When the automatic matching feature of the Google AdWords program initially launched, there were plenty of folks who sang out “foul!” at Google.  When you understand how this works, you’ll understand why so many people were upset.

If you have a daily budget set up with AdWords, the new Automatic Matching feature will find new keywords for you that were NOT originally listed within your keyword list so that you use up your budget for that day.

A little sneaky in my opinion.

Here’s what this means for you if you’re an AdWords advertiser.

Let’s say you run a campaign promoting Eco-Friendly Shopping Bags.  You’ve done your keyword research, entered these keywords into your AdWords campaign, and set yourself a budget of $20 a day.

Near the end of those 24 hours, you may have only used up $14 of your intial $20.  So, to “speed up” the process and be sure you use that entire $20, Google’s “automatic matching” feature (and I use “feature” very, very loosely), may throw in other words related to your product which could be shopping, purses, bags, etc.

You can see why this would cause quite an uproar.

Now, rest assured, this “feature” isn’t available to everyone yet.  They’re currently in beta with a very select few advertisers which in turn will give them feedback on how to improve the system.

I’ve heard both sides of the argument on this one – some are incredibly happy with it and think that it will improve their campaigns significantly while others think it’s just another way for Google to make a quick buck.

Personally, until a lot of folks who are using the beta (I’m not), ring back and let us know how it works for them, I can’t make a fully educated decision.

That being said however, I do my personal keyword research extremely carefully and the keywords I choose for any campaign I run are extremely targeted and researched before I add them to AdWords.

It makes me nervous to allow a company who obviously has a vested interest in the success of the program to allow them to make decisions using my personal money.

You would have to have a LOT of trust in Google that they will always choose the right keywords to help you in your business.  For me, that’s a little hard to swallow especially considering their HUGE stock price drop this year – http://finance.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:GOOG.  Are they cooking up ways to make more money?

If it sounds as if I’m a little pessimistic on the whole thing you’re absolutely right.

In Google’s defense, they do offer an “opt-out” option for this feature but, from what I understand, if you are an AdWords advertiser, you’ll automatically be opted-in first and then have to subsequently opt-out.

This is great if you’re knowledgeable about the new feature, but if you have no that it even exists in the first place you’ll be sitting there scratching your head wondering how you’re breezing through $20 a day so quickly.