Are you losing money on clicks from questionable keywords? Let us know.

You might think that an ad impression is an ad impression, but when you’re charged by the click, you want the clicks to come from people who are likely to buy what you’re selling, considering that you are paying Google for each click. 

A Wall Street Journal piece has put the spotlight on some of these advertisers, including a New York dentist who claims irrelevant keywords have cost him nearly $3,000 over the last year or so. The problem allegedly stems from Google’s session-based broad match feature, which shows ads to users not only for a single query, but also for subsequent queries in the users same search session. 

Google explains the feature in the AdWords Help Center:

"When determining which ads to show on a Google search result page, the AdWords system evaluates some of the user’s previous queries during their search session as well as the current search query. If the system detects a relationship, it will show ads related to these other queries, too." 

"This feature is an enhancement of broad match. It works by generating similar terms for each search query based on the content of the current query and, if deemed relevant, the previous queries in a user’s search session. Your ad will potentially show if one of your broad-matched keywords matches any of these similar terms."
 
Sounds good in theory, but the advertisers complaining appear to disagree with what Google is considering to be relevant. The dentist from the WSJ story cited "penis enlargement" and "[Chinese characters] in Chinatown" as examples – not exactly dentist-related. The story also cites a plastic surgeon, who counted "olivia newton john photos" among questionable keywords. 

The WSJ spoke with Google’s Nick Fox:

Mr. Fox acknowledged there are "edge" cases in which search queries "does not appear to be relevant to the ads, but the context of previous queries indicated that the user would have a strong interest in that advertisers’ ad." In addition, he said, "a user must be interested enough in an ad to want to click on it." He said a very small percentage of ad clicks are session-based and that advertisers can limit the scope of their campaign to halt session-based clicks.

Google’s Mr. Fox said: "It has to be the case that the users, in the very recent history, searched for terms he’s advertising on."

It’s worth noting that Google says that whenever an ad is served based on the associated keyword’s relevance to the previous search queries, the ad’s performance has no effect on that keyword’s Quality Score.

It’s also worth noting that not everyone is unhappy with the session-based clicks. Jordan McClements, commenting on a Clixmarketing post on session-based broad match says, "If you are in a niche where there is not much search traffic, and a new client/sale is worth a lot of money to you then it is probably a good idea to keep all your ‘broad’ options open."

John Lee, who wrote that post, says, "I want advertisers to be aware that in the case of session-based broad match – you can’t turn it off. My recommendation is to remain vigilant in reporting, primarily with Search Query Reports to ensure that the session-based query matches that do come through are relevant. If they aren’t, roll that knowledge (and those queries) into your negative keyword lists."

Probably good advice. 

Perhaps the real question is how much of the problem is Google and how much is the advertiser? 

Speaking of negative keywords, Google actually just released a new feature this week to manage negative keywords across multiple campaigns with negative keyword lists. 

Have you wasted money on irrelevant session-based clicks? Comment here.

- Broad Match
– Phrase Match
– Exact Match
– Negative Keyword

Today, Google is talking about utilizing Broad Match to reach more customers. First, a brief description of Broad Match from Google:

With broad match, the Google AdWords system automatically runs your ads on relevant variations of your keywords, even if these terms aren’t in your keyword lists. Keyword variations can include synonyms, singular/plural forms, relevant variants of your keywords, and phrases containing your keywords.

For example, if you’re currently running ads on the broad-matched keyword web hosting, your ads may show for the search queries web hosting company or webhost. The keyword variations that are allowed to trigger your ads will change over time, as the AdWords system continually monitors your keyword quality and performance factors. Your ads will only continue showing on the highest-performing and most relevant keyword variations.

The biggest reason to use the broad match option is that not all appropriate keywords are anticipated. Broad match allows you to capitalize on ones that are relevant, but not necessarily expected.

"Did you know that 20% of the queries Google receives each day are ones we haven’t seen in at least 90 days, if at all? With that kind of unpredictable search behavior, it’s extremely difficult to create a keyword list that covers all relevant queries using only exact match," says Amanda Kelly at Inside AdWords.

When using Broad Match however, it is a good idea to also use Negative Keyword, which means that your ad will not appear when searches for that keyword are made. This eliminates potentially useless clicks if you don’t actually offer what they are trying to get. Basically, when using Broad Match, Negative Keywords are the exceptions.

WebProNews is at PubCon Las Vegas, and Mike McDonald conducted an interview with Ken Jurina of Epiar on Negative Keyword campaigns:

When using Broad Match, Kelly also recommends using search query reports and the Conversion Optimizer. You can learn more about Broad Match in the FAQ or more about the different options here.