Sphinn - Adwords' New "Automatic Matching"

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Adwords' New "Automatic Matching" - Don't Fall For This!

Went Hot: February 22, 2008 - 2:35 pm
Posted By: DanThies 498 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.seofaststart.com)
Category: Google AdWords

Not satisfied with fooling Adwords advertisers via expanded broad matching and "free campaign optimization," Google has invented a new way to empty your wallet.

7 Comments

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Comments

from DanThies 498 days ago #

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Even worse than I thought - it may be turned on AUTOMATICALLY. My buddy told his rep he didn't want to be included, and their reply included:

"...if this goes active out of beta, you will need to turn it off..."

We'll try to clarify whether that rep is poorly informed.

from LocalHound 498 days ago #

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I didn't think it could get worse than a dentist on the content network who provided in-line braces, served up on a HTML tutor page for inline images... I could be wrong, huh?

from DanThies 498 days ago #

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Oh, it can definitely get worse - one of my readers found out how they overspend budgets and ignore negative matches: http://sphinn.com/story/30449

from crimsongirl 497 days ago #

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"automatically extends your campaign's reach by using surplus budget"

Wow, I bet the sales people at Google have talked themselves into believing they are doing advertisers a favor.

from bpcombs 497 days ago #

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Wow. This sounds like potentially quite the PR blunder for Google.

from RobD 497 days ago #

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You just have to remember that Google does not like to leave money on the table. If you underspend on Thursday you will overspend on Friday.

Also always check your campaign settings and turn off anything that is "helpful" or "optimized," these features are not your friends. Google measures success by CTR not conversion rates.

from seobloz 495 days ago #

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"If you underspend on Thursday you will overspend on Friday"
Exactly, the current system works fine. If you're under budget one day, they'll make adjustments so that you can spend more the next day. The difference is you're spending money on the keywords you WANT to spend on. This feature opens you up to lack of targeting and control which has never been a good thing when managing a PPC account.