Match types have blurred to the point where exact match no longer means exact. What still works is feeding the system accurate intent signals and disciplined negatives.
01
Consolidate, then control with negatives
Dozens of tight ad groups now starve each other of data. We consolidate into fewer, better-funded campaigns and control relevance with a maintained negative list reviewed against the search-terms report every week.
02
Conversion quality decides bid quality
If form fills of every quality count equally, smart bidding buys the cheapest ones. Score leads, import qualified outcomes offline, and the same budget starts buying pipeline instead of noise.
03
Protect and separate brand
Brand belongs in its own campaign with its own budget so blended ROAS does not disguise weak non-brand performance.