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Broad-Match Blunder
Is it a bug? A test? Nobody knows. But a major Google ad campaign setting has changed — and experts say not for the better.
by Tod Maffin
“Outrageous.” “Awful. “Horrible.” “A terrible precedent.”
That’s just some of the reaction to a change to Google’s ads platform — the platform is flipping keywords to Broad Match, essentially kneecapping any specific phrase- or exact-match keywords you had set up.
This appears to be happening when moving from a non-conversion bidding strategy to a conversion strategy.
What happened?
Navah Hopkins, Evangelist at Optmyzr posted this screenshot to LinkedIn:
If you’re on mobile and can’t read that, it says: “To use broad match keywords, switch to a conversion or conversion value based bidding strategy.”
“I don't know if this is a new development, a bug, or something folks just haven't noticed,” she wrote. “But make sure you confirm your keywords are as you intend if and when you change your bidding strategy.”
I'm usually pretty balanced when it comes to Google “choices” but this is a pretty horrible one.
Negative reaction from ad buyers
Reaction on LinkedIn was equally negative.
Jyll Saskin Gales weighs in
We asked our Google Ads correspondent Jyll Saskin Gales for her thoughts on the change:
No surprise. There's a reason you need to uncheck the box for Search partners, for Display network, for Optimized targeting, and deselect the Broad Match keywords setting.
However, automatically changing a setting for you, without notifying you, when you make a seemingly unrelated change?
Automatically turning on the Broad Match keywords setting in a Search campaign when you switch from manual to Smart Bidding?
I can't think of a single other instance in Google Ads where this happens, and frankly, it's a terrible precedent.
We asked Google’s ads liaison for comment, but did not hear back by deadline.
🎯 How It Affects You
Google’s ad platform can be a little aggressive in forcing you to do it “its way.” Make sure you double- and triple-check everything after you’ve done a campaign setup to make sure that Google’s system hasn’t reset or changed anything along the way.
“Check your change history regularly, and use scripts or third-party tools that can notify you of unexpected performance swings in your account.” — Jyll Saskin Gales
The Top Three 🥉
The industry’s most important stories today.
🥇 META CRASHES HARD
It wasn’t just you. The entire Meta ad platform (along with the consumer apps Instagram, Facebook, and Threads) went down today. more
Reports say Meta’s internal communications tools were also down, and ad reps had to resort to texting each other to communicate.
🤣 Meta was forced to announce the outage on X. lol
🥈 THREADS API GETS A GLOW-UP
Meta's Threads API now supports replying, reposting, and quoting public posts or replies directly from third-party tools via keyword or mention search. Analytics updates now include share metrics—tracking posts shared outside the app—alongside existing metrics like views, likes, replies, reposts, and quotes. more
🛠️ It’s on developers to integrate the new features into their third-party publishing tools, so availability depends on the tool you're using.
🥉 AI IS COMING TO WORDPRESS
WordPress’s parent company has acquired WPAI, a startup that develops AI tools for WordPress. Presumably, its products CodeWP and AgentWP, will now be integrated into WordPress. more
CodeWP helps developers generate optimized code
AgentWP is an AI agent that can make design changes.
Today’s Other News ☑︎
Everything else that matters.
Case Study 📚
It’s National Breakup Day, and Kleenex has partnered with Amazon to launch a new promo “KleenEx, The Break Up Calculator”, a tool that tells consumers when they’ll get over their ex. Consumers can visit KleenexBreakup.com to share breakup details and get a timeline, product recommendations, and Amazon “ex-tras” like song and movie suggestions to help them move on. more
No views? No problem: Instagram is working on a new option that would let brands and creators hide view counts in their Reels tab. Although it’s not live yet, it would let users to turn off the view count display on the bottom left of Reels thumbnails. more
Threads is also testing a hide option which would let users hide replies entirely, meaning that only “Threads” and “Reposts” would be visible on their profile. more
A big no-no: The EU is digging deeper into Google and Meta’s secret ad campaign that allegedly targeted Instagram ads at minors on YouTube. While no formal investigation has been launched, regulators are seeking more info after Google reportedly bypassed its ban on ads for minors, advising Meta to target an "unknown" group with under-18s. more
It's giving Elon Musk vibes: Billionaire Frank McCourt wants to buy TikTok and create a decentralized version of the app where users control their data. He’s secured $20 billion in informal commitments but hasn’t talked with ByteDance yet. more
🤦♂️ BUT… He did host a dinner with more than a dozen TikTok creators to pitch his proposal to buy the app. Sooooo…….
Commerce 🛒
Enjoy your work? Let buyers know! A study found that customers are willing to pay more for products from sellers who enjoy creating them. more
With a potential U.S. ban looming, TikTok is ramping up e-commerce efforts to push more sales in Europe, starting with TikTok Shop in Spain. Spanish retailers can now host live shopping streams, while also getting access to product showcase features, affiliate programs, shop ads, and more. more
Google is testing new features in Search and Shopping, which lets consumers track prices, save, and share products. Clicking "Track price" triggers push notifications and emails for price drops. The share button links to social media, while the save button adds items to saved results. more
Search & SEO 🔎
Google released its top trending searches from 2024.
"U.S. Election" topped news searches globally.
"Inside Out 2" led movie trends.
"Usher" was the top U.S. musician (he did the halftime show, cause let's be real, why else would anyone Google Usher in 2024?).
Google has added several new hour categories for business listings, including:
Brunch
Happy hours
Sabbath
Senior hours
Video & Streaming 📺
YouTube is expanding its auto-dubbing feature, which will let brands and creators share content in multiple languages with audio translations of their content. more
⚠️ Keep in mind these translations won’t always be accurate.
YouTube dominates living room viewing, with consumers now streaming 1 billion hours of content daily on TV screens. more
Nearly two-thirds of sports content viewership is projected to come via streaming in 2025, but repetitive ads are holding viewers hostage as streaming platforms struggle with ad frequency capping. Experts weigh in about what could solve the problem. more
Tech Updates 📝
🫠 Big L for Mullenweg: Yesterday, a California District Court judge ruled that Automattic must stop blocking WP Engine's access to WordPress resources and interfering with its plugins. more
Meanwhile, Automattic’s CEO (and co-founder of Wordpress) Matt Mullenweg today threatened to leave the whole thing: “It's hard to imagine wanting to continue to working on WordPress after this.” more Is this what techbros look like when they take their toys and go home?
Google Docs is rolling out 40 new templates, including blog posts, project roadmaps, and interview guides. The templates feature preset layouts, tabs for organization, and placeholder chips that let others know the info they need to fill in. Full rollout could take up to 15 days. more
Marketing Tool of the Day 🔨
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Create an unlimited number of campaigns with no cap on your ad spend
Choose from campaign structures like single keyword ad groups, thematic ad groups, and paired keywords
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Today’s Trivia Question 🧠
Tap your guess and you could win!
What was the most searched visitor attraction in the U.S. on Google Maps in 2024? |
🎁 Everyone who guesses will be entered in our monthly draw for a full year of our Premium Newsletter free! Congratulations to Beth B. who won this months’s draw!
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