What is Expanded Broad Match?
Recently, Google made a change to its Broad Match algorithm that some are calling Expanded Broad Match. It works like normal Broad Match but it allows ads to be shown on search results pages that match not only the current search term, but also a user's previous search terms.
Jennifer Laycock explains on a recent SearchEngineGuide.com blog post that "many AdWords advertisers have noticed some odd queries showing up in their AdWords campaign reports" due to the new Broad Matching rules. In an example she shows that an ad for Play Kitchen shows up on a search results page where she typed in "toy truck". She had searched for "play kitchen" in a previous search.
How LookSmart's Broad Match search compares
On the LookSmart Ad Network, Broad Matching follows the more familiar pattern of "we will match your ad if the user types in your keyword(s) anywhere in their search terms". So, you could buy the keyword "toy truck" and it would appear if the user searched for "toy truck" or any set of words that contained toy truck like "toy Tonka truck".
LookSmart doesn't use any form of "memory" to link ads to previous search terms, so you don't need to set up any special exceptions or negative terms in order to avoid the expanded Broad Match that Google is testing with their advertisers.
What searches are my Broad Match terms matching?
It can be valuable to know exactly what search terms the user typed in when your Broad Match term caused your ad to be displayed and clicked. That information can be sent back to your web site by the LookSmart Ad Server by using dynamic query substitution in your ads' Destination URLs. Here's an example:
In our "toy truck" example, the Ad Server will replace {query: text_too_long} with "toy Tonka truck", {keyword: text_too_long} with "toy truck" and {keyword_id} with a number like 123456 that represents the ad/keyword in your campaign. (The "text_too_long" only gets inserted if the total length of your Destination URL exceeds 1,000 characters, which is very unlikely.)
In the LookSmart AdCenter, you can use the Search and Download tool to find the exact ad that matches your keyword_id to see all of the details of the click. By looking at the search term the user actually typed in, you can see interesting things like:
- phrases users' searched for that you can add to your campaign as Smart Match terms
- words in users' queries that you can add as Negative Keywords to prevent matching (for example, you might add the Negative Word "broken" if you saw that a user typed in "broken toy truck" before they clicked on your ad)
The dynamic query and dynamic keyword substitutions give you insight into how people are searching and finding your ads. They also help you understand more generally how Broad Matching works.
If you need help figuring out how to use Broad Match in your keyword campaigns, LookSmart can help. Please feel free to contact us by e-mail or call 877-512-LOOK (5665) for assistance.
Allen Hammock
Product Marketing Manager
allen.hammock@looksmart.net
