Doing a comprehensive keyword research is a crucial step when running a search campaign in Google Ads. But finding the right keywords for your search campaigns and using your keywords in the right way are two different things.
You put a lot of effort in choosing the keywords that you want to target in your campaign, but if you don’t use your keywords in a structured way, you probably won’t be able to run your search campaign in an optimal way.
‘Keyword match type’ is a concept in Google Ads which indicates whether your ad should show in Google search results based on users’ search term. If you don’t choose the right match type for your keywords, your ads might show up for unintended search queries that will cause your budget to go to waste, or on the other hand, your ads might not show up for related search queries that could have resulted in a sale or lead for your business.
There are three different keyword match types that you could choose when adding keywords to your campaign: Exact match, phrase match, and broad match.
In the past, there were four match types but in 2021 Google removed broad match modifier (BMM) and incorporated it into phrase match type.
In the following sections we will go through the behavior of each keyword match type, and then review the best practices of how to use different match types in your campaign structure.
Different keyword match types in Google Ad
Exact Match: Exact match type is the tightest match typing available in which your ads could appear on search queries that are the same meaning as your keyword.
For example, let’s say you are running search campaign for a real estate software and you use the ‘commercial property software’ keyword as exact match type. In that case, your ads could show when users search for search terms that are exactly as your keyword or tightly related in meaning to your keywords. Some of the search queries that could result in your ad showing are:
• commercial property software
• commercial real estate software
• commercial property management software
• commercial real estate program
• commercial building software
To tell Google Ads that you want to use your keyword as exact match type, you must put your keyword text inside square brackets, such as [commercial property software].
Phrase Match: When using phrase match type for your keyword, your ads could show on search queries that include the meaning of your keyword. Phrase match is considered as a moderate match type which might show on search terms that are not exactly the same meaning as your keyword text but are still include the meaning of your keyword.
Let’s go back to the previous example of the real estate software campaign. When using the ‘commercial property software’ keyword as phrase match type, your ad might show for the following search terms:
• commercial and residential property management software
• commercial real estate property management software
• commercial property investment software
• software for commercial property management
• commercial property management software reviews
• best software for commercial property management
To let Google know that you want to use your keyword as phrase match, you must add quotes around your keyword text, such as ”commercial property software”.
Broad Match: Broad match type is the loosest match type that causes your ads to appear on searches that relate to your keyword, meaning that it could include search queries that do not even contain your keyword terms.
You should be very careful in using broad match type, as it is a very loose matching and might show your ads to the search terms that you are not very keen on showing up. When you don’t put any syntax around your keyword text (square brackets or quotes), Google will run it as broad match keyword.
How to use different keyword match types in your search campaign?
Which keyword match type you want to use for your campaigns entirely depends on your goal and keywords. But generally, if you are using different keyword match types, it is recommended to use a separate ad group for each match type that you are using (or separate campaigns, depending on the complexity of your campaign structure).
For example, when structuring your ad groups, it would be better to use exact match type keywords in one ad group and phrase match type keywords in another ad group. Splitting out exact and phrase keywords helps you having tighter control over the specifically chosen keywords versus extended variants, and measure differences in performance.
However, it is worth mentioning that Google’s recent changes to match types has resulted in less distinction between exact and phrase match types, as exact match type keywords are incorporating more variants of related search terms. I have even seen the same search query appearing in both exact and phrase match type of the same keyword.
Remember, choosing the correct match type for your keywords in a structural way is crucial to show your ads to the right target audience.
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