{"id":27090,"date":"2025-12-17T23:34:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T18:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/?p=27090"},"modified":"2025-12-17T23:34:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T18:04:53","slug":"ppcchat-google-ads-questions-answered-by-ginny-marvin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/ppcchat-google-ads-questions-answered-by-ginny-marvin\/","title":{"rendered":"PPCChat | Google Ads Questions Answered by Ginny Marvin | 16th December 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Julie F Bacchini<\/a> hosted this week\u2019s PPCChat, welcoming Ginny Marvin<\/a> to the conversation to answer Google Ads questions from PPC experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Q1 for Ginny:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It seems like to have your ads appear in the newer ad inventory (AI Overviews and AI Mode) advertisers need to have broad match enabled. And matching hierarchy is different for these ad positions – traditionally an exact match keyword would get preference over a broad. But with AI Overviews or Mode, the broad match keyword gets preference. So, what is on the roadmap for match types?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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You will be eligible to have your ads appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode using Performance Max, Shopping and Search campaigns with broad match and\/or AI Max for Search campaigns. To serve ads within AI Overviews, we consider both the user query and AI Overview content to understand the user intent more deeply. Since the ad is matched to both the user query and AI Overview content, only *broad match keywords or keywordless targeting* are eligible to trigger ads (even if there are exact match keywords present in the account). This is because we are not showing ads which are exactly matching the user query but for a deeper intent behind it. @adsliaison<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on keyword prioritization, when there are multiple keywords eligible<\/strong> to serve, the identical keyword\/query combination is preferred, and within that exact is preferred over phrase\/broad. For non-identical queries, we use AI based ad group prioritization to find the most relevant ad group. More information https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/2756257?hl=en<\/a>. @adsliaison<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ok VERY brief (and promise my only) semi self promo, but highly recommend you watch Ginny + my bossman talk about “synthetic keywords” –https:\/\/www.optmyzr.com\/ppc-town-hall\/google-marketing-live-2025-exclusive-insider-intel-with-ginny-marvin\/<\/a> or @PPCKirk<\/a>‘s translation here – https:\/\/zatomarketing.com\/blog\/what-are-google-ads-synthetic-keywords<\/a> @Aaronlevy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaronlevy<\/a> Thanks for sharing. @adsliaison<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

thanks for being smart. @Aaronlevy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I try, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves @adsliaison<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q2 for Ginny:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d love to know how Google decides which clients can\u2019t use a credit card as a payment method? We just set up a brand new account and before campaigns even launched, we got the alert requiring ACH payments.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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This applies to a small segment of customers who receive differentiated support provided by our Large Customer Sales (LCS) team and Google Customer Solutions (GCS) High Touch Sales teams (more here https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/6145574#11<\/a>). Those on monthly invoicing have more options for billing support, growth is more easily accommodated via credit limit increases, and payment issues are less common due to longer billing cycles. @adsliaison<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is ACH required for only those clients? Or are we going to keep seeing it roll out for some of the “baby” accounts (small spenders who don’t have\/qualify for dedicated support) @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This doesn’t seem to be how it actually works. I started a brand new account and got flagged for ACH before we even launched any campaigns. @Janinemonico<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can the support be forgone to maintain billing preferences? @Chriskostecki<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi @Chriskostecki<\/a> There is no action to take to opt out of or change an account\u2019s segment designation. @Janinemonico<\/a> I’ll see if there’s anything further to add, but that help center page above has more information. @adsliaison<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q3 for Ginny:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Why does [close variant] consistently match with competitor brands? What data does Google have that tells us these terms are likely to convert?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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We see that users are often still in discovery and research mode when querying brand names. That said, we’ve also heard feedback and spoken with many advertisers who want better control over when\/if their ads show on competitor terms. We introduced brand settings (brand inclusions and exclusions) to help address these concerns. More here: https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/13721847?hl=en<\/a> and do continue to share your feedback on this. @adsliaison<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is the general thought that people using exact match are looking to serve their ads to people in the research phase, especially those researching another brand? Do people in the research phase convert at a high enough rate to meet the target CPA these campaigns are often targeting? @Josephwilliams<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi @Josephwilliams<\/a>, The system sets bids based on predicted likelihood of conversion to help get as many conversions as possible at your target CPA, and keep your average CPA equal to your target CPA. @adsliaison<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you answer the first part of the question as well, please? What data can you share that proves these matches aren’t just an attempt to squeeze money out of advertisers? The data I have, and many other PPCers have, is that these “matches” lead to wasted spend at best, and confused callers to businesses at worst. If Google didn’t match [close variant] in this way, do you think average CPL would go up? @Josephwilliams<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three types of keywords: Brand, NonBrand, and Competitor and all require unique strategies and messaging (not to mention budget, imo) @Chriskostecki<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The predicted likelihood of conversion is what prompts the system to bid on those terms. Also just want to reiterate that we have heard this feedback and we’ve also heard feedback and had many conversations with advertisers about their expectations around these terms. That feedback was a big part of the impetus for introducing brand settings. @adsliaison<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is the general thought that people using exact match are looking to serve their ads to people in the research phase, especially those researching another brand? If Google didn’t match [close variant] in this way, do you think average CPL would go up? @Josephwilliams<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q4 for Ginny:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the best match type to use while adding negative keywords – broad match negative, exact match negative or phrase? If it depends then where & how? How can we decide which is the best match type to use?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Ah, well it does indeed depend.  But it\u2019s a good question because negative keyword match types behave differently from positive match types. This article has a good overview, including examples, of how negative keywords and their match types work: https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/2453972?hl=en<\/a> @adsliaison<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve found this to be dependent on the nature of the (undesired) query string. For example, let’s say we want to avoid info-only queries. There is a case for adding the following (among many others):<\/p>\n\n\n\n