SEO beginner with a probably stupid question.....

What is 'content' matching in adwords - what does that mean because on my google reports, about 80% of my money is spent on content matching not keyword matching and I can't find anywhere that explains what content match is! I'm really new to this and although I get the overall concept of SEO the nuts and bolts of it keep throwing me off!thanks

Content exposure is where Google puts you ad along side other non-search engine response web content like relevant web sites. If the majority of your response is Content clicks, you should look closely at the conversions rate ( are you converting these clicks to revenue?). You should aslo look at your keyword groups and see if you can re-work them to get better search engine responses. Your customers may use a set of words or phrases that are different from the ones commonly used by people familiar with your business.

For instance the term "self storage" is the most common phrase used within the storage locker business. But regular people may use

Storage unit
storage locker
relocation services
storage companies
storage sercies

etc.

The other aspect is to make sure that your content exposure is cost efficient. Because your ad is put in front of people that were not necessarily looking excactly for your product or service, some of the clicks might just be "lookee lookee" curiosity clicks and not be cost productive. Check your web site logs to see when search engines were used to bring the visitor to your site.

Another brute force method is to turn off content for a couple of days and see if sales/phone calls go down significantly.

Be scrupulous about tracking all inquiries/orders. Maintain order lists that reference the source of business and if you have staff fielding phone calls, find a way of tracking the source of the interest when fielding incoming calls. Record all info and measure it against the cost of the PPC program.

Content matching is basically AdSense; your ads will display on another site's AdSense, rather than just through search results.

It is thought by many that the ROI from content matching clicks is far less than that for other clicks, but in many instances a majority of clicks can come through content matching. I've heard of people who's CPC is low keeping content matching on; but people who have high CPCs often dislike content matching because it drains their budgets without providing return.