Updates to Query Matching

Towards the end of June, Google made some changes to how keyword match types work on their Ads platform. Here’s everything you need to know.

As part of their approach to streamlining the Ads platform, Google have announced several updates, to be rolled out over the coming months, which will modify how search queries are matched and expand upon how advertisers can control brand-related traffic.

One of the most useful updates aggregates misspelt search queries with the correctly spelled versions in search term reports. Google claim that this will reveal an average of 9% more search terms previously hidden under the “Other” category. A feature that will benefit many advertisers looking for insights into how potential customers arrive on their site.

There have also been updates to negative keyword functionality. Google Ads will now automatically block misspellings of words that are added as negative keywords. This is a feature that has long been in place for ‘close variants’ of search keywords, and will soon save time and wasted ad spend with its introduction for negative keywords.

Finally, Google will be allowing for greater control of branded keywords and traffic with the introduction of ‘Brand Inclusions’, allowing users to limit their ads to queries related to specified brand names, and the expansion of ‘Brand Exclusions’ to Search campaigns, ensuring Search ads cannot be matched to queries related to specified brand names, a feature previously only available for Performance Max.

Keep an eye out for these changes coming to the Ads platform over the next few months!