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How to Use Keyword Match Types

What are Keyword Match Types

In paid search marketing, users searching for items online can trigger ads by advertisers selling those items if the advertisers have bid on the right keywords.

Beyond just bidding, there are strategies that you can use to increase the productivity of your online campaigns.

One of these strategies is to use keyword match types.

What are Keyword Match Types

The same keyword match types will not work for every campaign. All three can be utilized together, or separately, depending on your PPC strategy and/or business type.

Each match type has its own set of benefits, and weaknesses, but when utilized together, you can experience great results.

The four main keyword match types:

Broad match

Phrase match

Exact match

Negative match

After you bid on a keyword by keying it in by itself, your ad can be seen when any of the words appear in a search question.

This is the default selection.

Broad Match

Broad match

Should your ad group include the keyword ‘running shoes,' your ad would be qualified to display when an individual’s search query includes either or both keywords ‘running’ and ‘shoes’ in any order, and possibly along with other terms.

Your ads may also show for singular/plural forms, synonyms, and other variations.

With broad match chosen, ads can display on queries for running, shoes, buy running shoes, running shoe photos, women's shoes, and running clothes.

Broad match is a critical keyword match type because it reaches the largest potential audience

By using broad match, your ad will emerge each time an individual queries any word in your key phrase, in any order.

For instance, if you use broad match on "luxury spa", your advertisement will be displayed any time a user types "luxury spa", or "best spa."

Since this is working on every term within your key phrase individually and together, your ad may also be seen when querying unrelated subjects.

You can create negative keywords to protect against this.

Broad Match

Broad match

Negative keywords are essential with expanded broad match - an AdWords matching function that makes use of synonyms or additional terms individuals might key in to reach any of the words in your key phrase.

Continuing the "luxury spa" illustration, an individual may be shown your ad when looking for "salon", "spa review", or "luxury hotel."

While the original phrase may apply to your keywords, plenty of queries are going to have nothing to do with your ad, and that will cost you money.

Broad match

Broad match keywords, are the keywords that get the most impressions.

Broad match keywords, activate anytime one of the keywords are in the search term in any form, including singular/plural variations, synonyms, and other appropriate varieties.

Broad match

This keyword type works for companies with large budgets, or companies attempting to get their name out.

If you are going for brand recognition, apply broad match.

If your advertising campaign is concentrated on customers in the early stages of the purchasing cycle, broad match might be a good way to target people searching for your service, but unsure of what to look up.

Phrase match

Once you bid on a keyword and include it in quotation marks, as in "running shoes," your ad can show only when a user searches on the phrase running shoes, with the terms in that order.

Your advertisement might also appear for queries including different phrases so long as it offers the words you have selected.

Phrase match

With phrase match selected, ads may show in inquiries to find black running shoes, buy running shoes, running shoes photo and so on.

Advertisements will not show on searches for shoes for running, winter shoes, and snow shoes.

Phrase match

Phrase match gives you some of the flexibility of broad match, with more control.

Your advertisement will only appear when a consumer queries your key phrase with keywords in the exact order you selected.

Phrase match

If your key phrase is "sewing supplies", your advertisement will show every time a customer searches for "sewing supplies," "discount sewing supplies," or "sewing supplies wholesale," but not "sewing needles," "sewing machine supplies," or "art supplies."

The search can include words before or after your keywords, so there is flexibility, but, you may be passing on potential business.

Phrase match

Should you use phrase match, your keyword or keywords will generate ads if your search query makes use of the precise order that your keywords are in.

When the search query contains extra terms, but the keywords are in the organization you specify, your advertisements can still display.

Phrase match

If your keyword is ‘wool socks,’ your ads may still show if a person types in ‘wool socks for hiking.’

Because of this, Phrase match will reduce unrelated traffic, but can still get you wasted impressions.

Phrase match

Consider using this match type if you have a modest Pay per click budget, since reduced impressions result in an increased Click through rate and Quality Score, reducing cost.

If you are advertising a very targeted product (‘wool socks’) but do not aspire to take away all traffic not specifically regarding ‘wool socks,’ employ this match type.

Exact match

When you bid on a keyword and surround your keyword in brackets ([tennis shoes]) your advertisement will only show up when a person searches for the precise phrase "tennis shoes" with the words in that sequence, and without any other words in the query.

Exact match

Exact match is regarded as the most precise of the keyword match types.

With this match type, users are only going to see your advertisement when they key in your particular key phrase by itself.

Exact match

For instance, if your key phrase is "ladies business suit", your ad will only appear when a user looks for "ladies business suit", instead of "business suit", or "ladies suit".

Visitors that click on your advertisement after looking for that particular phrase are more likely to be serious about your item or service; but, you will have reduced visitors as a consequence.

Exact match

If you desire only targeted traffic and a high conversion rate, this kind of match type may be for you.

The downside is that you are restricting the impressions your advertisements will get.

This will help cost and conversion rate, however, as you are limiting your ad campaign due to the decreased volume of impressions.

Negative match

When you bid on a keyword like ‘tennis racket’ (with any of the above match types) and you include the negative keyword ‘-used,’ (with a minus sign, implying it is negative) your advertising will not display for any queries that contain the word ‘used.’

With negative match and an another match type chosen, ads may show on searches for tennis racket, buy tennis racket, tennis and so on.

Ads will not show on searches for used tennis racket, racket used for tennis and the like.

Negative match

This match type is not necessarily a match type, but more of a means to cut down on unwanted impressions.

In AdWords, there is a list of all the negative keywords you have entered, signified with a minus sign before them.

Negative match

Negative keywords are keywords that disqualify a query from populating an advertisement.

For example, if you have ‘tennis racket,’ yet do not want to show up for ‘tennis shoes,’ you would insert the negative keyword ‘-shoes’ to your campaign.

Negative match

Negative keywords can be as basic or as complicated as you would like them to be.

Be mindful of how you insert them. Many times in accounts, if you experience a sudden decrese in impressions, it can be because a negative keyword is inadvertently deterring relevant traffic.

Negative match

A negative keyword that is very broad will exclude the word in any form within the search topic.

Use broad words to rule out individual qualifiers, instead of keywords.

Use Phrase and Exact match Negative keywords once you have discovered particular query strings that are considered irrelevant, based on search data from Search Query Reports.

In Summary

It is possible to set up complete ad campaigns with only one of the match types, but to do so would be missing out on the prospects that each gives you the advertiser.

Assess your budget and advertising goals to decide how to best use all of the match types to make your campaign more successful.

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