Google Ads Match Types Explained: Exact, Phrase, and Broad Match in 2025

The Three Keyword Match Types

Google Ads offers three keyword match types that control how closely a user's search must match your keyword before your ad can appear. Choosing the right match type — and the right strategy for combining them — is one of the most important decisions in account management.

Exact Match

Notation: [keyword]

Exact match triggers your ad only when someone searches for your keyword or very close variants (same meaning, reordered words, implied words). It is the most restrictive match type and gives you the highest control.

Example: Keyword [plumber london]

• Triggers for: "plumber london", "london plumber", "plumber in london"
• Does not trigger for: "cheap plumber london", "plumber manchester"

When to use: For your highest-value, highest-intent keywords. Exact match traffic converts at the highest rate because the search intent precisely matches your keyword.

Phrase Match

Notation: "keyword"

Phrase match triggers your ad when the search includes the meaning of your keyword. The search can include additional words before or after, but the core phrase must be present.

Example: Keyword "plumber london"

• Triggers for: "plumber london", "best plumber london", "plumber london reviews", "affordable plumber in london"
• Does not trigger for: "plumber manchester", "london electrician"

When to use: For expanding reach beyond Exact match while maintaining relevance. Phrase match captures long-tail variations you did not explicitly target.

Broad Match

Notation: keyword (no brackets or quotes)

Broad match triggers your ad for searches that are related to your keyword, including synonyms, related searches, and implied intent. It casts the widest net.

Example: Keyword plumber london

• Triggers for: "plumber london", "fix leaking pipe london", "london drainage engineer", "plumbing repair services near me" (if in London)
• May trigger for: "handyman london", "bathroom renovation london"

When to use: For discovery — finding new keyword opportunities and expanding into searches you did not predict. Requires careful monitoring and strong negative keyword lists.

The Evolution: What Happened to Broad Match Modified?

In August 2021, Google retired Broad Match Modified (BMM), which used the +keyword notation. BMM was a middle ground between Phrase and Broad match — it required the modified words to be present in the search but allowed any order and additional words.

Google merged BMM behavior into Phrase match, making today's Phrase match broader than the original Phrase match. This means:

• Old Phrase Match was very restrictive — the exact phrase had to appear in order
• New Phrase Match includes the intent of BMM — words can be reordered and additional context is allowed

For advertisers who relied heavily on BMM, the transition meant switching to Phrase match and adding more negative keywords to maintain control.

Match Type Strategy: How to Combine Them

The most effective approach is using all three match types together, with a clear strategy for each:

The Funnel Approach

Think of match types as a funnel:

1. Broad match at the top — casts a wide net, discovers new search terms, lower bids
2. Phrase match in the middle — captures relevant variations, moderate bids
3. Exact match at the bottom — targets proven, high-converting keywords, highest bids

Each match type serves a different purpose. Broad discovers, Phrase validates, and Exact converts.

Budget Allocation

A common starting allocation:

• Exact match: 50% of budget (proven keywords, highest ROI)
• Phrase match: 30% of budget (validated variations, good ROI)
• Broad match: 20% of budget (discovery, lower ROI but finds new opportunities)

After 2-4 weeks of data, shift budget toward the match types that deliver the best results.

Match Type Splitting: Campaign vs. Ad Group

When using multiple match types, you need to decide where to split them:

Campaign-Level Splitting (Recommended)

Each match type gets its own campaign. This is the professional setup because it gives you:

• Independent budgets — Allocate more money to Exact match and less to Broad
• Separate bid strategies — Use Target CPA for Exact, Maximize Clicks for Broad
• Cleaner reporting — See exactly which match type drives your conversions
• Match type protection — Negative keywords at the campaign level prevent overlap

The naming convention follows: EN_US | Search | [Services+Locations] (Exact), EN_US | Search | [Services+Locations] (Phrase), EN_US | Search | [Services+Locations] (Broad).

Ad Group-Level Splitting

Each match type gets its own ad group within the same campaign. Simpler to manage but you lose independent budget control — all match types share the same daily budget.

No Splitting

All match types in the same ad group. The simplest structure but offers the least control. Only recommended for very small accounts.

Negative Keywords and Match Type Protection

When you run all three match types for the same keyword, match type overlap becomes a problem. Without protection, Google might show your Broad match ad for a search that exactly matches your Exact match keyword — routing the traffic to the wrong campaign.

The solution is negative keywords in the Broad match campaign:

For keyword "plumber london":

• Exact campaign: [plumber london] — no negatives needed
• Phrase campaign: "plumber london" — no negatives needed
• Broad campaign: plumber london + Negative Exact [plumber london] + Negative Phrase "plumber london"

This ensures:

• An exact search for "plumber london" goes to the Exact campaign
• A phrase search like "best plumber london" goes to the Phrase campaign
• Only truly broad searches like "fix my pipes in london area" go to the Broad campaign

Monitoring Match Type Performance

Track these metrics per match type to optimize your strategy:

• CTR — Exact should have the highest CTR (most relevant ads)
• Conversion Rate — Exact typically converts best, Broad worst
• CPC — Broad usually has the lowest CPC, Exact the highest
• Cost Per Conversion — The true measure of profitability per match type
• Search Terms Report — Regularly review what searches triggered each match type

When to Adjust

• Exact match CPC too high? Lower bids or review your keyword selection
• Broad match bringing irrelevant traffic? Add more negative keywords
• Phrase match outperforming Exact? Some keywords may not need Exact match targeting
• Broad match finding great new keywords? Move them to Phrase or Exact campaigns