The client said change it.
The data said hold.
A data-backed recommendation that protected an effective search strategy from an unnecessary change.
An exact-match-only request needed a closer look.
Situation
A client worried that the Cat Rental paid search campaign was competing with a related Caterpillar campaign and proposed changing broad-match keywords to exact match.
What I did
I pulled the search-term data, match-type mix, conversion performance, and auction insights. 91% of impressions and 94% of traffic came from queries with explicit rental intent. Auction insights showed no competitive crossover, and only 7% of budget went to non-rental-intent terms.
Tools
- Google Ads
- Search-term reports
- Match-type analysis
- Auction insights
Result
My recommendation to retain the existing strategy held. Phrase and broad match accounted for 36% of traffic and 31% of conversions at a 1.73% conversion rate. Removing them put that contribution at risk without a demonstrated overlap problem.