Microsoft Advertising has announced it will soon begin to allow "phrase match will begin to incorporate behaviors of broad match modifier." This is a similar move Google did back in February and Microsoft is saying the reason is to "simplify keywords and improve your relevancy when reaching customers."
Microsoft even called out Google for doing this in its blog post saying "this is the same change as what Google Ads announced back in February of this year, so you don’t have to worry about any difference in behavior between the two platforms."
Microsoft said this is rolling out "over the next few weeks" in the North American markets, specifically in the United States and Canada.
The new phrase match will show ads on searches that include the meaning of your keyword, such as matching the query "winter vacation in Miami" to the keyword "Miami vacation." The new match type will also respect keyword order when it's important—for example, it won't match "milk chocolate" to the keyword "chocolate milk."
In August 2021, you wont be able to create new broad match modifier (BMM) keywords. Your existing BMM keywords will continue to serve under the new phrase match behavior, the company said. Since your BMM keywords will continue to work under the new phrase matching behavior, you’ll still be able to keep all your history, and no immediate action is required, the company added.
Microsoft has a lot more detail in its announcement.
I can say, when Google Ads made this change, the PPC community was NOT happy. I am curious how the PPC community will react to this, and will continue to embed reactions below as it comes in:
Also, not as big a deal as the change to Google Ads as long as we can still see queries on MSFT
— Greg Finn (@gregfinn) May 5, 2021
It's just Google parity, which is a good thing. While advertisers may lament the loss of a match type, it's good that MS Ads has made the change so we can continue to easily import our Google Ads campaigns to MS Ads without having to edit match types. #ppcchat
— Melissa L Mackey (@beyondthepaid) May 5, 2021
It is disappointing to see Microsoft Ads do this. I understand why, they need to keep porting from Google Ads to them as easy as possible. But, this was a bad for advertisers move when Google did it and it is now with Microsoft Ads doing it. #ppcchat
— Julie F Bacchini (@NeptuneMoon) May 5, 2021
As a counterpoint - in general I feel like this is a net positive for advertisers and self-run accounts.
— Doug R Thomas, Esq. (@ferkungamaboobo) May 5, 2021
Ad pro's have been beating the drum that people overused broad match.
I wonder if this will help folks use phrase match because it doesn't force you to use every variation?
Forum discussion at Twitter.
