Google Updates Review Policy Help Files and Review Flagging Form
This could very well be old news. I have no idea when these two things changed but Google has made a substantial update to both their local review policies and the “flag and fix inappropriate reviews” help pages. The new “flag as inappropriate” form has more fields and is also more generic and it appears that it […]
Google Acquires Patent on Speeding up SSL on Networks
On August 6th, Google announced that https was becoming a ranking signal for Google Search. I’m not completely sure of the implications of a discovery I made earlier today yet, but I noticed at the USPTO assignment database that Google had been assigned a patent from AT&T in June, which was officially recorded on August […]
The post Google Acquires Patent on Speeding up SSL on Networks appeared first on SEO by the Sea.
Google Kills Exact Match: SEL: Farewell ‘Pure’ Exact Match, AdWords Will Soon Require All Campaigns To Use Close Variants
Search Engine Land reports that Google is forcing all advertisers to accept additional traffic. The days of being able to target only specifically what converts are over on AdWords.
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Loah Qwality Add Werds Clix Four U
Google recently announced they were doing away with exact match AdWords ad targeting this September. They will force all match types to have close variant keyword matching enabled. This means you get misspelled searches, plural versus singular overlap, and an undoing of your tight organization.
In some cases the user intent is different between singular and plural versions of a keyword. A singular version search might be looking to buy a single widget, whereas a plural search might be a user wanting to compare different options in the marketplace. In some cases people are looking for different product classes depending on word form:
For example, if you sell spectacles, the difference between users searching on ‘glass’ vs. ‘glasses’ might mean you are getting users seeing your ad interested in a building material, rather than an aid to reading.
Where segmenting improved the user experience, boosted conversion rates, made management easier, and improved margins – those benefits are now off the table.
CPC isn’t the primary issue. Profit margins are what matter. Once you lose the ability to segment you lose the ability to manage your margins. And this auctioneer is known to bid in their own auctions, have random large price spikes, and not give refunds when they are wrong.
An offline analogy for this loss of segmentation … you go to a gas station to get a bottle of water. After grabbing your water and handing the cashier a $20, they give you $3.27 back along with a six pack you didn’t want and didn’t ask for.

Why does a person misspell a keyword? Some common reasons include:
- they are new to the market & don’t know it well
- they are distracted
- they are using a mobile device or something which makes it hard to input their search query (and those same input issues make it harder to perform other conversion-oriented actions)
- their primary language is a different language
- they are looking for something else
In any of those cases, the typical average value of the expressed intent is usually going to be less than a person who correctly spelled the keyword.
Even if spelling errors were intentional and cultural, the ability to segment that and cater the landing page to match disappears. Or if the spelling error was a cue to send people to an introductory page earlier in the conversion funnel, that option is no more.
In many accounts the loss of the granular control won’t cause too big of a difference. But some advertiser accounts in competitive markets will become less profitable and more expensive to manage:
No one who’s in the know has more than about 5-10 total keywords in any one adgroup because they’re using broad match modified, which eliminated the need for “excessive keyword lists” a long time ago. Now you’re going to have to spend your time creating excessive negative keyword lists with possibly millions upon millions of variations so you can still show up for exactly what you want and nothing else.
You might not know which end of the spectrum your account is on until disaster strikes:
I added negatives to my list for 3 months before finally giving up opting out of close variants. What they viewed as a close variant was not even in the ballpark of what I sell. There have been petitions before that have gotten Google to reverse bad decisions in the past. We need to make that happen again.
Brad Geddes has held many AdWords seminars for Google. What does he think of this news?
In this particular account, close variations have much lower conversion rates and much higher CPAs than their actual match type.
…
Variation match isn’t always bad, there are times it can be good to use variation match. However, there was choice.
…
Loss of control is never good. Mobile control was lost with Enhanced Campaigns, and now you’re losing control over your match types. This will further erode your ability to control costs and conversions within AdWords.
A monopoly restricting choice to enhance their own bottom line. It isn’t the first time they’ve done that, and it won’t be the last.
Have an enhanced weekend!

Don’t Buy GSA Lists: a Quick Market Analysis
I am not going to explain what GSA Search Engine Ranker is – the target audience of this post knows it very well. Being the most advanced and flexible link automation tool as of today, I’m afraid it has become …
So You Have a Ton of Big Data, Now What?
Collecting, storing, and managing big data can be an invaluable asset for a business; however the thought of analyzing a copious amount of data – even if it does reveal a hidden company gem – can appear to be an exhausting, time-consuming, and repetitive process. As SEER interns, we had the amazing opportunity to research […]
SearchCap: AdWords Close Variants, comScore Search Rankings & Google Now Flights
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: ComScore: Yahoo Bounces Back From All-Time Low In Search Share After dropping below a 10% market share for search f…
Bing Ads “Top Movers” Report Gives the “Why” Behind Campaign Changes
Bing Ads released a new feature that provides more insight into ad performance, showing up to 10 campaigns or ad groups with the most significant performance change.
ComScore: Yahoo Bounces Back From All-Time Low In Search Share
After dropping below a 10% market share for search for the first time in June, Yahoo creeped back above that threshold, according to ComScore’s July search engine rankings. Yahoo checked in with a 10.0% share, a 0.2 percentage point gain over its record low in June. Yahoo had 1.8 billion…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Google AdWords to Universally Apply Close Variant Keyword Matching
The change will apply to all exact and phrase match keywords and will help increase the likelihood users get the ads they expect to see.
21 Metrics For Monitoring SEO Health
An SEO issue that goes unnoticed, even for a few days, can have a huge impact on business — so what metrics can you use to detect problems early?
The post 21 Metrics For Monitoring SEO Health appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Please visit Search…
Optimizing Search and Digital Marketing With Multi-Channel Attribution Modeling [#CZLSF]
A look at a ClickZ Live San Francisco session that explored how businesses can optimize search and digital marketing with multi-channel attribution modeling.
Is SEO Being Ripped Asunder?
The responsibility for SEO is being assigned to various departments. Is this a good thing or a bad thing for the state of the industry?
The post Is SEO Being Ripped Asunder? appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Please visit Search Engine Land for t…
Search In Pics: Google Excavations, Google Massage Rooms & Cusco Peru Office
In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. Google London Massage Rooms: Source: Google+ Sleeping Google Street View…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
3 Ways to Dig Deeper for Bigger Paid Search Success
The little things, like match types, ad groups, and geo-targeting, can make all the difference in your search marketing tactics. Here are some examples that show why it makes sense to dig into the details.
Google Now Offers Alternative Flights On Delayed Or Cancelled Flights
The Android Community reports a two new features added to Google Now. The main new feature is that Google will suggest alternative flights or options when your flight is delayed or cancelled. If Google detects your flight is delayed or cancelled, Google “can suggest alternate routes or…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
5 Steps To Adjust To Google’s Latest Change To AdWords Matching Behavior
Matching behavior for phrase and exact match keywords is changing in AdWords. What do you need to know about close keyword variations?
The post 5 Steps To Adjust To Google’s Latest Change To AdWords Matching Behavior appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Google AdWords Tests New Hotel Ad Booking Format
Moz reports on Google+ that Google is testing yet another AdWords format, this one around nearby hotels.
Here is a search for [boca raton resort] that normally brings up a carousel at the top of the page but here…
Security Certificate Companies Promoting Google’s HTTPS Algorithm
It has been about a week since Google announced their new HTTPS ranking signal and the security SSL certificate companies have begun promoting this fact to prospective customers…