There’s a lot of talk about Broad Match keywords and Performance Max campaigns. An often overlooked angle is how temperamental they can be, especially when you try to scale your Google Ads account.
I call it the relevance mix. Let me explain.
Broad match keywords can work really well in some accounts. When a broad match keyword is running in a campaign, we can group the search terms for the keyword into three segments.
Search terms can be grouped based on relevance. A good mix gets good results.
It's important to clarify the difference. Most talk about match types usually refers to keywords. But search terms have match types too. For example: A search term for a broad keyword can be an exact match type.
EG, if the broad keyword is [men's running shoes]
Search term match types are similar but different from keyword match types.
With a conversion bidding strategy, Google will often target searches with decent relevance because it's learning from what converts and what doesn't. Some broadly matched searches might look questionable, but if the results are good who cares, right?
But what happens when conditions change? The broad element can really go in the wrong direction and mess your performance.
For example, your broad keywords are working really well and have been for a while. Then, one day performance deteriorates. The cost per conversion is becoming expensive, and you're not sure why.
It could be that the internal relevance mix has changed. A typical scenario is when you try to scale the account by increasing the budget. Broader matched search terms increase, while exact match elements with higher relevance remain the same. The keyword spend increases but conversions don't.
So the disadvantage here is really that there's less control, and as you try to push into those keywords and scale your campaigns it doesn't always work as expected and can often backfire.
The same thing applies for performance max campaigns. They use broad targeting to begin with but also use a multi-channel mix. Typically, if you're an ecommerce brand, your biggest channel will be shopping ads. Your PMAX might be delivering 80% shopping, but when you try to scale it, large portions of your budget could be directed towards display with low quality placements.
Your performance can vary greatly, especially as you try to scale the campaigns. Google can just take your money and put it wherever it wants, often with few results to show.
Not all the channels that performance max reaches deliver good results.
Automation is great, it really is. It's hard to beat a conversion based automated strategy but if you're overly reliant on broad match and PMAX then there's always a risk the performance will dip or not scale and you'll have few levers to push.
Should you use broad? If they work for you then hell yeah. However, if you rely 100% on broad then you're 100% in the hands of the algorithm.
I recommend mixing your broad match keywords with exact matches for your best performing search terms. This way you can control how much spend is going to the known winners and how much is spent on broad elements with a wider net. You can push the winning exact match keywords in their own ad group for more control. If a search term converts 2-3 times with a good CPA it should probably be added as an exact match keyword.
If you run an ecommerce website, I recommend not relying fully on PMAX campaigns even if they work for you. Try to have standard Shopping campaigns handle some of the heavy lifting and add PMAX to capture a wider audience. Shopping will give you more control and can work well in conjunction with PMAX campaigns. PMAX works well if you have a lot of good image and video assets. But PMAX is often unpredictable as you scale or as the market changes.
Automation in Google Ads is great. It's not perfect, and not as smart as it is in META ads but automated bidding works well. But too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, and if you're relying too heavily on both the bidding and the targeting then you'll have little control when things go south.
I recommend adding levers and buttons you can push to navigate your PPC machine in the right way as you hit hurdles or try to scale your account. Mix control with broad and use exact and standard shopping along the Google recommended practices.
We're a boutique PPC agency based in Camden, London. We work with Google Ads to grow ecommerce brands and lead generation accounts helping our clients win the game of paid search. We also offer PPC audits and training. If you have any question about Google Ads say hello and we'll be glad to help. hello@happyppc.com
Odi Caspi - Founder @ HappyPPC
