Uncovering the Truth about Google Keyword Mapping

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Multiple Options… Which Keyword to Choose

• For A Typical Account

– Almost every search query will match more than one keyword

• If ‘wrong’ Ad-Group matches

– May show sub-optimal ad-copy or landing page!

• If more than one keyword is triggered over a short period of time

– Makes bid management harder, more keyword chaos

• Google publish rules for how keyword are matched to queries…

Search Query

? Keywords

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How Google Determines which Keyword wins the Auction?

The Original Way After the 2008 Update

Use keyword matching query exactly (exactly matching)

Use most restrictive match type (for

same keyword)

Use longer keyword (Match Length)

Use keyword matching query exactly (exactly matching)

Use most restrictive match type (for

same keyword)

Use longer keyword (Match Length)**Ad Group Only

Use keyword with highest Ad-Rank

(Quality X Bid)

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Multiple Mappings: Same Query Mapping to Different Keywords

Visualization of queries (pink) and keywords (blue).

Red lines show multi-mapped queries.

Queries triggering more than one keyword

Result in chaotic account behavior Severely reduce accuracy of portfolio modeling and bidding Create data integrity problems for analysis

Multiple Mappings: Example 2

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Multi-Mapped Queries

Multiple Mappings: Example 3

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Two of the top campaigns have severe mapping issues providing little control and not allowing the bid management platform to effectively execute models.

Campaign vs. Ad Group Multiple Mapping

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Cross Campaign Query Matching Cross Ad-Group Query Matching

Multiple Mappings: Quantifying the Frequency

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Keyword Counts by Query (30 Days)

Non ‘Expected’ Multi-Match Queries

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So to determine the severity of the problem and how much is

potentially caused by the Ad Rank Rule we built our own search

engine with old school match rules

Building a New Search Engine (Old School Rules)

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1. Decide sensible criteria for ‘ideal’ matching Rule (1) – Use keyword matching query exactly Rule (2) – Use most restrictive match type Rule (5) – Use longer keyword (match length)

2. Program a new matching algorithm Use open source search engine Apache

3. Run search query stream through algorithm Can take a long time, speed up using multi-core CPU

4. Pivot table results with KPI’s Excel the results

Mapping Definitions in the New Search Engine

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Definition Description

Expected Expected keyword was matched to query (as per rules 1, 2 & 5)

MatchTypeLength A longer matching keyword (and/or narrow type) was found

ExactMiss An exact match keyword was found

ExactlyMiss An exactly matching keyword was found (broad or phrase)

NarrowerType The same keyword with a more restrictive type was found

NarrowerTypeBMM As above but specific to broad match modified type

Session Keyword was matched through session based matching

Duplicate Duplicate keywords were found

Ambiguous More than one keyword matched the query equally well

Unclassified Unable to classify match definition

New Search Engine Results

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Definition Cost Cost % Conv CPA CTR

Expected $ 108,441 53.13% 604 179.5 6.1%

MatchTypeLength $ 48,566 23.79% 113 429.8 14.1%

Ambiguous $ 13,936 6.83% 37 376.6 8.9%

ExactMiss $ 9,185 4.50% 30 306.2 5.3%

Duplicate $ 8,812 4.32% 32 275.4 8.7%

Session $ 7,665 3.76% 13 589.7 23.8%

Unclassified $ 4,152 2.03% 8 519.0 4.3%

NarrowerTypeBMM $ 1,842 0.90% 3 614.0 12.8%

NarrowerType $ 1,190 0.58% 2 595.0 19.6%

ExactlyMiss $ 323 0.16% 15 21.5 14.1%

Grand Total $ 204,112 100.00% 857 238.2 7.1%

• Only 53% of the time did our new rules match Google’s actual match selection.

• Match Type Length appears to be the most frequently over-ridden rule

– CPA Higher

– Google’s Yield (CTR) Higher

Queries

Best Match

KW Served

In this example, a shorter keyword took precedence over a longer keyword

New Search Engine Results: Example Match Type Length Miss

How can I take back control…

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Use Negative Keywords Force matching through negatives. The use of negatives is a great way to put up Google roadblocks and assist their algorithms in selecting the right ad group by not allowing the wrong selection

Tightly Themed Ad-Groups Maximize Ad Group match length rule. This will not help with creative as this rule only applies to the ad group, but sometimes the bid is the biggest challenge for search marketers when it comes to inconsistent mapping

Remove Duplicates/Ambiguous Sometimes a problem we uncover during account audits is the use of duplicate keywords. The problems is difficult enough to manage without having to double your challenges by giving Google another eligible keyword.

Maintain Campaign Budgets This can be deadly and can easily be isolated by running and IS Loss to Budget Report. Using budget capping to control investment by campaign is sub optimal from a pure mathematical perspective and is a huge catalyst to cross campaign multi mapping

Thank you

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Questions/Comments/Ideas….

Michaelb@webmetro.com