Close Variants Have Arrived at Bing

In the past few months, Bing Ads have rolled out the inclusion of close variants with Exact Match, Phrase Match, and most recently Broad Modifier. Close variants mean that ads are triggered when a search term is similar enough to convey intent of the searcher but not necessarily exact keywords. For instance, if a search term is plural, misspelled, or abbreviated ads for those keywords may still be displayed. Bing provided a number of examples to understand when close variants may be utilized for the three types of keyword searches.

In the event of exact match keywords:

In the event of phrase match keywords:

And in the event of broad match modifiers:

Bing claims they will now be including close variants because they've seen that they deliver higher quality traffic with a 3% increase in click-through rates. As of now, Close variants are only available in the United States. Additionally, unlike with Google AdWords, you can opt out of close variants by going to Advanced Settings and under the Keyword Matching Options.