Marketers fume as Google removes the Exact Match feature for AdWords

A recent change Google made to its AdWords advertising tool looks like it should be beneficial to advertisers. But there's plenty of them who would vehemently disagree.

Search marketers were up in arms about a recent update to AdWords where Google announced that it was removing the Exact Match feature. Exact Match lets advertisers place ads around very specific keywords. That means that an advertiser's ad will only display when a certain term is typed into Google search. This allows advertisers to exclude misspellings, or close variations of the word.

For example, if I'm a local bakery specializing in macarons, I could buy an ad to show up whenever someone types in "macarons in San Francisco." Using Exact Match, I could exclude the ad from showing up when someone types in an incorrect spelling, such as "macaroons" (which is an entirely different type of pastry.) This allows advertisers to save money by having their ad display only when very specific terms are typed.

However, Google says no more. It is removing the Exact Match feature and will now display your ad whenever somebody types in "macarons," "macaroons" or "maccarons." On the surface, that looks like a good thing. You automatically get your ad shown more times to people, in relation to more search terms, and conversely this leads to more people discovering your business. However, as most advertisers noted, this could mean you spending more money than you want, and losing control over the search terms your ad shows up for.