Google Ads - Exact match keyword campaign not achieving expected results

[Emily]

Hey Everyone!

Looking for a bit of advice on a Google Ad campaign I've got running for a B2B software development company. The software is pretty niche and we wanted to target a very specific keyword that has yielded results in the past (2 years or so ago).

We set up the campaign and restricted Google to show the ad to those ONLY in the UK or have been to the UK, as well as any other settings that might show it to a wide audience and we removed all options for Google to make automatic changes to the campaign and budget.

Our ad group has ONE keyword in exact match brackets.

We expected the clicks to mirror those on our specific keyword. However, the number was quite disproportionate. For example, we had 30 clicks, but only 4 on our keyword.

I had a call arranged with a Google Ad advisor to assist with this, but they were unable to help on the call and have not emailed me as promised after an investigation.

I have since paused the ad until I have a better understanding of what's going on.

We've checked our Google search console and Google Analytics, and they are equally showing disproportionate results on paid ads.

Can we achieve these kinds of very specific results? Or at least have results that are somewhat more proportionate?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks all

 

[Fagin2021]

Hey Everyone!

Looking for a bit of advice on a Google Ad campaign I've got running for a B2B software development company. The software is pretty niche and we wanted to target a very specific keyword that has yielded results in the past (2 years or so ago).

We set up the campaign and restricted Google to show the ad to those ONLY in the UK or have been to the UK, as well as any other settings that might show it to a wide audience and we removed all options for Google to make automatic changes to the campaign and budget.

Our ad group has ONE keyword in exact match brackets.

We expected the clicks to mirror those on our specific keyword. However, the number was quite disproportionate. For example, we had 30 clicks, but only 4 on our keyword.

I had a call arranged with a Google Ad advisor to assist with this, but they were unable to help on the call and have not emailed me as promised after an investigation.

I have since paused the ad until I have a better understanding of what's going on.

We've checked our Google search console and Google Analytics, and they are equally showing disproportionate results on paid ads.

Can we achieve these kinds of very specific results? Or at least have results that are somewhat more proportionate?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks all

Hello Emily

Exact Match ain't what it used to be.

It's likely that the other clicks are on search terms that Google calls 'Close Variants'. These are keywords or keyword phrases that Google considers very similar, or with the same intent, as your exact match keyword.

You can (possibly) find out what these close variants are by looking at the Search Terms report in your Google Ads account. If the close variants are terms that you don't want your adverts to show for, then you can bar your Ads from showing by adding the variant as a negative keyword.

However, the Search Terms report won't always show you the search terms that generated clicks if very few people searched on them. In other words, you can be paying for clicks on keyword variants you don't want, but don't know what they are ! Some Ads accounts have reported that up to 70% of clicks came from unknown close variants.

You can't opt out of 'Close Variants' in any type of keyword match type. So you're stuck with it and have to decide whether the Ads produce an acceptable ROI to continue the campaign or not.

I wouldn't put much faith in Google Ad advisers. Their training is focused on helping customers get more traffic (ie. more clicks and more money for Google) than running an efficient campaign.

You are wise to opt out of automatic budget adjustments and recommendations.