Keyword Match Types in SEM

Keyword Match Types

Keyword match types help control which searches can trigger your ad.For example, you could use broad match to show your ad to a wide audience or you could use exact match to hone in on specific groups of customers.

This article explains the different match types that are available. Learn more about adding keywords.

Keyword match types helps you control which match should trigger your add. For example 

How Keyword Match Types Work

In general, the broader the keyword matching option, the more traffic potential that keyword has. Conversely, the narrower the keyword matching option, the more relevant that keyword will be to someone's search.

Understanding these differences can help you to choose the right options and improve your return on investment.

When choosing the appropriate match type for a keyword, we typically recommend starting with broad match to maximize your potential to show your ads on relevant searches. And you can use the search terms report to monitor which keyword variations triggered your ads.

Different Match Types

Each match type will trigger your ad to show for a customer's search in different ways.

Next, learn a little bit more about each type.

Broad match (example)

Broad match is the default match type that all your keywords are assigned. Ads may show on searches that include misspellings, synonyms, related searches, and other relevant variations.

· Example keyword: women's hats

· Example search: buy ladies hats

Broad match modifier (example)

Ads may show on searches that contain the modified term (or close variations, but not synonyms), in any order.

· Symbol: +keyword

· Example keyword: +women's +hats

· Example search: hats for women

Phrase match (example)

Ads may show on searches that are a phrase, and close variations of that phrase.

· Symbol: "keyword"

· Example keyword: "women's hats"

· Example search: buy women's hats

Exact match (example)

Ads may show on searches that are an exact term and close variations of that exact term.

· Symbol: [keyword]

· Example keyword: [women's hats]

· Example search: women's hats

Negative match (example)

Ads may show on searches without the term.

· Symbol: -keyword

· Example keyword: -women

· Example search: baseball hats

Close keyword variations

So that you don't miss out on potential customers, we'll show your ads for close variations of your phrase and exact match keywords to maximize the potential for your ads to show on relevant searches. Close variations include misspellings, singular forms, plural forms, acronyms, stemming (such as floor and flooring), abbreviations, and accents. So there's no need to separately add close variations as keywords.

For example, if your phrase match keyword is "kid's scooter," you'd still want to show your ad when someone searches for "kids scooter" or "kid scooters."

Keep in mind that even though we show close variations of your phrase and exact match keywords, these match types still give you more control than broad match. That's because broad match keywords also show for synonyms and related searches, which aren't considered close variations.

For app install campaigns, we may extend the scope of some of your keyword match types in ways that are specific to apps. Here's how this can work:

· For exact and phrase keywords, we may make small changes to search terms (like adding or removing the word "app") to better match with your targeted keywords.

· For broad match keywords, we may use app category information to improve both your targeting precision and reach.