Match types are Google Ads keyword settings that control how closely a user’s search must match a keyword for the ad to be eligible. There are three: broad match, phrase match, and exact match, from the widest reach to the tightest control.
Key Takeaways
- Three match types: broad, phrase, and exact
- All three include close variants such as plurals, misspellings, and same-meaning rephrasings
- The wider the match type, the more varied the searches you pay for
- Negative keywords have their own match types, which do not include close variants
- The search terms report is how you see what each match type actually bought
What Are Match Types
A keyword is not a literal string Google waits for. It is a signal of intent, and the match type tells Google how far it may stretch that intent when deciding whether a search is relevant.
| Match type | Notation | Eligible searches |
|---|---|---|
| Broad | running shoes | Searches related to the keyword’s meaning, even without its words |
| Phrase | "running shoes" | Searches that include the meaning of the keyword, with words before or after |
| Exact | [running shoes] | Searches with the same meaning as the keyword |
How It Works
When a search happens, Google looks at every keyword in the account that could be relevant, filtered by its match type. Broad match uses the most context: the other keywords in the ad group, the landing page, and signals about the person searching. Phrase match requires the search to carry the keyword’s meaning, and word order matters when it changes that meaning. Exact match is limited to the same meaning, though Google still treats rephrasings with identical intent as matches.
When several of your keywords could match the same search, Google prefers an identical exact-match keyword if one exists.
Practical Example
An advertiser selling running shoes has three keywords:
running shoes(broad) can match “best trainers for a marathon”"running shoes"(phrase) can match “women’s running shoes on sale”[running shoes](exact) can match “running shoe” or “shoes for running”
Reviewing the search terms report after a month shows which of these searches converted and which only cost money. The irrelevant ones become negative keywords.
Why It Matters
Match type decides how many different searches you pay for. Broad match finds searches you would not have thought of, and Google recommends it together with Smart Bidding; it also produces the most irrelevant traffic. Exact match gives control at the cost of volume. Whatever the mix, the search terms report is the only place that shows what each choice actually bought.