【2021】Key to Google Search Ads success for BtoB companies in Taiwan

Hi! I’m Kay from applemint, a digital marketing agency in Taiwan.

I’m sure some of you who read applemint’s past digital marketing blogs are having a hard time getting the results you were expecting. We, as an agency also struggled PPC ads operation especially BtoB companies in Taiwan in recent year.

The turn of events suddenly came when we made a few adjustments to Google Ads. In this article, I’m going to share with you a new winning pattern in Google search ads for BtoB in Taiwan that no one has really mentioned you before.

If you are a BtoB company running Google Ads and not getting the result you want, this blog is a must-read!

What We Did (Conclusion)

First of all, I’d like to talk about what we did. Starting with the conclusion, we actively used “Broad match” in the match type of Google search ads for BtoB companies.

This is a policy that is the exact opposite of the traditional BtoB winning theory of “focusing on exact match and phrase match match match types”.

source (in Japanese)：BtoBリスティング運用のコツとは？クリック単価が高い業界での勝者となれる運用方法をご紹介

But! This is where Google’s machine learning in “partial matching” proved to be more effective than we had imagined. As a result of starting to use Broad match, we saw a dramatic improvement in the number of exposures, and a 40% reduction in CPC (cost per click). Most importantly, we saw conversions doubled.

I think we were really lucky, because we didn’t intentionally introduce Broad match…You probably would have a hard time finding any websites recommending to “use Broad match for Google search ads for BtoB companies”

Reason behind active use of broad match

So why did we decide to actively use broad match? It all started when we took over Google ads operation for a client that sells BtoB products in Taiwan.

When applemint first looked at the previous ad agency’s operations, we found that the keyword match types were mostly broad matches. Also, the quality scores of keyword were low, and the ad texts were somewhat skimpy. It was completely out of the norm for winning BtoB search ads.

By the way, here is the general knowledge of conventional BtoB Search Ads.

• Since the number of search keywords is limited, the match type should be centered on exact match and phrase match.
• Raise the quality score of the keyword to get a higher rank.
• Thoroughly research and refine your ad text to match the keywords.

source (in Japanese)：BtoBリスティング運用のコツとは？クリック単価が高い業界での勝者となれる運用方法をご紹介

At applemint, we followed the conventional theory and focused on exact match and phrase match keywords, while also paying attention to quality score and advertising text. However, the result was the opposite: the number of CVs (conversions) dropped significantly.

After a few months with poor Ads result, the client asked us to re-adjust the setting to the previous ad agency’s operation, and in the end we had to go back to the original operation…

Surprisingly though, a miracle happened. CPC (cost per click) decreased by 40% and CV doubled! This was a result that we had not expected at all.

Why the use of broad match worked so well

We thought that the previous ad agency did not manage Google Ads well. The keyword match type was unintentionally broad match and the quality scores of most keywords were 1 to 3. In addition, the Ads texts were mostly copy& paste from the official website…So why did it work so well in this situation?

I think the main factor is the machine learning using the “broad match” match type. Let me explain in more detail:

Later, when we shared this experience with a person who previously worked for our client, he said the previous ad agency didn’t do anything. In fact it was the person who was operating the ads. We found out that their broad match worked well by accident….

Conclusion

Finally, let me summarize the new common sense of Google search advertising.

The New Common Sense of Google Search Ads

• Conclusion: The “partial match” match type works well with automation and is expected to improve operational results! It’s worth a try!
  
• Reasons: Partial Match allows for a large amount of exposure at a low CPC (cost per click), so the ad will be shown to a large number of users, resulting in an increase in clicks and CV (conversions). Also, with the advancement of machine learning, CVs can be obtained even from unexpected keywords.
  
• Note: You should only do this if you have a budget of a certain size (because machine learning will not proceed if there is insufficient data).

We think that this new common finding has a good chance to be used especially in BtoB, where broad match has been considered a taboo fro BtoB search ads operation until now! The reason for this is that BtoB products and services are highly specialized, and there are many cases where even salespeople at companies, not to mention advertising agencies, do not have an accurate grasp of their needs.

Though even in BtoB, there are cases broad match might not be effective. However, I think broad match is worth a try otherwise.

The broad match worked well this time, but it is risky to use broad matching for all of the keywords, so I still recommend using broad matching along with exact match and phrase match. We should then narrow down to the most effective destinations while adding keywords to be excluded.

If you have the time, you can also add a LINE contact button to your web page to further increase the effectiveness of your Google ads for mobile lead generation.

In fact, applemint has dramatically improved the effectiveness of ads for our clients using this method. See this article (in Japanese) for more details.

How was it? In this article, I’ve shared with you the new method of Google search ads, especially for BtoB in Taiwan, that no one has really written! I hope that this blog will help your Search Ads operation!