By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    bowl of vegetable salad
    Raw Foods: benefits and harms
    November 9, 2021
    pros and cons of the keto diet
    Read This Before You Follow the Keto Diet
    May 18, 2022
    spinal cord injuries
    4 Potential Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries (and How to Seek Compensation)
    May 25, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    TBI: Some Surprising Statistics
    February 9, 2016
    Your Keys to Safer, Even More Secure Healthcare Cloud Services
    January 13, 2015
    4 Career Options in Healthcare Industry that Combine Big Data & Healthcare
    February 5, 2021
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Choose Carefully: Keyword Match Type Tips for Medical Search Marketing
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Choose Carefully: Keyword Match Type Tips for Medical Search Marketing
BusinesseHealth

Choose Carefully: Keyword Match Type Tips for Medical Search Marketing

Jonathan Catley
Jonathan Catley
Share
6 Min Read
Google Adwords, Campaign Optimization, SEM Marketing, PPC
SHARE

Choosing keyword match types is almost as important as selecting the keywords themselves. Keywords are the “what” when targeting search engine users, while match types are the “how”. Match types are the basic rules that govern your keywords’ activity in a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign.

Choosing keyword match types is almost as important as selecting the keywords themselves. Keywords are the “what” when targeting search engine users, while match types are the “how”. Match types are the basic rules that govern your keywords’ activity in a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. In this entry, I’ll reference Google Adwords keyword match types, how they behave, and then offer a tip for use (or avoidance) as it relates to medically-oriented SEM.Google Adwords, Campaign Optimization, SEM Marketing, PPC

What are the 4 positive match types, and what does “match type” even mean?

The 4 positive match types are broad, broad match modifier (“mod broad”), phrase, and exact. These different match types control when your ads will be shown to search engine users based on the keyword list you’ve built. One way to think of match types is as guidelines for how Google will literally follow your instructions (as defined by your list of keywords); broad match keywords are loose suggestions, whereas exact match keywords are far stricter.

Google’s own explanation of these match types is very helpful, so I’ve pasted a screenshot below. For now, if you’re new to Adwords and keyword match types, you can ignore the “special symbol” column. Negative keywords are a whole separate topic that I’ll write about another time. You can check out Google’s full explanation here:

More Read

Health IT
HIT Vendor Seeking MDDS for Meaningful Relationship
HealthEdge COO Desrochers on ICD-10 (transcript)
How To Create a Pinteresting Healthcare Social Media Strategy
Social Media and Public Health: Using Facebook to Monitor Obesity Prevalence
Emergency Nurses: An Overabundance of Violence

Google Analytics, Medical Search Marketing, Match Types

Tip – Be Careful with Broad Match

How should you choose match types now that you’ve gotten your keyword lists together? In a word: carefully.

Understanding how closely search engine users’ queries have to line up with your keyword list, based on your chosen match types, is critical to achieving strong Adwords ROI. To put it another way, you can easily waste your budget and have little to show for it if you don’t set limits on the search queries for which your keywords trigger your ads.

Broad match keywords are aptly named: if a keyword is set to broad match, you might find yourself receiving impressions and clicks from unexpected places. This is because the broad match setting allows Google to show your ads for search queries that are deemed to be “relevant variations.”

To illustrate, here is an example that I encountered about 2 years ago while optimizing a liposuction client’s campaigns. I had a broad match version of the keyword “Michigan lipo,” and noticed a significant spike in impressions, clicks, and spend… but no conversions. Within the same ad group, I had phrase and exact match variation of the same keyword (this is my personal preference for grouping same keyword/different match types – other search marketers may have different approaches). After looking at the search query report, I saw that the broad match keyword had been triggering this client’s ads to show for the unrelated queries “lopi stove michigan” and “lip dub”.

Sometimes, people performing searches click on ads without seeming to read or digest the featured message, product, or service. My ad copy associated with this example had nothing to do with the “relevant variations” that were triggering the ad to show – but I was racking up low quality clicks and spend nonetheless. The way forward was clear – pause the broad match variation of the keyword, and add negative phrase match keywords for “lopi,” “stove,” and “lip dub”.

Sometimes you need a fishing rod, not a trawler – but make sure you’re still catching fish

The key takeaway is that broad match keywords should be watched carefully. If unsupervised, broad match keywords can lead to undesirable performance and overspend. Knowing when to use a targeted approach rather than catching search traffic you may not want can mean the difference between strong and weak (or negative) ROI.

Search marketing campaigns focused on local physician practices or medical treatments usually involve very specific and targeted audiences, and therefore search queries. To show your ads only when user search queries closely align with your selected keywords, you should focus on phrase and exact match types.

To be clear, I’m not advocating total avoidance of broad match at all times; broad match keywords are valuable tools when used properly.  Just make sure you’re using the right tool for the job.

TAGGED:medical search marketing
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Writing Safety Critical Software

June 17, 2013

How Doctors Are Trapped, Part II

January 24, 2012

Pay Me or Charge Me: How Best to Engage Me

May 11, 2015

Complex Systems, Part II

November 9, 2011
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?