What Are Keyword Match Types?

Keyword match types are a control measure used by a number of mainstream advertising vendors (Google AdWords, Bing and Yahoo). They help to control how your ads are triggered due to the type of search phrase used. This is aimed at making paid search advertising more efficient. By using the various keyword match types efficiently, you can help to ensure the relevancy of your ads that are displayed via your chosen search engine. The match types below are according to the Google AdWords guidelines. (Our preferred advertising medium)

[Exact] : keyword match type

Exact match keywords are as they sound. If we assign the square brackets to a keyword, it will only appear if that exact keyword is typed into Google.

E.G. If a person searches for Payment Gateways on Google and you have set your keyword to [payment gateways] your ad will trigger.

However if they searched for Payment Gateway your ads won’t trigger due to the s at the end.

“Phrase” : keyword match type

Phrase match keywords are set by placing apostrophes around the keyword. They trigger ads if the keywords are in the same order, but can have other words before and after.

E.G. If a person searches for Payment Gateways South Africa on Google and the keyword has been set to “payment gateways” your ads will trigger.

However, if they search for Payment from South African gateways the ads won’t trigger due to the words payment and gateways not being displayed in the same order.

Broad : keyword match type

Broad match keywords will give you the most impressions. The keywords can be placed in any order and will also trigger your ads if Google’s algorithm associates the keyword with related topics. This can cause issues with relevancy as it could trigger ads to unrelated topics.

E.G. If a person searches for Payments Online on Google and the keyword has been set to online payments your ads will trigger.

However, if they search for Pay Speeding Fines your ads will also trigger (This can be combated by the next match type).

-Negative : keyword match type

Placing a minus sign in front of a keyword sets a keyword as negative match. This is extremely useful, as it can cut down on irrelevant impressions by ensuring that the ads are not triggered if a specific keyword is used in a combination of keywords.

E.G. If a person searches for EFT Payments Online on Google and the keyword is set to online payments but has a negative keyword of –eft then the ads won’t be triggered.

Negative keywords can also be assigned with exact, phrase and broad match types but his is a topic for another article. (At Amanzi Digital, we place a lot of emphasis on reducing irrelevant impressions by compiling a comprehensive list of negative keywords with our PPC services).

+Broad +Modified : keyword match type

Broad match modified keywords are set by placing plus signs before each keyword. BMM Keywords give you the large reach of broad match keywords, but with more control (This is Amanzi Digitals preferred keyword match type). It is a combination of phrase match and broad match. If your keywords are set to broad match modified, your ads will trigger if any combination of the keywords is searched with words in front or after and also allows for plurals, synonyms and misspellings but doesn’t look for related words as with BM.

E.G. If a person searches for Online Credit Card Payments on Google and the keyword is set to +online +payment then the ads will trigger.

At Amanzi Digital, we set up all of our accounts using the broad match modified as the keyword match type and create comprehensive lists of negative keywords. We then create exact match campaigns for keywords that have converted. This helps us drill down to find the best performing keywords for your business.

We use this as a keyword research strategy for our SEO services to ensure that you invest in keywords that actually generate business. Without this type of testing in place, you are gambling on keywords that “might” get you traffic, which is useless if they don’t convert into leads and sales. Please feel free to comment or ask any questions below.