A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions. –Oliver Wendell Holmes

Google Adwords provides a helpful tool to research keyword ideas called the Google Keyword Tool.  The Keyword Tool is designed to generate ideas for keywords or phrases to be used in advertising campaigns.  Within the AdWords interface, Keyword Tool can be found under the “Reporting and Tools” tab, “Keyword Tool”.  It is a simple, yet effective way to develop keyword lists or expand on existing words.

For those who are familiar with the Google Traffic Estimator, the Keyword Tool will be familiar and easy to manipulate.  Keyword ideas can be generated from a single word or phrase, or multiple inputs separated by the return key.  Alternatively, a website URL can be entered into the corresponding field and the Keyword Tool will scour the site to look for keyword ideas.  Ideas can be limited to those which contain the search term(s) by checking the appropriate box.  Further refinement is available via an expandable menu where users can segment by country, language and device.  Filter options include several estimated statistics (searches, CPC, competition, etc.) that can limit the suggestions based on inequalities.  Specific terms can be included or excluded.  Results can be confined to certain Google defined categories and traffic volume estimates can be based on any of three different match types (Broad, Exact, and/or Phrase).  All of these filters can be helpful in customizing the output to meet specific markets or criteria.

Keyword ideas are presented in a robust format that can be customized by the user.  Aside from the actual term, the Keyword Tool displays the global and local (if appropriate) search volume, approximate CPC, Ad and Search share, and a qualitative estimate of competition.  After reviewing the ideas, the user can ‘star’ and/or check certain keywords for download in various formats which can later be used for bulk upload via the AdWords editor, should the user decide to add them to their campaign efforts.

Keyword idea generation can be a challenging and sometimes frustrating endeavor. Using the Google Keyword Tool is one method of alleviating the burden of coming up with new ideas.  We have found the URL based search criteria to be particularly revealing for advertisers who are sometimes surprised by the words already on their site that they were not using in their campaigns.  Sometimes the most obvious improvements are right before our eyes.

To give you some more background, Google offers four different match types to help your paid search ads reach as many qualified Web browsers as possible. Advertisers set the match type that best fits their needs, with the hopes of serving their ads to be to the most qualified traffic possible. The four match types are:

Broad Match: The default setting for all keywords, which serves your ad whenever a user queries the words in your keyword phrase in any order.  This match type also serves ads for keyword synonyms that Adwords deems relevant.  For this reason, the Rise Adwords campaign served an ad for “michael head internet sales” when bidding on “internet advertising company.”

Phrase Match: Triggers Google to serve your paid ad only when a searcher uses the keyword phrase you are targeting in the same order you bid on it within the query. For example, if you are targeting “Internet Marketing,” your ad will appear for “Internet Marketing Specialists,” “Internet Marketing Agency,” etc.

Exact Match: Ensures your ad is only served when a searcher queries the exact keyword phrase you are targeting by itself. For example, if you are targeting “Internet Marketing,” your ad will be displayed only for that exact phrase. However, unlike phrase match, your ad will not be served if the searcher queries “Internet Marketing Agency” or some other variation of the targeted keyword phrase.

Negative Keywords: A list of keywords you do not want Google to serve your ads to when queried. For example, if your sell cruise vacations, a negative keyword may be “Tom,” as you do not want to pay for clicks on Web surfers looking for celebrity news.

For those looking to get the most exposure, broad match type seems to be the best option. However, Rise has encountered numerous situations in which Adwords has served impressions for irrelevant queries that have made many of us wary of using the broad match type.  We like the fact that Adwords will serve an impression if the words in the phrase appear in any order in the query, but do not like that Adwords also takes it upon itself to decide what may be a relevant term or phrase.

Unfortunately, Google doesn’t offer a perfect match type that would help avoid situations like these. Rise would love for Adwords to stop thinking so much on behalf of its advertisers. Ideally, Rise would like a new match type developed that is a compromise between phrase and broad, only serving impressions when any iteration of the keywords in your phrase are present in any order within the query.   However, Adwords would never be allowed to decide if a term may be relevant to the phrase you are bidding on.

Have any of our readers dealt with similar frustrations? Do any of you have other ideas as to how Google can resolve this gap in service?