Google Adwords recently introduced a controversial new Automatic Matching feature - it’s a beta feature that you have to be invited to use.

“Automatic matching is an optional feature that helps your ads reach targeted traffic missed by your keyword lists. It works by analyzing the ads, keywords, and landing pages in your ad group. It then shows your ads on search queries relevant to this information.”

I would say this it sounds pretty similar to the Broad Matching option - slightly more targeted, but still getting a wider reach than phrase and exact matching options.

I think you need to be cautious when experimenting with this new feature, especially if your campaign is doing really well. If you campaign is very niche and targeted, you don’t really want irrelevant search queries messing up traffic and conversion rates. But it’s always worth testing it out first - you may possibly find high converting keywords that you thought would never work in your campaign, or you merely didn’t consider due to the relevancy factor.

I’d say if you are going to test it out you’ll need to monitor the results closely. Keep a spreadsheet of performance stats before you started using this feature (as a control) and then set a certain time period for yourself (say 1 or 2 weeks) and keep comparing the new results to the control. This way you will be able to see if there are any major glitches, or improvements in performance.

Also regularly check your search query reports (once a week, so you have enough data) and make sure the right searches are coming through for your campaign. If not, negative match those ones that aren’t relevant enough for you; or if there is just a mound of irrelevant searches, and no conversions, turn it off.

• You can opt in an out of it in campaign settings – since I can’t find it on any of my accounts I assume Google has to activate it first for it to appear on your account. It’s important to note here that Google automatically opts you in for this feature, and if you don’t want to use it you have to actively go and turn it off.
• It doesn’t affect the Content Network, only Google and the Search Network.
• Traffic accumulated by this feature doesn’t affect your keywords’ Quality Score or minimum bids.
• CPC for queries triggered by Automatic Matching are approximated through the average CPC of that ad group.
• Performance data appears in each ad group’s keywords tab labelled Automatic Matching Total.

Good Luck! I really look forward to hearing from anyone who has tried it out.