Phrase Match vs. Broad Match vs. Exact Match: Which One Is Right for You?

Introduction

If you’re taking into consideration of spending money on Google ads to reach your target audience, you want to make sure that the money is well spent, and spent in the relevant place – somewhere like Google. With more than 92.5 billion visits per month, Google is one of the online opportunities that is almost endless in terms of reach and investment.

In this guide, we’ll talk about how to use the types of keywords matched in Google ads and everything you need to know about how to optimize your campaigns so you can achieve the best goals from your Google ads. 

Understanding Types of Keywords

Keyword match types notify Google how closely you want them to stick to your list of multiple keywords. Some match types let you be visible up in search results where the user either used relevant, close meaning, or keywords out of sequence. Others only want to show up searches that precisely match the keywords.

Broad Match Keywords

Broad match keyword is the most flexible solution of choice if you are targeting a wide range audience. You are able to attract a big number of users and at the same time potential customers to the website. Your ads might also become visible to users who have not entered a keyword that is completely the same as the one they entered.

Exact match keywords

Grammatical issues, related terms , similar terms, singular and plural words,  connected searches, and so on. This type of match might also take into account the customer’s recent search activity.

  • Broad match provides digital marketers a best deal control over the particular search terms that ads match also, and volume might be limited.
  • Broad match makes sure the core concept of a keyword is shown in the search term while coming to a similar volume to what exact match keywords would give.
  • Broad match keywords must be present in both exact match and phrase match keywords in any ad group to make sure high performance.
  • Broad matches let digital marketers reach the most possible customer searching for product or service.
  • Reduced Control: Broad match keywords provide less authority over where your ads are displayed compared to more specific targeted keyword match types like phrase match or exact match.
  • Potential for Keyword Cannibalisation: When multiple keywords use in the same campaign are very similar or overlap in user intent, and reduce overall campaign success.

  • Struggles with Improving Website Performance:Improving the performance of broad match keywords can be difficult due to the sheer volume of potential search queries they can match with.

Phrase Match Keywords

Phrase match keywords drop between exact match and broad match. With phrase match, your ads will be triggered when a search query enters your keywords or a close variation of your keywords within a phrase. The search query might have extra words before or after your keywords, but the core definition remains the same

phrase match keywords
  • You can target relevant intent with particular keywords order.
  • It allows ads to increase ads relevance and click-through rates.

  • It gives more control than broad match keywords, and pushes Limits on irrelevant traffic compared to the broad match.

  • Restricted Audience Reach: It restricts your ad disclosure by only showing ads for queries that involve the exact phrase match.
  • Excludes Close Variations: small term sequence changes or synonyms can stop your ad from showing.
  • Higher Cost Per Click Prices: Narrow targeting may affect higher costs per click due to increased competition for particular keywords.
  • Needs Enhanced Keyword Monitoring: You have to manage extra variations to catch relevant traffic.

Exact Match Keywords

Exact match keywords let digital marketers target ads to users whose search queries are closely in range with the specified keyword. This big level of targeting can lead to improved relevancy between query and ads  content, Increasing conversion rates and limiting CPC.

Exact match keywords
  • Highly Specific Audience: Your Ads will only be visible for exact search queries, make sure your ad reaches an extremely relevant audience.
  • Maximized Content Relevance: It Increases the probability of conversions by showing your ads to users searching for your keywords.
  • Improved Cost Effectiveness: It Helps to reduce unwanted spend by avoiding irrelevant clicks, leading to a bigger ROI ( Return on Investment ).
  • Increase Control: It Provides full authority over the search terms triggering to ads, and reducing guessing.
  • Requires Extensive Keyword Research : You have to conduct in-depth research to recognize all potential exact keywords, leading to more management throughout the time.
  • Limited Reach : Your Ads only visible for exact match search, and it’s limiting your audience compared to broader match types.
  • Higher Bids for Select Keywords : Exact match keywords can become more costly due to increased competition for those specific search terms.

Final Words on Google Ads Keyword Match Types

As you’ve seen, selecting your keyword match types isn’t always easy. Additionally, resolving for one match type alone might not yield the best outcome in your ads campaign.

 

To obtain the best of both worlds, you can try applying multiple match types in your ads. But this needs some hard work.

 

You first have to start a framework that works with combined match types. If you’re careless with the match types, you may show multiple ads in different ad groups or campaigns, which would mean competing against yourself across ad groups leading to potential inefficacies.