrase match types, the relevance is more than someone typing the same words in a different order.
How are Phrase Match Types changed in Google Ads?
The advantages of broad match modifiers over phrase match types have now been merged with the latter altogether.
Now, when an advertiser uses phrase match types, the order of the phrase will no longer matter. They will work as if they were broad match modifiers, while their existing phrase match types properties remain the same.
This is how Google is explaining the change.
Let’s look at the broad match modifiers example above and how they might change
| PMTs | Covers these searches | Now, will cover these too |
| “chocolate icecream” | Chocolate ice cream flavour BR chocolate ice cream | BR’s chocolate flavoured icecream BR icecream chocolate flavoured |
| “BR chocolate icecream” | BR’s chocolate ice cream bundle Nearby BR Chocolate ice cream for delivery | Chocolate ice cream by BR BR’s chocolate flavoured icecream |
What does this mean in terms of relevance, then?
It’s not a hundred per cent clear yet.
The changes have been slowly rolled out since February 2021. So there is a good chance that Google has optimized its machine learning enough to determine the multiple levels of relevance.
Google also says it’s going to recognize the order (or even the meaning) of the keywords in a “smart” way. Now that raises a lot of questions.
What this means is that the advertisers now have to give up the ability to target keywords such as “buy plane tickets from Pokhara to Kathmandu” AND in that specific order. Let’s say you only sell plane tickets from Pokhara to Kathmandu on a specific time period that you’re advertising. Then what if Google determines that the search query “plane ticket from Kathmandu to Pokhara” is a close variant of your keyword and hence qualifies your ad to be shown? Only time will tell.
How is this going to change the way we create PPC campaigns?
If you have been dependent upon broad match modifiers for results then this will most certainly affect you the most.
There may be a period where you see different types of results that you’re used to seeing. The algorithm will try to adapt to the new signals from PMT. It is highly recommended that you regularly check the search terms and add in the negative keywords accordingly.
If you have been using PMTs mostly, this is going to affect you too. You will start seeing newer and newer search queries in your search terms report that you may or may not want. So you will have to start using a lot of negative keywords as well.
The advertisers using both will have to note that now the phrase match will be pulling all the traffic compared to your broad modifiers. There may be huge chances of your ad groups or even campaigns competing with each other, because similar keywords may trigger the same queries as PMT takes over. You must sculpt your campaigns in order to stop cannibalizing your own keywords.
Conclusion
On one hand, the step to combine phrase match type and broad match modifiers can be considered a good step. One less match type to worry about, leave the performance and a certain level of optimization to Google’s mind-bending machine learning capabilities.
But, on the other hand, it’s taking away a certain level of control that advertisers enjoyed with using phrase match types and broad match modifiers as separate match types. You will no longer be able to target a keyword-based on the order of the query.
No doubt, this change has forced us to adapt and continuously optimize. The best scenario would be If the changes do end up giving better results. But, ask any seasoned Google advertisers about smart campaigns and they will tell you not to depend on the platform too much as the results can be unpredictable.
While it would be better to have the option to control the order of the keywords, all we can do it hope the algorithm adapts and gets its job done. Until then, make negative keywords your best friend to structure your campaigns the way you want to.
If you found this post helpful, check out my older posts here. Come hang out with me on LinkedIn or Twitter to have more conversations about digital marketing.
