Have you ever had this experience: you enter different keywords, but the search results pages that pop up are almost the same, and they all solve your problem.

This situation is underpinned by the "keyword matching" mechanism. Simply put, after Google understands the keywords you set, it matches them to the user's keyword search page.

For advertisers, if ads appear in irrelevant search results, it not only lowers the quality score of the ads, reduces the conversion rate of potential customers, but also may waste the budget due to accidental clicks. Therefore, mastering the settings of keyword match types is beneficial to ensure precise ad placement and enhance advertising effectiveness.

In the following content, I will give everyone a detailed introduction, and I hope everyone saves it.

What are the types of keyword matches in Google Ads?

The keyword types in Google Ads are chosen by the advertisers themselves, mainly to determine which search queries can trigger the display of these ads. The match types directly relate to the potential coverage and relevance of paid search results, mainly divided into broad match, phrase match, and exact match.

1. Broad Match

Broad match allows your ad to appear in any search that includes any words in your keywords (regardless of order) or any search related to your keywords. For example, if your keyword is "luxury car," your ad might appear in searches for "luxury car," "high-end cars," or "luxury residences."

Applicable scenarios:

Broad match is the default option in Google Ads, which can bring you more exposure. It considers other keywords in the ad group, the user's historical search habits, geographic location information, and your landing page content.

However, broad match may also introduce some less relevant traffic, requiring you to regularly check and adjust. To optimize display results, you can set negative keywords to ensure that ads do not appear in searches unrelated to your business.

2. Phrase Match

Phrase match is a keyword matching method in Google Ads that balances exposure and relevance. Ads are only displayed when the user's search query fully contains your keywords, and the order of the keywords is consistent with what you entered (additional words may be attached before and after the keywords).

For example, if your phrase match keyword is "interior wall paint," your ad might appear in searches like "buy interior wall paint" or "interior wall decoration paint," but not in searches like "lavender paint" or "interior design tips."

Applicable scenarios:

This match type is very suitable for scenarios where you want to ensure that specific keywords are included in the search query, especially for brand promotion and competitor-related activities.

3. Exact Match

Exact match allows your ad to only show in searches that are identical or very close to your keyword. For example, if your exact match keyword is "women's shoes," your ad will only target the search for "women's shoes," and will not appear in broader or related searches like "running shoes" or "women's clothing."

Applicable scenarios: Google Ads' exact match is very strict, only displaying ads that are highly relevant to specific searches, ensuring high content match. Although this may reduce the number of displays, it usually brings a higher click-through rate. Exact match is particularly suitable for ads targeting specific products or services, accurately finding users who are searching for these products.

What are the differences between Google keyword match types?

Mastering the three types of keyword matches in Google Ads allows you to more flexibly adjust the scope and accuracy of keywords when matching searches and displaying ads, thereby improving the success rate of your Google ad campaigns. Let's compare these three match types in detail:

How do match types affect search ad results?

The choice of match type affects the effectiveness of your search ads. They act like regulators in your ad strategy, precisely guiding you on which search queries to bid on. Next, let's talk about how these match types affect your ad effectiveness from different perspectives:

1. Ad Relevance:

The match type determines the fit between the user's search words and your ad keywords. For example, "exact match" ensures that the ad is highly consistent with the user's search intent, thereby possibly bringing a higher click-through rate and conversion rate.

2. Coverage:

Different types of matches determine the potential audience range your ad can reach. Broad match allows your ad to cover a wider range of similar searches, although it increases exposure, it may also introduce some less relevant traffic.

By contrast, phrase match targets specific phrases or their variants, further narrowing the coverage. Exact match is the strictest, only targeting keywords that are a perfect match.

3. Cost and Efficiency:

Match types also directly affect the cost-effectiveness of ads. Broad match may bring a large number of clicks, but it may also increase ad spending due to less precise traffic. On the other hand, exact match, although it has relatively fewer clicks, usually brings a higher conversion rate, thereby achieving more efficient use of funds.

4. Control and Optimization:

By flexibly using various match types, you can better control the positioning and deployment strategy of your ads. Based on the feedback from each match type, you can adjust budget allocation and bidding strategies, thereby continuously optimizing ad effectiveness and achieving the best input-output ratio.

How to set keyword match types in Google Ads?

There are two main methods to add match types to keywords during the process of building an ad campaign:

First, when you conduct keyword research and plan ad campaigns in Google Keyword Planner, you have the opportunity to choose the match type while adding keywords to the ad group. Broad match is usually set as the default option, but you can easily change it according to actual needs.

Secondly, when you start creating independent ad campaigns and ad groups, you can use a specific format to clearly specify the match type for each keyword. If you are not familiar with this format, don't worry, because Google provides clear format instructions below the keyword input field.

Now, whether it's match types or keywords, you can review and adjust them at any time. Just enter each ad group, and you can easily view and modify each keyword and its corresponding match type.

4 Practical Google Keyword Match Strategies

Generally speaking, I usually start with a complete match strategy, then gradually relax the matching conditions, and try more flexible matching options while continuously monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the ads. However, in the process of creating and managing ad accounts, there are many other keyword match strategies that we need to understand, let's take a look:

1. Use broad match to discover high-intent search terms

Sometimes, we find that some keywords can have a significant impact on ad campaigns. Broad match keywords can help us discover some new keywords, helping us find those display opportunities that we hadn't noticed before.

Especially in text ads and shopping ads, once you find these ad keywords, you can further precisely target them by using them as phrase match or exact match keywords, directly adding them to the corresponding ad groups.

2. Combine broad match with specific audience targeting

Some advertisers like to use broad match keywords, coupled with other audience targeting methods, to enhance the relevance of ad displays, while still maintaining a certain flexibility in keywords.

To achieve this, they add demographic, hobby, and online behavior characteristics to the ads, so that the ads can more accurately find the target audience.

3. Combine broad match with smart bidding

Using broad match keywords with smart bidding can sometimes have unexpected effects. If your ad campaign, or account, has accumulated sufficient conversion data to support the implementation of a smart bidding strategy, then you can add broad match keywords to existing ad campaigns and ad groups to accelerate optimization efficiency.

4. Increase bids for exact match keywords

To fully unleash the potential of those high-value keywords, you can boldly increase their bids. Although this means you may need to invest more money in exact match keywords, many overseas brands understand the value behind these keywords and are willing to do so.

In addition, we can also use some lower-cost broad match keywords to reduce the cost per click and increase the exposure of your ads, thereby enhancing your ad effectiveness.