• Search Engine Guide, Tuesday, October 16, 2007 2:15 PM

Editor Jennifer Laycock piggybacks on a post by Mike Churchil from SEO ClubHouse -- shedding some light on why AdWords campaign managers may have noticed some strange queries showing up in their reports over the past few months.

The problem: Google's AdWords Broad Match system. According to some marketers, the system that combines the queries from two consecutive searches (and serves up a PPC ad that is "sort of" tied to both) can end up costing advertisers money. For example, if a user searches for "picture frames" and then for "HDTV" afterward, a slew of "digital picture frame" ads shows up on the righthand side of the screen.

Laycock includes screenshots of a similar pattern for the terms "play kitchen" and "toy truck," noting that while the system might work for queries that are somewhat similar, it's not foolproof or even desirable for some advertisers. She includes a link to Churchill's piece, which includes commentary from actual Googlers familiar with the system and how it's supposed to work.

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