You have set up your Google pay per click campaigns…and by default chosen the “broad match” setting.
So far…so good. You let it run a while, and then you sit down to optimize it. At that point, it is time to make some smart choices about your keyword matching settings.
A quick refresher on what the keyword matching options are:

·  Broad match: Allows your ad to show on similar phrases and relevant variations. So for example, if you set a keyword for “Phoenix online marketing business,” with broad match then searches for “online marketing in Phoenix AZ” would show your ad.

·  Phrase match: Allows your ad to show for searches that match the phrase in that particular word order. So for example, if you set the keyword for “Phoenix online marketing firm” with phrase match, then searches for “online marketing PPC firms in Phoenix AZ” would NOT show your ad. But, searches like “Phoenix online marketing firm PPC” WOULD show your ad.
·  Exact match: Allows your ad to show for searches that match the exact phrase exclusively. So for example, if you set the keyword for “Phoenix online marketing service” with exact match, then searches for ONLY “Phoenix online marketing service” would get the ad.

So what are the best options? One strategy is to initially put all your keywords into Exact match…then move the best performing ones to Phrase Match. Use different ad groups to keep a close eye on the performance of the Exact and Phrase matching keywords.  This strategy works if you have a tiny budget and have a low conversion rate. Eventually, the best performers are then moved to Broad match and placed in another ad group.

Another strategy that I have used for large volume campaigns with lots of keywords is to first place them in Broad…and then screen out the keywords that are screaming for Phrase match. Use your analytics tools and Google’s search query reports to then find out what the variations are to the broad keywords…and add those as phrase matches. Don’t forget to use LOTs of negative keyword matches with Broad after consulting these reports.

So for example, if you want to attract searchers looking for “video SEO firm”:
•    Run “video SEO firm” as a broad match
•    Run reports and discover that a lot of the queries are more specific for the term “YouTube video SEO services”
•    Add that keyword phrase as a phrase match (at a much cheaper CPC then “video SEO firm”)
•    Cut your bids for the broad phrase “video SEO firm”

With this PPC strategy, you will cover your bases – both getting the broader searches at a cheaper CPC and finding the targeted searchers you want.