undefined
Skip to content
Moz logo Menu open Menu close
  • Products
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Pro Home
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Home
    • STAT
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Home
    • Compare SEO Products
    • Moz Data
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis
    • Keyword Explorer
    • Link Explorer
    • Competitive Research
    • MozBar
    • More Free SEO Tools
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
    • SEO Learning Center
    • Moz Academy
    • SEO Q&A
    • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Agency Solutions
    • Enterprise Solutions
    • Small Business Solutions
    • Case Studies
    • The Moz Story
    • New Releases
  • Log in
  • Log out
  • Products
    • Moz Pro

      Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

    • Moz Local

      Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

    • STAT

      SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

    • Moz API

      Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

    • Compare SEO Products

      See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

    • Moz Data

      Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis

      Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

    • Keyword Explorer

      Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

    • Link Explorer

      Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

    • Competitive Research

      Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

    • MozBar

      See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

    • More Free SEO Tools

      Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO

      The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

    • SEO Learning Center

      Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

    • On-Demand Webinars

      Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

    • How-To Guides

      Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

    • Moz Academy

      Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

    • MozCon

      Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
    Moz API

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

    Find your plan
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Small Business Solutions

      Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

    • Agency Solutions

      Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

    • Enterprise Solutions

      Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

    • The Moz Story

      Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

    • Case Studies

      Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

    • New Releases

      Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

    Surface actionable competitive intel
    New Feature

    Surface actionable competitive intel

    Learn More
  • Log in
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Dashboard
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Dashboard
    • Moz Academy
  • Avatar
    • Moz Home
    • Notifications
    • Account & Billing
    • Manage Users
    • Community Profile
    • My Q&A
    • My Videos
    • Log Out

The Moz Q&A Forum

  • Forum
  • Questions
  • Users
  • Ask the Community

Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

  1. Home
  2. Digital Marketing
  3. Paid Search Marketing
  4. Adwords Duplicate Keywords with Different Match Types - Good or Bad?

Moz Q&A is closed.

After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

Adwords Duplicate Keywords with Different Match Types - Good or Bad?

Paid Search Marketing
4
6
9.1k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as question
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
  • JCCMoz
    JCCMoz last edited by Jan 23, 2017, 3:41 PM

    If you have the following keywords in an Ad Group advertising for a product, let's for example call it "target" product

    [target product]

    "target product"

    +target +product

    I've found that the exact match keyword has the highest conversion rate in almost all circumstances.  So it would make sense to have a higher max bid on the exact match then phrase or broad batch.  Even with lots of negative search terms to maximize conversion on the broader matches, if the bid is the same as exact match, the cost per conversion will be much higher (too high.)

    However in chatting with an Adwords Support Rep (on a different matter) they stated after looking through my account at the end of the chat:

    " duplicate keywords will impact on quality score. your all keywords will compete with each other"

    However many of the ad groups in question these duplicate keywords have quality score of 9 and 10.  So obviously if there is an effect it seems it may be minimal.

    I thought it was pretty common for people to bid higher on more exact match and lower on more broad match.  What's the real story here?  Was this support rep not seeing the big picture?

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
    • SEO1805
      SEO1805 last edited by May 22, 2018, 1:24 PM May 22, 2018, 1:24 PM

      Do different match types really "compete against each other"  I would think not.  Are you really saying if theres:  [some keyword] and +some +keyword  that Adwords won't only send the closest match type to the auction and ignore others, or, if the bid for [some keyword] is $1.00 and for +some +keyword is $10.00 then you are effectively bidding $10.00 on some keyword.  However this is rare someone would make the broad match bid higher than a closer match type, so in reality I don't see a realistic scenario where a broad match is "competing" against an exact match  to effectively raise the CPC.    If the broad match bid was $0.99 and the exact match was $1.00 the exact match still goes to the auction with $1.00 max CPC.  You only send one keyword to the auction correct?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • topic:timeago_earlier,about a year
      • Hurf
        Hurf last edited by Jan 31, 2017, 6:33 AM Jan 31, 2017, 6:33 AM

        My apologies if I haven't presented this clearly. However, I'm not seeing anything contradictory here:

        "If  same keywords are used in different match types then they are not considered as duplicate keywords."

        Vs

        "As Alick300 has mentioned, keywords with different match types are not considered duplicates"

        As a matter of course, it would be a good exercise to run your campaign through Adwords Editor to check for duplicate keywords (as referenced above), in case any have slipped through the net.

        Good luck with your campaign!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • JCCMoz
          JCCMoz @Hurf last edited by Jan 30, 2017, 11:35 PM Jan 30, 2017, 11:35 PM

          This contradicts what the previous poster before you posted which I believe is more accurate.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • Hurf
            Hurf last edited by Jan 29, 2017, 10:30 PM Jan 29, 2017, 10:29 PM

            If you are concerned about duplicate keywords, download the Adwords Editor and follow Google's guidelines on identifying and removing them, here: https://support.google.com/adwords/editor/answer/47633

            QS aside, my concern with duplicate keywords would be the cost implication as you'll end up bidding against yourself in the auction. As Alick300 has mentioned, keywords with different match types are not considered duplicates. Be aware that broad match keywords with the same words in different order, etc would be considered duplicates.

            I hope that helps you.

            JCCMoz 1 Reply Last reply Jan 30, 2017, 11:35 PM Reply Quote 1
            • Alick300
              Alick300 last edited by Jan 30, 2017, 11:35 PM Jan 24, 2017, 4:40 AM

              Hi,

              You are on right track. If  same keywords are used in different match types then they are not considered as duplicate keywords. Just remember the keyword with the highest AdRank enters the general auction for placement.

              Generally the advertisers tend to follow different strategies and stick with the one, which gives them higher Conversions, high Return on Investment (ROI) etc...

              1. Launch different match type keywords within a single ad group and go with the ones, which gives you better results.

              2. Launch different match type keywords in different ad groups OR different campaigns and then add embedded negative match type keywords to streamline the traffic. Now, once you accrue data, you can pause the match types which are not proving worth for you and optimize the rest of the keywords.

              Bid higher on_ exact_, lower on phrase and the lowest on broad.

              Using this strategy, when all match types could be matched to a query,  the most restrictive  type wins, your   ad-rank will be higher, and as a result, your  chances to win a higher position  (in the  auction) are higher.

              Hope this helps

              Thanks

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
              • 1 / 1
              1 out of 6
              • First post
                1/6
                Last post

              Got a burning SEO question?

              Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


              Start my free trial


              Browse Questions

              Explore more categories

              • Moz Tools

                Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

              • SEO Tactics

                Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

              • Community

                Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

              • Digital Marketing

                Chat about tactics outside of SEO

              • Research & Trends

                Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

              • Support

                Connect on product support and feature requests.

              • See all categories

              Related Questions

              • Vallerinspects

                Keyword & negative keyword overlap

                negitive keywords google paid ads

                So I just read your blog on quality score and after reading the negative keyword section I'm a little confused and I need clarification. In that paragraph you mentioned about not overlapping your negative keywords with your active keywords and you used an example of dog food and dog bed. So my question is, if you put the word dog bed into the negative keyword list isn't the word dog the over lap word? Would you ad not show because the word dog is in the active keyword list?

                Paid Search Marketing | Aug 31, 2024, 5:44 AM | Vallerinspects
                0
              • Alex_Pisa

                "Duplicate without user-selected canonical” - impact to Google Ads costs

                google ads canonical

                Hello, we are facing some issues on our project and we would like to get some advice. Scenario
                We run several websites (www.brandName.com, www.brandName.be, www.brandName.ch, etc..) all in French language . All sites have nearly the same content & structure, only minor text (some headings and phone numbers due to different countries are different). There are many good quality pages, but again they are the same over all domains. Current solution
                Currently we don’t use canonicals, instead we use rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default": <link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-BE" href="https://www.brandName.be/" /> <link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-CA" href="https://www.brandName.ca/" /> <link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-CH" href="https://www.brandName.ch/" /> <link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-FR" href="https://www.brandName.fr/" /> <link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-LU" href="https://www.brandName.lu/" /> <link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://www.brandName.com/" /> Naturally this si reflected in ""Duplicate without user-selected canonical” . Issue
                We create the same ad in Google Ads for 2 domains. So the content is mostly identical, ads are identical, target URLs differ only in domain. Yet Google Ads “Quality score” is different (10/10 vs. 6/10) and “Landing page experience” is very different (Above average vs. Average). Some members of our team think lower “Landing page experience” increases the Google Ads costs, which I personally don't believe, but I want to double check. Question: Can “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” issue decrease the “Landing page experience” rating and as result can it cause higher Google ads costs? Any suggestions/ideas appreciated, thanks. Regards.

                Paid Search Marketing | Nov 16, 2021, 5:02 PM | Alex_Pisa
                0
              • singhmahendra

                How to Find Competitor PPC Keywords ?

                Can anyone suggest best way to find all PPC keywords of a competitor. Any tool recommendation ?

                Paid Search Marketing | Sep 1, 2016, 3:18 AM | singhmahendra
                0
              • Instabill

                AdWords Sitelinks Disapproved

                Hello,
                I cannot find a justifiable reason as to why Google AdWords has disapproved my sitelinks. 1. My link text is descriptive of each page. For instance, I use the link text "Merchant Accounts" for the URL http://www.instabill.com/services/merchant-accounts/ 2. I have four extensions within one campaign. Each have 5 sitelinks with all the same link text and destination URLs. However, only two of the "Merchant Accounts" sitelinks were disapproved from two out of the four extensions. Two "High Risk Accounts" linking to our High Risk Merchant Accounts page were disapproved out of my four extensions, one "Industries We Serve" to our eCommerce Industries page was disapproved, and one "Offshore Accounts to our Offshore Merchant Accounts page was disapproved. Why are some disapproved and not all? 3. I use Daddy Analytics to generate my destination URLs for tracking purposes, but I do not see this as being an issue since the URL still begins with the URL in bullet point 1. After reading a few threads within the AdWords community and reading the AdWords Sitelinks Guidelines, I feel as if I have followed the guidelines. Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

                Paid Search Marketing | Aug 19, 2013, 10:25 AM | Instabill
                0
              • Instabill

                How Can I Target Certain Countries in Google AdWords without Excluding Other Countries?

                So, here is the situation: Our company works with merchants worldwide (with the exception of those who live in excluded high-risk countries--mostly in Africa), but most of our Google AdWords leads come from Indian merchants. My CEO wants our campaigns to convert leads from other countries (i.e., the UK, Germany, US, Canada, Australia, etc.), but I have no idea how to do that without excluding India. However, my CEO does not want to exclude India from our AdWords campaigns as the leads are profitable. We simply want more diversity with out leads in terms of geographic location. I am sure there are resources on the Web about how to do this, but I am not an Adwords expert and am unsure of what phrases to search to find the answers. Direct advice or helpful links are much appreciated. Regards,
                Meghan

                Paid Search Marketing | Jun 12, 2013, 6:41 PM | Instabill
                0
              • digitalarts

                Adwords Bulk Discount

                Had a few calls recently from agencies offering bulk discount on Google Adwords spends if we pass management over to them and spend more than £5,000 ($7,500) a month, they claim they can offer a 5% discount over what we're currently paying... Can't find anything about this, does Google offer such a deal to agencies?

                Paid Search Marketing | May 30, 2012, 2:39 AM | digitalarts
                0
              • eli-hgm

                Does anyone know of an excel template for creating keyword combinations?

                I am looking for an Excel template with Macros that would allow me to drop a column of keywords next to a column of modifiers and it would build out thousands of keywords with a Macro. Can anyone drop their best SEO/SEM Excel template spreadsheet links in the comments?

                Paid Search Marketing | Jan 29, 2012, 8:23 PM | eli-hgm
                0
              • digitalarts

                Adwords budget for different days of the week

                We operate a Google Adwords campaign that clearly performs better conversion wise on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays ... What is the best way to stack a higher daily budget on specifc days in Adwords - There doesn't appear to be any formal way of doing this and the advice online is mixed...

                Paid Search Marketing | Mar 11, 2011, 11:56 PM | digitalarts
                0

              Get started with Moz Pro!

              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

              Start my free trial
              Products
              • Moz Pro
              • Moz Local
              • Moz API
              • Moz Data
              • STAT
              • Product Updates
              Moz Solutions
              • SMB Solutions
              • Agency Solutions
              • Enterprise Solutions
              Free SEO Tools
              • Domain Authority Checker
              • Link Explorer
              • Keyword Explorer
              • Competitive Research
              • Brand Authority Checker
              • Local Citation Checker
              • MozBar Extension
              • MozCast
              Resources
              • Blog
              • SEO Learning Center
              • Help Hub
              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
              • How-to Guides
              • Moz Academy
              • API Docs
              About Moz
              • About
              • Team
              • Careers
              • Contact
              Why Moz
              • Case Studies
              • Testimonials
              Get Involved
              • Become an Affiliate
              • MozCon
              • Webinars
              • Practical Marketer Series
              • MozPod
              Connect with us

              Contact the Help team

              Join our newsletter
              Moz logo
              © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
              • Accessibility
              • Terms of Use
              • Privacy

              Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.