AdWords Phrase Match Changes
Over the years, we’ve improved our understanding of intent to make it easier for you to reach your customers. For example, your keywords can now match to the meaning of a search, and broad match is now more effective at driving performance–especially when paired with Smart Bidding. With these improvements, we’ve seen that phrase match and broad match modifier often serve the same use cases, and that you can reach more of the right customers through a combination of the two.
That’s why, starting in two weeks, we’re rolling out changes to phrase match and broad match modifier that make it easier for you to reach your customers, no matter how they’re searching.
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To give you more control and better reach, we’re bringing the best of broad match modifier into phrase match. As a result, phrase match will expand to cover additional broad match modifier traffic, while continuing to respect word order when it’s important to the meaning. This makes it easier to reach customers and manage keywords in your account.
It sounds like less control to me, because there’s no longer a way to specify an exact phrase. Google will now show an ad for different words than what you specified, and even if additional words have been added in between. It’s all subject to the judgement of their AI.
Any takers on a bet that the "AI" that selects an Ad for display, is not the same "AI" that displays natural search results?
EG the desired phrase to display the ad: "five drawer oak desk"
An AI match that will display the ad: "desktop kleenex box"
I have experience with google ads. Not good experience.