Google Search Ads Big Move: Broad Match with Smart Bidding

If you’ve been paying attention to Google’s latest moves, you’ve probably noticed a shift in its search advertising. Specifically, it’s now putting a stronger emphasis on broad match keywords with smart bidding. 

This is a move towards more automation. If you’re a Singaporean business owner or marketer, you should know that this affects many parts of your ad campaign strategy. 

Among other things, it changes the way you do budget allocation and handle ROI. It may also mean increased reach but a higher demand for nuanced control and monitoring. 

What’s changing in the update?

The key update here is in Google’s choice to focus on broad match keywords being paired with smart bidding to better grasp user intent.

Google itself states: 

Broad match keywords pair particularly well with Smart Bidding strategies, including Maximize conversions, Maximize conversion value, Target CPA, and Target ROAS. Smart Bidding uses Google’s AI to optimize for conversions or conversion value in each and every auction—a feature known as “auction-time bidding”.

This means the system can now analyse an even wider range of signals than before to determine ad relevance to search.

Smart bidding also optimises for conversions in real time. To do this, it processes vast amounts of data. Then it uses that data to adjust the bids for individual auctions to increase the chances of achieving a specific outcome. 

Simply put, what marketers had to do manually before, smart bidding can handle now. It automates the complex bidding strategies of yesteryear.

Why this update?

The main goal of this update is to enhance efficiency via automation. 

With this update, Google is essentially leveraging AI to drive better performance for lower effort. The system learns and adapts quickly to data too, so the rules it plays by aren’t static.

It’s basically a supercharged method of improving ad relevance and results.

The impact on your campaigns

There are many possible outcomes for this update. Among other things, it may well lead to better reach but also less control. 

Broader keyword matching opens up the possibility for ads to appear for a wider range of searches and ever more impressions. However, an obvious concern marketers may have here is that of precision. 

Precise targeting has long been a marketing strategy, after all. Thus there’s a question about whether or not the broader reach will translate to relevant clicks and conversions instead of wasted ad spend.

Then there are questions about budget efficiency. Smart bidding aims to improve that by automatically adjusting bids to match goals. 

However, it’s still necessary to monitor that to ensure the increased reach actually translates into good things for your bottom line.

Early reports on success rates for this vary. Google claims it’s gained some advertisers ~25% more conversions in Target CPA campaigns. A Brainlabs study identified a 37% increase in CPA to go with it. 

Marketers have been split on it too since Google first started pushing the idea a year ago. Even analysing sentiment or polls like this on PPC forums shows quite a bit of uncertainty. 

Ultimately, the question may be about how to manage the potential reach-for-cost tradeoff. Even closer monitoring than before is also highly recommended.

How to adapt your strategy for this update

There may be several strategic adjustments for a smart marketer to make here.

Use conversion tracking	We already mentioned the necessity of monitoring and data. Smart bidding needs accurate data to do its work properly, after all.
Refine audience signals	Leverage first-party data, customer match, and audience segmentation to provide the system with the right context for its work. It can only do its job when it understands your target audience.
Keep an eye on the search terms report	This is part of the monitoring strategy. You have to see how broad match is interpreting user intent. From there, you can find and add negative keywords to avoid irrelevant clicks.
Test and optimise your campaigns	A/B test with and without broad match and smart bidding so you can see what actually works best for your business. Don’t be afraid to adjust based on the results.

SMEs in this new AI-dominated ad landscape

If you’re an SME, you may find this evolving landscape a little challenging. You need to be strategic with a limited budget, as we’ve touched on in our previous piece on ROAS. Yet one of the possible downsides of this update may be a potential for increased ad cost.

While larger companies can benefit from the rapid testing and learning capabilities of Google’s AI, SMEs should focus on fundamental best practices. Apply the signals, tracking, and negative keywords best practices in your campaign planning.

Don’t rely solely on broad match either. Consider focusing on phrase match keywords. 

As we also discussed in our guide for SMEs digital ad spending, budget planning is critical for you. So, don’t focus only on final conversion goals like purchases or leads. 

Identify pre-conversion steps like white paper downloads or sign-ups. These are lower-cost actions and can also provide valuable data to the system.

Retain the traditional mindset of strong keyword research and understanding consumer behaviour. It’s foundational knowledge that will help you select the right campaigns and target the right audience.

Get help developing your Google ad search strategy

Ultimately, the shift towards broad match with smart bidding is a significant change in Google’s ad ecosystem. To be competitive, marketers need a proactive approach. They need continuous monitoring, testing, and optimisation. 

They also need to stay informed and adaptable, because more changes may still be on the horizon. This may just be the beginning of AI-led optimisation and advertising for the search and ad giant we all work with. 

In any case, this piece should have provided you with some useful insights on how to handle this change in Google ads. If you think that your business needs more help with it, however, don’t be afraid to reach out to us. 

We’ve managed hundreds of Google search ad campaigns and can help you figure out the best strategy for your brand. Simply contact us here at ROMI and we’ll give you a no-obligations discussion about what you may need.