Google's recently updated treatment of phase match to include broad match modifier (BBM) traffic shakes up advertisers.

The latest in a series of changes made to its keyword match types, Google’s updated phase match places emphasis on machine learning and automation over manual inputs from advertisers. While some advertisers have acknowledged how alike BMM and phrase matches have rolled out, other advertisers see the change as a loss of data control, in order for Google to prioritise its own revenue over the best interests of the businesses that advertise on its platform.

While this new roll out is aimed at an overarching trend, advertisers must ensure their campaigns are still performing. 

But do advertisers have more to gain or lose?

What might advertisers be gaining?

• Eliminating BBM may help advertisers save time due to fewer options.
• Simplified data collection.
• Smaller businesses will be on a more level field to larger accounts.
• A match type solution that better mimics how match types currently work will be available.

What might advertisers be losing?

• Updated phrase matches will only respect word order when it’s important to the meaning.
• New treatment will be more restricted than BBM.
• Accounts that heavily relied on BBM keywords may lose traffic.

How can advertisers prepare for an updated phrase match?

It’s essential that advertisers are fully aware of their baseline performance before the new phrase match treatment is rolled out. We would suggest exporting your current date to see just how broad the match performs in your account. This way you are in a great position to prepare, and what to expect once the change rolls out. 

If you need to pivot - now is the time to do so. 

If you’ve been reliant on BBM you will need to be particularly vigilant about this change. Google will be expecting advertisers who have been mainly using BBM to see an decrease in clicks and conversions. Google has said “The majority of the decrease will likely come from applications of BMM. Additionally the consideration of word order may also filter out searches that may have previously matched BMM.”

What you will need to do is trim out all the broad match modified terms, so you are in a better position to analyse what Google really means by these changes. You need to be implementing versus phrases, versus regular broader and exact.

Advertisers that rely heavily on phrase matches may experience an increase in clicks and conversions due to the new, additional queries that are eligible to match. The best thing you can do to maintain this control is to complete regular searches to see what Google is recommending and ensuring they align with the goals of your brand. 

All in all, if the new phase match is capturing poor matches for your advertisements you can add negative keywords. This way you can decrease any wasted budget.