Close Variants Come To Broad Match Modifier In Bing Ads

A couple of weeks ago, Bing Ads announced it is testing close variants keyword matching on exact and phrase match terms. Today, they added close variants for broad match modifier keywords in the U.S.

Using close variants means that the search engine will trigger ads for search queries that contain grammatical variations of the keyword such as plurals, abbreviations, acronyms, spacing, misspellings, accents, punctuation, and even equivalent expression. The Bing Ads announcement followed Google’s news that its option to turn off close variants matching in AdWords is going by the wayside in late September.

Here’s a look at what the change will mean in terms of the types of queries that can now trigger a broad match modifier keyword:

International account managers should likely prepare for close variants as well. Bing Ads added that close variants for exact match is in the testing stage for international markets. For now, at least, US advertisers can opt-out of having close variants trigger on exact match keywords. That option does not apply to phrase match or broad match modifier.