What are Keyword Match Types, and How Do I Use Them?

Are you eager to make the most out of your PPC ads campaign?

Google Ads offers many built-in tools and features to fine tune your advertising efforts for best results. One such feature that makes a world of difference is understanding keyword match types. It’s Google’s way of understanding how accurately or loosely they should match your target keyword with the user’s search queries.

Let me show you how this feature works, and how you can use keyword match types to optimize your ad campaigns for better visibility, relevance, and better conversions.

What are Keyword Match Types?

Keyword Match type is a Google Ads feature that gives you three options for matching your target keywords with search queries. They are - broad match, phrase match, and exact match.

Additionally, there’s also an extra option called negative match that lets you exclude specific keywords when triggering ads.

Google’s algorithm is capable of understanding the meaning and context of words and phrases much like humans, thanks to its powerful natural language processing (NLP) capabilities. For any keyword, the algorithm not only gets the meaning, but can also relate it with other synonyms and even distant contextual words. For example, Google can figure out that ‘running shoes’ and ‘workout gears’ have some connection or relevance to each other.

With that in mind, would you want your ads displayed only to users who search for the same keyword? Or would you like to show up for any query that’s even remotely related to the keyword? Using the match type options, you can control these conditions.

Now, let’s take a look at each of the match types in detail.

Broad Match

Broad match displays your ads for all searches that are somewhat related to your keyword. So, it’s useful to get your ads in front of more people.

It is also the default match type setting on Google Ads.

With broad match, your ads show up for any searches that include:

• your exact keyword
• variations of your keyword like plurals and synonyms
• contextual variations of your keyword
• other words before and after your keyword
• all words and phrases that match the meaning or intent of your keyword

Here are some examples.

If your target keyword is “football shoes”, broad match will show your ads for a wide range of searches containing related words and phrases, such as:

• ‘football boots’ or ‘soccer shoes’
  (synonyms)

• ‘football shoes for men’ or ‘men’s soccer boots’
  (synonyms + additional words)

• ‘football jersey’
  (contextual variation)

Queries like “basketball shoes” or “tennis shoes” could also trigger your ads, as they share a common category with your keyword (they’re all sports-specific footwear).

How to set broad match?

To set a keyword for broad match, simply type the keyword in plain text into the target keyword box in Google Ads.

Pros

With broad match, your ads reach more people, improving visibility. That also means greater brand exposure, as more people will come across your brand name and products/services through the ads.

Cons

On the flipside, all that exposure comes at the cost of relevance. (Someone searching for football boots obviously isn’t looking to buy tennis shoes). So don’t expect everyone who sees your ad to click and land on your site.

When to use?

The ideal use case for broad match is when you want to run a branding and visibility campaign.

Startups and new websites, for example, need to focus on traffic and brand awareness before they can push for sales and conversions. Even big brands can use broad match to promote new products and services to mass users.

Be careful with your budget though. All that extra exposure is great, but it could increase your ad costs for irrelevant or less relevant clicks.

Exact Match

Exact match is the polar opposite of broad match. Using this match type will display your ads for searches that have the exact same meaning as your target keywords.

Note that I’ve said “exact meaning” and not “exact keyword”. That means your ads will still show up for searches that contain close synonyms of the target keyword. It will also include plurals, changing the order of the keywords and addition of functional words like prepositions or articles as they don’t alter the meaning of the phrase.

I’ll continue with our previous example with ‘football shoes’ as the target keyword. With phrase match, your ads can also be displayed for queries such as:

• ‘football boots’ and’ soccer shoes’
  (again, synonyms)
• ‘shoes for football’
  (same meaning, different order of words, added preposition)

But your ads will not appear for “football shoes for men” or “buy football shoes” as these searches include additional words which slightly changes the meaning by adding more context.

And it definitely won’t appear for searches like ‘basketball shoes’ or ‘football shorts’.

How to set exact match?

To set a keyword for exact match, type it into the target keywords box within square brackets, for example - [football shoes].

Pros

Exact match displays your ads to the most relevant users. By matching your ad keywords with searches that retain the exact meaning, it makes sure that the only people who are specifically searching for your products and services see your ads.

They will also be more likely to click on the ad, and eventually purchase what you’re selling. Thus, with exact match, you will see better clickthrough rates (CTR) and conversions.

Cons

The downside here is that obviously limited reach, so you miss out on that extra brand exposure.

Someone looking for football shorts may not buy (or even view) your football shoes, but they could still see your ad and realize that you deal with football gear. If they need shoes in the future, they may recall and visit your site.

Also, with exact match, you miss the opportunity to target long-tail keywords like “buy football shoes for men”. And it’s quite well-known in the marketing world that long-tail keywords are great for less competition, low keyword difficulty, high relevance and better conversions.

When to use?

Exact matches are ideal for any website that wants to attract highly relevant traffic, and boost conversions. Sites with good traffic but low sales and conversions could use the boost from relevant people who are already looking for your exact products or services.

It’s also useful for running ad campaigns with low budget, ensuring all your money goes on relevant searchers.

And of course, businesses dealing with niche products and services targeting a small but dedicated community of buyers can benefit greatly from exact match.

Phrase Match

Phrase match is the middle ground between broad and exact match, offering a balance of reach and relevance. It’s broader than exact match, but more restricted than broad match.

With phrase match, your ads will be shown for all variations of keywords that we discussed in exact match, but it will also cover long-tail variations.

So for the target keyword ‘football shoes’, your ads could show up for searches like:

• buy football shoes
• men’s football shoes under $100
• cheap soccer boots
• best shoes for soccer

Basically, Google will show your ads for any search where the focus is on football shoes, regardless of additional words and phrases in the search query. As long as a search has anything to do with football shoes in general, there’s a chance that your ad will be displayed.

How to set phrase match?

To set a keyword for phrase match, type it into the target keywords box within quotations, for example – “football shoes”.

Pros

Phrase match gives you the best of both worlds. Your ads get wider reach then they would with exact match. And it filters out some of the irrelevant searches that would be included in broad match.

It gives you a balanced advertising strategy where you don’t have to choose between reach and relevance.

Cons

The drawback is that it also comes with the shortcomings of both broad and exact match.

Like with exact match, you’ll still lose out on new keyword opportunities and the chance to reach out to more people who may not be interested in your products now, but could end up being valuable customers later on.

And similar to broad match, you still risk displaying ads on irrelevant searches because not all long-tail variations may suit your requirements.

For example, if you’re selling premium or high-end football shoes, you definitely don’t want to appear for searches like “cheap football shoes”.

When to use?

Phrase match is naturally the best option for websites that want to focus both reach and relevance equally, or those who want to go with the most neutral matching option.

Additionally, for targeting long-tail search queries, phrase match is the way to go.

Again, budget is one thing to closely monitor with phrase match. Since you’re not leaning towards either side of the exposure vs. relevance debate, you could burn your ad budget without having significant impact on either aspect.

Track your budget alongside ad performance to monitor how it’s impacting both reach and conversions.

Negative Keywords

While not an exclusive keyword matching option, negative keywords have a similar role to play in controlling the display conditions for your ads.

The name gives it away - instead of letting you control what search terms to match with your target keywords, it does the opposite. Decide words and phrases for which you don’t want your ads to appear. And it can be used in combination with the other three match types.

You can set other brand names as negative keywords if you don’t want to show up for branded searches. Or, considering our earlier example of premium football shoes, you can set ‘cheap’ and ‘discount’ as negative keywords. Then run a phrase match, and you can target other related keywords and long-tail phrases while avoiding ‘cheap/discount football shoes’ queries. Pretty convenient, don’t you think?

Don’t take this lightly, as negative keywords can be game-changers for ad campaigns when used correctly.

Conclusion & Takeaways

Effectively utilizing keyword match types can turn your advertising campaigns into big wins.

• Broad match allows for a wider reach, capturing a broader range of search queries.
• Exact match ensures precision by showing ads only for the exact keyword or close variants.
• Phrase match strikes a balance between the two, accommodating variations in search intent.

Now that you know what they do and how to use them, what’s next?

Well, jump into your Google Ads console and put what you’ve learned to practice right away. Build your next ad campaign with a solid strategy using match types to your advantage.

And when you do, feel free to share the results or overall experience of your campaigns in the comment section below! We’d love to know if this guide helps you get the best results from your ads!