Keyword match types

Google offers 4 main types of keyword types for its Ads system:

Exact match: This means that your ads will be triggered by the exact keyword you have specified and close variants. So if you add skate shoes as an exact match keyword, your ads will be triggered when a user searches for this term.

Phrase match: This means your ads will be triggered by the phrase you have specified. So if you addskate shoes as a phrase match keywords, your ads will be triggered when a user searches “cheap skate shoes” or “red skate shoes”.

Broad match modified: This means your ads will be triggered by a search that must include the terms you have specified. So if you add skate shoes as a modified broad match term, your ads will be triggered when a user searches “skate shoes”, but also “shoes that skaters wear”.

Broad match: This means your ads will be triggered by searches that are broadly related to the term you have specified. So if you add skate shoes in your account as broad match, your ads will be triggered when a user searches “skate shoes”, but also “men’s fashion”.

Negative keywords: Because the phrase, broad match modified and modified keywords mean your ads could potentially be triggered by terms you don’t want to, you can mitigate this by using negative keywords. So, let’s say you have added skate shoes to your account, but are concerned that you may get less relevant traffic from terms like “men’s fashion”. This is when you add the negative keyword men’s fashion. This will exclude the term from triggering your ads.

Which negative keywords to add and which search terms are actually triggering ads can be found by looking in the Search Terms tab under Keywords. Here, you will find all the terms people have used to trigger your ads. In fact, once your account has been set up, a lot of your day-to-day management time should be spent adding negative keywords to the account and the rest should probably be spent managing bids and testing new ad copy.