When it comes to Google Ads, the success of your campaigns depends heavily on one core detail: your keywords. But it’s not just about what keywords you choose—it’s how you match them.
Understanding Google’s keyword match types is essential for controlling your traffic, managing your spend, and ensuring your ads are reaching the right audience at the right time.
Broad Match – Maximum Reach, Minimum Control
This is Google’s default match type, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: broad.
If you add a keyword like tennis shoes without any punctuation or modifiers, Google can show your ad to users searching for related terms like “running sneakers,” “athletic footwear,” or even “sports gear.”
When to use it:
- If you’re in a discovery phase and want to gather data
- If you have a tight negative keyword strategy in place
- If you want to scale fast and test demand
Caution:
Broad match can burn through budget fast if left unchecked. I always recommend layering it with smart bidding and negative keywords.
Phrase Match – A Middle Ground
Phrase match adds more control than broad, but still allows flexibility.
When you use quotation marks around your keyword—like “tennis shoes”—Google will show your ad to queries that include that phrase in the same order, even if users add words before or after it. For example:
- “best tennis shoes for women”
- “buy tennis shoes online”
When to use it:
- If you want to reach intent-based queries without the risk of going too broad
- When your product or brand has a specific focus
- For branded campaigns with long-tail keyword phrases
Exact Match – Precision Targeting
Exact match gives you the tightest control over who sees your ads.
Use square brackets—like [tennis shoes]—and Google will show your ad only to users searching that term or a close variant (like “tenis shoes” or “shoes tennis”).
When to use it:
- For high-converting terms you know drive results
- When budget is tight and you need quality over quantity
- For retargeting or brand defense campaigns
Don’t Forget Negative Keywords
Just as important as telling Google who to show your ads to is telling it who not to show them to. Negative keywords prevent your ads from appearing on irrelevant searches. If you sell premium products, adding -free or -cheap can help filter out unqualified traffic.