Google Adwords Automatic Matching

May 19, 2008

Anyone have heard about this new feature that Google will go live (beta) on May 20th? So What is Automatic Matching feature:

Automatic Matching automatically extends your campaign’s reach by using surplus budget to serve your ads on relevant search queries that are not already triggered by your keyword lists. By analyzing the structure and content of your website and AdWords campaigns, we deliver more impressions and clicks while maintaining your current CTRs and CPCs.

For example, If you sold Adidas shoes on your website, Automatic Matching would automatically crawl your landing page and target your campaigns to queries such as: “shoes” “adidas” “athletic”, etc., and less obvious ones such as “slippers” that our system has determined will benefit you and likely lead to a conversion on your site.

Be assured that automatic matching will try to never exceed your budget. If you’re already meeting your daily budgets, automatic matching will have a minimal effect on your account.

So this is a new feature that Google will apply as a beta version. The participants are limited and they have already received an email similar to this. So let’s see what are the Pro’s and Con’s:

Con’s

Broad match feature of Adwords is bad enough and it seems that this will give you some “less” targetted traffic.
Some Webmasters already ranting this feature: This looks like a great way for Google to make more money…if I am advertising on ‘adidas shoes’ why the hell would I want somebody to hit my nicely crafted adidas shoes landing page if they are looking for ’slippers’?
It may be turned on AUTOMATICALLY. So take care about this, sometimes I put $100,000 on a single campaign why? Someone in a forum explained very well: ” The thing I find disturbing is the fact that they will keep expanding your keywords until they have exhausted your set budget. Many have their budgets set way higher than they could afford, because they have found that otherwise google will not constantly show your ads. I don’t know if they have since fixed this. But I think that stock prices would double on the day they ever maxed out my set budget. “.

Pro’s

The only one thing that I really found this tool that will be usefull is for Keyword research, if you are paying all those keyword research tools forget it and use this automatic feature and then check your logs and you will find Millions of keywords that Google “thinks” it will be relevant to your niche/product. Another way to make a keyword research? or may be finding profitable keywords?

Here is what Adwords Advisor (A Worker inside Google) have to say:

I often take a quick glance at WebmasterWorld and a couple of other forums at least once over the weeked - I can’t seem to stop myself, actually.

I almost never post on the weekends, however - with today being the exception that proves the rule. I felt I had to jump in briefly to say that the headline of this thread and text of the post quoted above are simply not correct. Rumors that take on a life of their own trouble me, actually, and I don’t want to see that happen here.

What is happening: Automatic Matching has been in beta for some time as regular readers of this forum will know - and starting on May 20th the beta will be expanded somewhat. Even with the expansion of the beta, the number of advertisers who will see this beta option in their account is truly tiny.

Again, to be very clear Automatic Matching goes not go live 5/20.

I’ll gather some more details when I get back to work on Monday, and post again.

AWA

and also posted some points:

Please be aware that this is a limited beta test, available as an option to a small number of advertisers.
Future plans for the feature will certainly be influenced by feedback from folks who participate in the beta. So if you are one of those invited, who then choose to participate in the beta, please be sure to comment early and often.
Advertisers offered a spot in the beta may certainly turn off the feature if they wish.
This feature is not intended to ‘exhaust the budget’ - rather it is only meant to deliver additional traffic where performance metrics such as CTRs and CPCs stack up well against the adgroups current CTR and CPC. If there is no additional relevant traffic to direct to the advertisers campaigns, automatic matching will not spend additional money.
The queries will appear in Search Query reports.

And here are my questions:

Where is Google the relevant? Where You put a quality score system and applying this “Automatic Matching” will see many irrelevant ads.
More competitors = Higher Minimum Bids? Now it seems that we have to compete with irrelevant ads.

So what do you think about this new Google Adwords Feature?