There are some vital ways that your paid ads need to be structured if they’re going to perform. Let’s talk about the keyboard broadness spectrum.

If you’re a limo operator and running Bing or Google campaigns—any kind of paid ad campaigns—then this article is for you. I got a question in the Limo Marketer Mastermind FB Group (if you’re not a member, go here to join). 

The question was about a keyword like [chauffeur JFK airport]. This was the keyword being used. Notice the brackets around. This is an exact match keyword. Essentially what you’re telling Google is that whenever someone searches that exact phrase, show my ad. That’s fundamentally how paid search ads work. 

Paid Ads
KEYWORDS	+	ADS
User types in the keyword	=	Your ad is displayed

This structure is called an ad group. It’s just keywords and ads. 

Note: I’ve noticed a lot of people get confused between keywords and search queries. I’ll go more in-depth in that at another time.

A keyword is a word or group of words. For example: “limo JFK airport.” That’s called a keyword (even though it’s multiple words). A keyword’s only job is to match up someone’s search with your ad.

People can type in keywords on their:

• Mobile devices
• Tablet
• Through an app
• On a desktop computer

That keyword gets activated, or triggered, and shows one of the ads that are in the same ad group. This is why having ad groups is so important. You want to match your ad groups with what people are actually searching for.

To refine your ad strategy, you need to understand the keyword broadness spectrum.

Keyword Broadness Spectrum

When Google was created, developers understood that they needed different kinds of keywords to match up with different kinds of search queries. This is complex. Consider these stats:

1. There are 3.5 billion Google searches a day.
2. Every single day, different Google searches are trending.
3. As many as 15% of Google searches have never happened before.

This last statistic is important to limo marketer’s ad strategy and your implementation of effective ads. That means, of the trillions of searches, the combination of words that people are using still generates that many novel searches all of the time. 

This stat is due to a number of factors. Think about the increased popularity of things like voice search: these are entire phrases that people are speaking into their phones to search for things. Google knew they needed to create a system where those kinds of searches would still yield accurate results.

Let’s look at our example: [limo JFK airport]. That exact keyword/phrase would have to be typed into the search bar: nothing before it, nothing after it, nothing different. If this was the only system (exact match), Google would have to create an infinite number of variations and possibilities. So, they created the keyword broadness spectrum.

The KW broadness spectrum goes from most specific to least specific.

Categories of Keywords for a Google Ad Campaign

There are four keyword categories:

Exact Match: [keyword]

Exact match keywords only serve ads that precisely (exactly) match the keyword you input. If you have a Google ads account, go into it right now. Click on where it says “keywords” on the left side. If you don’t see a “+” or brackets, you’re using exact match keywords.

Here’s how they work. Someone searches for [red shoes]. That means, someone will have to type in “red shoes” exactly for that to work. If someone searches “best red shoes,” the ad configured with [red shoes] will not get shown.

Phrase Match: “keyword”

Phrase match means that the phrase has to match the search query. If your keyword was “red shoes” and someone typed in “best red shoes,” you would get shown. However, if someone typed in “red high heel shoes,” this keyword would not be triggered.

These first two categories are simple and fairly exact. The next two categories were developed to account for significantly more probabilities and give users a more accurate match for each search, however unpredictable their wording may be.

Broad Match Modified: +keyword

Broad match modified would look like this +red+shoes. That means that those two keywords must be somewhere in the search criteria. This opens up a whole new world. If someone searched for “shoes in red for cheap,” it would still trigger the keyword. If someone searched for “best high heel shoes,” the keyword would still be shown. However, if someone searched for “blue shoes,” the ad would not be shown. The “+” words must be in the search query.

Broad Match: keyword

Limo Marketer never uses these. Broad match allows for the widest net. Broad match is like a “category search.” In this instance, if someone searched for “blue shoes,” the ad would still get shown, because it’s in the same category. This is a waste of money, because you will get countless numbers of irrelevant clicks.

Let’s move this into our industry. If you have the keyword car service and someone searches for a taxi to the airport, it could still trigger your ad. This is why broad match keywords are dangerous. 

For limo operators, black car service, etc., you don’t want your ad to be shown when someone’s searching for a taxi. It’s possible, in a remote scenario, that those related leads could convert. Possible, but not likely.

If you have a choice of going with someone who’s looking for exactly what you offer or someone who’s looking for something close to what you offer, you’ll pick the first.

Keyword Strategy for Limo Operators

Someone asked me the other day about creating an ad strategy where they serve ads to people who are searching for a hotel. The thinking was that, if someone is looking to book a hotel they will likely need transportation. While the thought process is understandable, it’s never a good idea. Here’s why: you can target a related concept or laser-focus on people who are looking for your service.

Here’s the ideal process:

1. You utilize the correct keyword strategy (we can help)
2. A user searches for a related keyword or phrase
3. Your ad is served to the interested user
4. That user visits a landing page (where you can track them!)
5. That user contacts you and becomes a customer

This eliminates waste and is the desired method for filling your customer pipeline with people who are ready to buy your services.

Should You Use Competitor Keywords?

I do not suggest targeting your competition in your paid ads. There are almost no scenarios where this will pay off. If you pay to perform on your competitor’s keywords, you will get calls and messages from people who were specifically looking for your competitor. You will have high bounce rates and low ROI. Pay to perform on exactly what your target customer is looking for.

Which Match Types Should a Limo Operator Use?

We use the last three, but with a targeted strategy. This is the only way all of the categories will perform for you. Here’s how we’d start, using the same keyword, limo service.

Phrase Match:	“Limo service”
Broad Match Modified:	+limo + service
Exact Match:	[limo service]

The goal is the lowest cost per lead. You can set up your PPC ad to favor the ad strategy that delivers the lowest price. You can bid higher on the keyword configurations that are working for you. Google will serve ads that have the highest chance of getting clicked on. The best campaigns have the highest clickthrough rates.

To sum up, you need:

1. Lots of ad groups
2. Lots of keywords
3. The right keyword categories
4. Do not use broad match keywords.

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