Q) Will my ads be shown every time someone searches for my keyword?

This is a great question and one I get asked a fair bit. Let’s get into the answer….

Each time someone, somewhere in the world searches, the clever people (technology actually) at Google finds all ads whose keywords match that particular search query.

As an advertiser you can choose to have your ads triggered using various degrees of specificity. These are a broad match, phrase match and exact match.

If you set your keywords as broad match your ads will show regardless of the order the searcher has typed those words in their search. If you add “adidas football boots” for example, using a broad match type your ads are eligible to show if someone types in “football boots from adidas” or “i hate their football boots and all adidas merchandise.” A broad match means that your ad may show in a search as long as the keywords you entered show up somewhere in the search in one form or another.

Phrase match means the keyword phrase needs to show up in the search in the order you entered it. Rolling with the same example, when you enter “adidas football boots” as a phrase match keyword, then your ad may show for “adidas football boots” but also for “adidas football boots for sale.” It will not show for a search for “adidas predator football boots” since the phrase did not appear in the same word order as the keyword phrases you entered.

Exact match…. well that one is self explanatory. Your ad will only be triggered when someone types in “adidas football boots.”

There a different scenarios when it is appropriate to use ash match type, but I’ll save that for a future post.

Once AdWords determines based on match type that your ads are eligible to show, it will then check your geo targeting settings. If Ads have been set  to target Luxembourg then for a person searching in the UAE your ads will not show.

In addition to that the AdWords system will check your scheduling settings. It may be that your ads have been set to show only between the hours of 10am and 1pm and from 4pm to 10pm because that is when your customers are most likely to buy. In that scenario, someone searching at 8am in the morning will not see your ads.

The power of Google AdWords (in the right hands) is that it can target precisely someone who is searching for the exact thing you offer, in a location you can service and at a time your prospect is most likely to buy. In the wrong hands your ads could appear for terms unrelated to your business, in locations you cannot service at times they are unlikely to buy. In short you are at risk of burning through dollars with below average results.

We recommend using a specialist Google Adwords management service who will get the best results for your campaign.