In regards to Google, algorithms and match types

I give you the story of the auctioneer

There once was an auction house known far and wide. Their selection of quality merchandise couldn’t be denied. Of course they had lots of miscellaneous junk, but everyone ignored that stuff

This auction house had everything categorized so nice. If you only wanted purple hippie flower vases because that’s what your clientele would buy you could easily find every single one and bid as much or as little as you liked. The auctioneer never charged you more

This went one very nice for years. The auction house made lots of money and sold lots of “things”, from the super cheap to the ultra luxe people companies could choose, and bid and only pay what those things were worth in their eyes

But eventually all of the good merchandise everybody wanted and could easily buy then make money on at retail the prices for the bids only would climb so high. The auction house decided they really needed something to do.

So the auctioneers started including yellow sunflower vases at the same bids you originally paid for that hippie flower vase your clientele would buy. The auction house justified they are both vases and have flowers and look very nice

All of a sudden those yellow sunflower vases started showing up in your shipments. Of course you got upset. “This was not the thing we told you we wanted”. The auction house said, “try to sell it anyway!” But if it doesn’t work we won’t sell you anymore of those just tell us so

While initially upset those bidding on the wares the auction house sold occasionally found some of these things they didn’t explicitly bid for actually sold really well to their clientele. Plus if they didn’t, they simply told the auctioneers no more of those please

This allowed the auction house to sell more of the wares, people weren’t normally bidding to buy. The bidders actually found more stuff that their clientele liked and both made more profit it seemed like the perfect compromise

Eventually though the auction house and their investors were bored and frustrated with the slow growth of revenues and profits. There were still way too many wares that companies simply never bid on to buy. Something else needed to be devised

So the auction house introduced a way that companies could simply tell them how much profit they wanted to make off all the items they bid to buy. Wary at first the companies slowly dipped their toes in this new auctioneer led bidding “algorithm” they said

Slowly the auction house pushed all the companies bidding for its wares to adopt these models and expand the product they bid for even if only closely related to what you originally bid and bought. They could now see how much money you were making and it was enough

The companies started to complain. They didn’t like this new lack of control. Sure most of the time they actually made more revenue and profit, but they also had some wares now that they paid a pretty dime for that none of their clientele even cared for at all

The auction house said “you can still tell the auctioneers which pieces you don’t really want, and moving forward we won’t bid on those for you anymore.” Again not perfect but at least a compromise that seemed somewhat acceptable to all those involved

Pretty soon though, the investors and owners of the auction house tired of their massive revenues and profits and wanted even more growth! So slowly over time the auctioneers changed the rules. The items you bid for continued to expand to even more “adjacent” wares than before

The profits of the companies bidding on these wares slowly started to shrink, but this auction house was still one of the more efficient ways for them to find the good their clientele desired and still be able to make at least some profit on a regular basis

The auctioneers now started to obfuscate some of the wares you were now bidding and buying. So where you used to be able to tell them “I don’t want anymore of those all right?!?” You now we’re buying things and you had no idea what they were at times

This frustrated the bidders. They started to complain more and more, but the problem was... where would they find the same quality and quantity of wares that was exactly right, even if it meant they bought some others that sucked all the time?

The Auction house has grown to the point their was very little other option for companies to go and find the wares they could resell. Many attempted to try other auction houses, but the categorization of the wares and how the auctioneers bid just wasn’t great

Now the bidders are all scrambling because once again the auction house - nearly holding a monopoly - has changed the rules once again and bidders continue to lose control. What should they do? Where should they go? What other auction houses exist where they can buy?

Some of these bidders while still buying from the auction house have for years been exploring other places to buy. Of course the wares aren’t always as precise, but with some creativity they have been able to still grow their businesses in those other auction houses

As a bidder make sure you and your team are not beholden to just one auction house. When they control your bids and have such supply, if you don’t figure out where else to buy to survive your business may eventually die. It’s painful I know to hear this tale

Just remember no matter how painful or laborious it may be, as bidders you should always be trying to find other auction houses to buy your wares. Every little bit you become less dependent on the big auction house the better you sleep at night my dears