Quick answer: Google Ads match types control how closely searches must match your keywords. Phrase and exact suit small budgets; broad needs good data.
Match types decide how closely someone’s search has to match your keyword before your ad can show. They’ve changed a lot over the years, so here’s how they work now.
Exact match
Written with square brackets: [emergency electrician]. Your ad can show for searches with the same meaning as your keyword, including close variants such as plurals, misspellings and reordered words. For example “electrician emergency” or “emergency electricians”.
Best for: your most valuable searches, where you want the most control.
Phrase match
Written with quotes: “emergency electrician”. Your ad can show for searches that include the meaning of your keyword, possibly with words before or after. For example “24 hour emergency electrician Wollongong”.
Best for: catching useful variations while keeping reasonable control.
Broad match
Written with no symbols: emergency electrician. Your ad can show for searches related to your keyword, even if they don’t contain the words. Google uses signals such as other keywords in the ad group, landing page content and the user’s recent searches.
Best for: accounts with reliable conversion tracking and Smart Bidding, where Google can learn which related searches convert. It needs close monitoring through the search terms report.
Which to use on a small budget
- Start with exact and phrase match on your best keywords.
- Build a solid negative keyword list. Read negative keywords.
- Get conversion tracking working.
- Once you have steady conversions, test broad match in a separate ad group or campaign and compare cost per enquiry.
Watch the search terms report
Whatever match types you use, the search terms report shows what people actually searched. Review it regularly to find new keywords and negatives. Read how to read the search terms report.
Close variants and negatives are different
Normal keywords include close variants automatically. Negative keywords don’t, so add plurals and misspellings to negatives yourself.
Sources and further reading
Written by Gregory
20 years building websites and running lead generation, mostly with my own money on the line. Based in Sydney, working with clients worldwide. How I work →