Google Adwords have been announced that they have a new feature in Google Adwords but at the moment it is valid just for UK and Canada adwords advertisers. 
How it Works?
This is well explained by Google Adwords official blog. To implement the modifier, just put a plus symbol (+) directly in front of one or more words in a broad match keyword. Each word preceded by a + has to appear in your potential customer’s search exactly or as a close variant. Close variants include misspellings, singular/plural forms, abbreviations and acronyms, and stemmings (like “floor” and “flooring”). Synonyms (like “quick” and “fast”) and related searches (like “flowers” and “tulips”) aren’t considered close variants.
The graphic below illustrates the relative reach of different keyword match type strategies. As you can see, modified broad match keywords match more searches than the equivalent phrase match keyword, but fewer searches than the equivalent broad match keyword. Match behavior also depends on the specific words you modify. For example, the keyword formal +shoes will match the search “evening shoes,” but the keyword +formal +shoes will not.
I personally hope that this feature will be wordwide soon. The idea of being able to use broad match but insist that a term or terms be included will be helpful.
+widgets near +chicago then should give me “a chicago widget place”, “widgets somewhere in the vicinity of chicago”, etc.
Without having to include either:
Several dozen specific phrase matches to catch those. Also not having to add a few dozen -negative keywords to exlcude all the extraneous stuff that plain broad match widgets near chicago can brings up. I had gotten used to seeing queries as exotic as “zebras near chicago” and my widget ain’t a zebra by a longshot!
Other Modified Broad Match Examples
Example 1:
Under the current extended broad match product (“EBM”)
KW = “European vacation packages” could currently be matched to…well…anything, but certainly a user search on “Italian museum tours” could fire that rather un-targeted ad, rather than a more targeted “Italy vacation package” also in the portfolio.
However, using BMM we could restrict this a bit with:
KW = “+European vacation packages”, and guarantee that the ad is only served to those searching for something related to “Europe” or “European”. This ad could still fire on
Query = “flights to Europe” or “European tourist attractions”, but would NOT fire on “Singapore vacation deals”
Example 2:
Further restricting this to
KW = “+European vacation +packages” would ensure that the user searched for European packages, more than just flights or hotels by themselves, so might be served in response to
Query = “Europe travel package” or “Tour packages for Europe”, etc.
Less restrictive than phrase match, but more restricted than the current EBM.
Example 3:
KW = “+European +vacation +packages” is good old broad match from the days of yore, before extended broad match made us pull our hair out. This one will only be served on highly correlated searches like:
Query = “vacation package deals for Europe”, “Eastern Europe vacation packages”, etc.
The flexibility this provides is tremendous! Coupled with a comprehensive keyword list, smart use of BMM and a powerful bid management system the enhanced control should make a material difference.
One Comment
Hi Hussam,
I agree that the flexibility provided by Google’s new modified broad match is great. I recently did some analysis on the peformance of modified broad match and found that modified broad match keywords consistently out-performed broad match keywords which did not have broad match modification.
Like you said, smart use of BMM and powerful bid management could make the difference between a mediocre and successful PPC campaign.
Thanks!
Alan