The SEO Bible

This is an important alert to all Google Adwords account holders. Google has launched automatic matching option in Adwords. Just like Content Network, this option is “opt-out” - which means that it is enabled by default on your adwords account. So if you don’t disable it, it stay on for you, and you pay for it.

What is Automatic Matching anyway?
Automatic matching means that Google will try to maximize your ad spend upto your daily limit, if it is not fully used up by the usual search and content networks.

They do it by showing your ads on keywords that you have not bid yourself, but which Google thinks are relevant for you. So for example “used cars”, Google may automatically show your ad for “car seats”, even though you are not bidding on this keyword at all. Your ads will now show for additional relevant search queries based on the keywords, ad text, and landing pages in your ad groups.

Your adwords account will show this alert if automatic matching is enabled on your account - “New! Automatic matching has been enabled in your account.

You can then opt out by visiting a keyword-targeted campaign, and then clicking on edit campaign settings.”

Also, in your ad groups, at the bottom of your keyword list, you’ll see a new column labeled “Automatic matching total.”

Now, there is nothing really wrong with Automatic Matching per se. It is similar to Content Matching, which used to show poor results when it was launched initially, but improved dramatically over the years, and now a lot of people only rely on Adsense traffic for their sites.

You can leave it on if you are tracking your conversions from the adwords and know which keywords, ad groups are generating what kind of ROI.

Automatic matching is Google’s attempt to maximize your clicks, and at the same time clean out your account of any remaining value from your daily budget. This will definitely boost Google’s revenue from those unsuspecting adwords spenders, who leave everything to Google.

So How do you take advantage of Automatic Matching Option.

First of all, DISABLE AUTOMATIC OPTION OFF.

Then create an exact copy of your original campaign

Now lets say you bit 80 cents for the first campaign, with automatic bidding option set to OFF

Setup the second campaign with 50 cents, and keep automatic bidding option ON.

This way you have full control over the campaigns, and you can track the conversions from each campaign separately, which works the best for you.

Of course, the only thing missing from this Automatic matching option of Google is to set bid prices for this option. Hopefully, it will appear some time soon…. ( are you listening Google?)

The fact is - Google is a very dynamic company, and Adwords is their revenue generating vehicle - which is why they are constantly making changes to it, to maximize the revenue for themselves, and deliver more value to us advertisers. You need to be always looking for changes, testing them, and see how it works.

I subscribe to Perry Marshall’s Mastermind group, which send out updates as and when there is a major change from Google, and I get a chance to ask questions directly ( every month ) to the Adwords Gurus Perry Marshall and Bryan Todd - both authors of the Most Definitive Guide to Google Adwords ( read my Review of this Best Adwords Book on The SEO Bible’s SEO Tool Review section).

To get more information, you can check out these excellent resources too

Search Engine Land

SEO Round Table

Search Engine Money Making

9 Things I dislike about Google’s Automatic Matching - Very Good - I saved the best for the last!

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