PPC Expert Series – Word Targeting is Dying… Is Your PPC Campaign Becoming Less Effective?
Let’s talk about google PPC keyword targeting and the fact that ‘word targeting’ is actually dying. Here’s a question… have you kept up with the times? Google’s AI, their machine learning has made major advances over the past several years, “word targeting” and I’m using air quotes for ‘word,’ it’s taken a back seat to context and searcher intent. If your team is still focused on ‘words’ then you may have fallen behind.
Here are some signals that that it’s happened: First, ask your PPC team to print out your current campaign and ad group names. It’s an easy thing for them to get, and it’s really easy for you to review these names. In those names do you see a lot of words like, ‘Phrase,’ ‘Broad,’ and ‘Exact?’ This is a tell that your team is still targeting words and not context.
As you look at that list, look at your campaign and ad group names… Do you see synonyms like ‘Attorney’ and ‘Lawyer’ in different ad groups or campaigns? They contextually mean the same thing but they’re broken out and segmented into different groups… this may be an indication that your team is still targeting ‘words’ while Google’s trying to target context.
Also, this is a big one: your average Quality Score; is your average quality score below 6, or is there a large percentage of keywords with no quality score at all? This is huge. If those apply to you, you could be wasting half your money on just pure waste from just bad targeting.
Now if you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re probably still targeting words while Google’s AI is desperately trying to deliver outcomes that favor the context of what people are searching for, not just the word targeting. If so, you’re out of alignment with what Google’s trying to do.
If you’re not happy with your current PPC campaigns, you’d like us to check these things for you, or if you just like a second opinion, give us a call we’d love to help.