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.

      What is your Brand Authority?
      Moz

      What is your Brand Authority?

      Check yours now
    • 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.

      • SEO Q&A

        Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

      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
    9084
    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

      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

        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
        • Hurf
          Hurf last edited by

          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

            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

              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 Reply Quote 1
              • Alick300
                Alick300 last edited by

                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
                • First post
                  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

                • DmitriiK

                  Special Characters in Negative Keywords in Ads

                  Howdy, fellow mozzers, I came across this weird suggestion in my Bing account (screenshot link: https://dmitrii-regexseo.tinytake.com/tt/NDY3OTc5NF8xNDgyMzY4OA) It almost that the dollar sign in the negative keyword is acting like a wildcard character, or being disregarded completely. I did some tests, it seems that in Google Ads that is not happening. Does anyone have an idea if this is normal behavior? I have never seen this before.

                  Paid Search Marketing | | DmitriiK
                  0
                • Fubra

                  PPC: how to get rid of an ad appearing on a keyword we don't want?

                  Hi, Our ad on Google Ads is appearing for a search we don't want. it isn't in our search keywords and when i try and ad it to our negative ones, we get the error " You cannot exclude keywords that are targeted " which i assume means that google thinks we are bidding on it? We have a selection of broad phrase matches so i can only think that this is where it's coming from? Do you have any tips on tracking down which keyword is generating this ad and how we can turn it off? (we don't want to pay for clicks on this search if possible!) Btw - i have turned off each keyword in turn to test it = nothing. have then paused the whole campaign = gets rid of the ad (but this is our most successful campaign so i can't just turn it off). Any advice super super welcome. thank you!

                  Paid Search Marketing | | Fubra
                  1
                • Sorin_T

                  How do you guys deal with product description and titles in PLA for different variation products?

                  Hello guys!
                  I have to say that I have been browsing, reading, learning and so on Moz for a long time now, and when I had a question to ask I was scared of askings so I don't look stupid but since I've asked my first question a few weeks ago and got a really helpful answer that helped me to no longer think like that. Therefore here is my question: What is the best way of writing product description and titles on Google PLA for product variation? Let's say you have a rope for example which come in different diameter and colour. Right... The title yes it should include variation such as Brand Size Model Colour Other Attributes on each individual product title but the question is .. does to description has to be different for each product so that you also include the attributes for the given product variation? I hope someone out there will understand my question and come up with a good answer. Thank you!

                  Paid Search Marketing | | Sorin_T
                  0
                • RCDesign74

                  AdWords & Iframes?

                  We have a client that has syndicated content across a variety of domains. They have no access to the domain/hosting for the site that the content is being syndicated on, but would like to run PPC campaigns to these pages. The page is a header, footer and then the main page content is inside of an iframe, and I was wondering if Google will even allow that to be used as a landing page for a PPC campaign? Thanks!

                  Paid Search Marketing | | RCDesign74
                  0
                • RosemaryB

                  Does having redirects in a Adwords text ad destination URL hurt quality scores?

                  I recently noticed that one of my clients had several redirects in their Adwords text ad destination URLs.  I updated the destination URLS to land on the final location (thereby losing all the text ad history).  However I'm wondering if this could have any impact on the text ad quality scores (none of them were disapproved).

                  Paid Search Marketing | | RosemaryB
                  0
                • Studio33

                  Google Analytics CPC and PPC not Matching

                  Hi Why do our CPC in Google Analytic not match our PPC in Adword, surely they should be identical?  We have Auto-tagging switched on and data in our history is wrong so it is not a timing issue. Thanks

                  Paid Search Marketing | | Studio33
                  0
                • tolik1

                  Keyword tool for Yahoo ads?

                  Hi guys, Anyone knows a good keywords tool for Yahoo Ads and Bing Advertising? - We are interested to see the search volumes for these 2 search engines (all tough they are together now, people still have searching preferences and usualy only use one of them. - We need to see global search volumes as well as geo-specific data (country level) Thanks in advance

                  Paid Search Marketing | | tolik1
                  0
                • europeandomaincentre

                  How accurate is the Google´s keyword tool regarding monthly searches?

                  How correct is Google´s keyword tool regarding the estimated number of Global Monthly Searches? Judging from my adwords campaigns the real number of impressions is 1/3 compared to the estimated number for an exact match. What is your experience?

                  Paid Search Marketing | | europeandomaincentre
                  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
                • 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.