PPC question for the experts

[MattAntonino]

I know this is paid search but since Moz had a section for it, I thought it would be ok to ask.

According to: http://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2497836?hl=en

Broad match modifier

+tennis +shoes

Ads may show on searches for

tennis shoes
buy tennis shoes
best shoes for tennis

Ads won't show on searches for

running shoes
tennis sneakers

I'm using (for a client) +wedding +photographer.  It should show on

1. wedding photographer

2. hire a wedding photographer

3. best wedding photographer in dallas

It should not show on

1. photographer in Dallas

2. become a photographer

3. dallas pictures

But it is.  Why would this happen?  Isn't that exactly what it says it won't show up on?

Also, Google writes:

Don't leave space between the plus sign (+) prefix and the word you're modifying!

•Correct: +leather +shoes
•Incorrect: + leather + shoes
•Incorrect: +leather+shoes

Yet the client was told by Google the opposite.  "I spoke with Google and they confirmed that the space after the plus and before wedding (“+ wedding”) would notrequire “wedding” to show up." How on Earth does this reconcile or make ANY sense?

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ETA:  This is fairly clear to me:

Be sure there are no spaces between the + and modified words, but do leave spaces between words. The right way to do it: +formal +shoes. The wrong way to do it: +formal+shoes.

http://www.google.com/ads/innovations/bmm.html

[TommyTan]

Do you have negative keywords on keywords you don't want to show.  Negative keywords play a big role in what keywords the ad should show up for.

[MattAntonino]

Yes, we  have a full selection of negative keywords but the issue is whether it should be

+wedding +photographer

as it says on their website

or

+wedding+photographer

as the Google rep told my client, who I'm sure by now thinks I'm a confused fool costing him money.

[TommyTan]

Hi Matt,

The correct way to do it is leave space between each keyword.

+wedding +photographer.

This article via Google Ads should answer your question: http://www.google.com/ads/innovations/bmm.html

[TommyTan]

I just read your question again and noticed that you also included the article in your question.  Sorry about that

[CMC-SD]

When an AdWords support rep says something that contradicts the AdWords Help documentation, it's hard to know what to believe. I usually point the contradiction out to the AdWords rep, and they will sometimes do more research to verify for me.

This sounds like expanded broad match to me: http://www.wordstream.com/expanded-broad-match

[Branden_S]

The correct keyword is +wedding +photographer.  No space between + and keyword.   acquisio has a great broad modified keyword generator tool.   Just paste your list of keywords into a box, and it will export a list with a + before each keyword.