As a customer, if you search a query, let’s say ‘wardrobe,’ Google will list the results based on ‘keyword matching.’ As a marketer, you can choose from three types of keyword matches before listing your advertisement or products on Google. The keyword matches determine the extent to which you want to respond to a user keyword query. These three types of keyword matches are:
- Exact match
- Phrase match
- Broad match
Source: support.google.com
Let’s know about each of these to know and understand them better.
What is the Exact keyword match?
Choosing an exact keyword match will only display results specific to the exact keyword phrase. For instance, if the keyword is ‘wooden wardrobe,’ your ad or web page will only appear if the user searches for these exact words. If the customer types in ‘wardrobe’ or ‘engineered wood wardrobe’ or ‘cupboard’ or even ‘wardrobe wooden,’ it will not be eligible as you chose Exact keyword match as your keyword match type.
Do retailers benefit from exact keyword match types? Well, on Google, the exact keyword type only restricts the reach. It may be suitable on Amazon as it helps customers find the product quickly, provided the customer knows exactly what they are looking for.
However, Google has made certain updates to the Exact match keyword to widen its reach. Google has decided to respond to synonyms when using exact keyword matches. This means when searching for a ‘wardrobe,’ words like ‘cupboard’ and ‘almirah’ may also be accepted, and related results will be listed.
When to use an exact keyword match?
As it lessens the audience reach, everyone is doubtful about using Exact keyword matches. However, it has its perks. It’s surely useful for sellers selling a very specific product.
For instance, if you are a ‘football shoe’ seller, you need to use an exact keyword match as other related keyword queries like ‘sports shoes,’ ‘athletic shoes,’ and ‘sports shoes’ would result in a too broad query.
Even a phrase keyword match may not work in such a situation. A phrase keyword query would look like this:
This might be helpful to some extent. However, it would not be useful if the key phrase includes more keywords like ‘football and basketball shoes’ or ‘best second-hand basketball shoes’ etc.
Another benefit of using the exact match keyword is to reduce your ad cost – in literal terms, cost per acquisition (CPA). When your ad is gathering enough traffic and click-through rates but isn’t converting enough, it results in a higher CPA. Furthermore, resulting in a lower return on investment.
On the contrary, though Exact Keyword Match results in lower traffic, they are more likely to be accurate and convert into sales. But not to forget, when using exact keyword match, you fail to clinch to people who love impulsive buying. You will miss out on buyers who look for something but buy something else if they find it worth it.
What is a Phrase keyword match?
Phrase keyword match is a step ahead of exact keyword match. It widens the keyword search and does not limit it to exact words.
For instance, when a search query says, ‘furniture for home,’ a phrase match keyword will show results for ‘furniture shops near me,’ ‘online furniture for home,’ ‘home furniture,’ ‘furniture for homes,’ etc.
This means a phrase keyword match will show search queries not strictly matching the query and may include words/phrases in addition to the key phrase. A few words before and after the key search words are not disregarded in case of phrase keyword match type.
The phrase keyword match can now include plurals, synonyms, and even close variants of the keywords used in a phrase. This came after an update made by Google several years ago – back in 2019.
When to use phrase keyword match?
Use phrase keyword match in your ad campaign when your product demands wider reach than an exact phrase keyword and lesser reach than a broad match keyword.
For instance, use phrase match keyword if your product demands medium reach like ‘phone back covers.’ Some of the useful phrase keywords for this could be:
- Back covers for iPhone
- Phone back covers online for iPhone 12
- Mobile back cover for android phones
- Mobile covers for iPhone
- Buyback covers online
- Photo back mobile covers
Using an exact keyword match like ‘back cover’ will restrict its reach to users searching for just ‘back cover.’ Your ad will not be useful for those who use words like ‘mobile case’ or ‘phone case’ in their search query.
One of the latest updates to phrase keyword match
One of the latest updates to phrase keyword match came not long ago. With this update, phrase keyword match is made more flexible and has moved closer to a broad keyword match in its reach.
Source: support.google.com
The above image explains the new update very well. The phrase keyword will cover all helpful queries related to the keyword as long as the meaning of the match is not changed. For instance, taking our example of the phone back covers, with the new update, the phrase keyword will match with other related queries now like
- Mobile back cover cases
- Mobile covers online
- Mobile back cases
but will not match with ‘laptop back cover,’ ‘kindle back cover,’ ‘kindle accessories’ etc as the last queries alter the meaning.
However, with this update, some phrase keywords may become out of budget due to their wider reach. You should keep an eye on their budget constraints to avoid higher costs.
What is a broad keyword match?
Broad keyword match is a default keyword match type. This means in case the retailer chooses not to set a keyword match type, it will automatically be set to a broad keyword match. It provides the widest reach as it covers everything and more that is related to your keyword.
For instance, if your ad uses a broad keyword match for ‘wardrobe,’ your ad/website will be listed on Google search results if a user types anything related like ‘wooden wardrobes,’ ‘home furnishing,’ ‘online wardrobes for home,’ ‘best wardrobes online,’ ‘wardrobe for office,’ ‘wardrobe for sale’ and other related terms.
However, one should be careful when using broad-match keywords for advertisements. Surely, it will bring a lot of clicks, but it also increases the cost. You may be paying extra for the irrelevant clicks that don’t convert.
For instance, a customer buying a wardrobe shown a result of a kitchen cupboard is less likely to convert if he is looking for a wardrobe for his bedroom.
Thus, negative keywords are quite helpful when using a broad keyword match. Negative keywords strictly restrict matching your keywords with irrelevant related keywords. This will keep the keywords open to variations of the main keyword while eliminating all the irrelevant ones.
For instance, if the broad keyword is ‘footwear’ and the negative phrase keyword is ‘men.’It will prevent unnecessary traffic by not serving an ad to an audience looking for men’s shoes. It will only focus on customers looking for women’s shoes, casual shoes, sports shoes, women’s sandals etc., in particular.
When to use broad keyword match?
Using a Broad keyword match is most useful when you want your product to reach the widest audience. In other words, when your product is serving a large audience simultaneously.
For instance, you are a renewable energy service provider. You provide several services like ‘solar panel installation,’ ‘generator and inverter installation,’ ‘solar panel maintenance,’ ‘power backup services,’ and related services.
Using a broad keyword match will allow your Google ad to appear whenever the user types any keyword related to renewable energy.
Other situations in which using broad keyword match is worth it is:
- When you are targeting your previous customers
A broad keyword match is useful when you want your ad to appear on the screens of customers who have previously been on your website. These customers have signed into your brand using Google information. When they sign in to their Google account, your ads appear in front of them.
- Targeting a new market
When a target market is new, and there aren’t many impressions on the given keyword, using a broad keyword match is useful to generate new traffic.
For instance, a new market like selling ‘crochet soft toys’ would better be placed in a broad keyword match. With this, your website/ad will appear with broad keyword queries like soft toys, toys, plush toys, crochet, knitting, etc.
- When you can experiment
When you are in the position to experiment and expand your reach further, a broad keyword match can help you generate more income. However, do this only when you have idle funds and the current performance of your business is above par.
In such a case, spending extra on broad keyword match ad campaigns would do no harm.
Latest broad keyword match update
As per an update made by Google to its Modified Broach Match type, you can no longer add new keywords using (+ keyword) notation. Legacy Broad Match Modifier keywords will act as phrase keywords now. Also, editing your legacy BMM will automatically convert it into a phrase keyword.
As per previous updates, you can now add negative keywords (keywords that are not targeted) to refine the broad match keyword reach.
Conclusion
Exact, Phrase, and Broad keyword match are the three types of keyword matching used in Google campaigns and even on Amazon. Exact keyword match covers the least matched keyword query, while Broad keyword match covers the maximum possible queries for a given keyword. Phrase keywords lie between them, but with the recent update, it is much closer to a Broad keyword match when serving search queries.
