Broad match
keyword match types / phrase match / exact match / match type
Broad match is the widest keyword setting, and Google's default. Google says ads may show on searches related to your keyword, including ones that do not contain its direct meaning. Both platforms say it should be paired with automated bidding, because every query it matches is different.
Google is candid about the reach. With broad match, ads may show on searches that are related to your keyword, which can include searches that do not contain the direct meaning of your keywords. It is also the default match type, which means it is what an account uses when nobody has chosen otherwise.
Microsoft describes the same arrangement as a spectrum, from least restrictive to most: broad, then phrase, then exact. It adds a clarifying point. A broad match keyword captures all the search queries of the narrower types and more, so it will match everything a phrase or exact version of that keyword would have matched, plus additional queries.
What decides those additional queries is the part worth understanding, because it is not in your account. Google says broad match takes into account the user's recent search activities, the content of your landing pages and assets, and other keywords in the same ad group, using them to better understand keyword intent. The match is built from signals you cannot see and did not supply.
That is why both platforms attach the same condition. Google calls it critical to use Smart Bidding with broad match, on the grounds that every search query is different and the bid for each should reflect auction-time signals. Microsoft says auto-bidding strategies work best with broad match for the same reason.
In practice
There is a reporting wrinkle that hides how much broad match is doing. Microsoft says reports, including keyword performance reports, show only the match type that took precedence. If an exact keyword also matched the query, the impression is reported against the exact one. The broad keyword did work that the report attributes elsewhere, which is one reason the search terms report is the honest view of what a campaign is actually buying.
Not the same as
- Phrase or exact match
- Narrower settings. Microsoft notes broad captures everything they would have, and more.
- A negative keyword
- That excludes. Broad match includes, and negatives are how you take the edges off it.
Why it matters to you
Broad match is the default, so it is what you have unless somebody decided otherwise, and it is the setting most capable of spending money on searches you would never have chosen. It is not a mistake to use it. It is a mistake to use it without automated bidding, without negatives, and without reading the search terms report, and all three of those are documented by the platforms themselves rather than by critics.
What to ask or check
- 01Which of our keywords are on broad match, and was that a decision or a default?
- 02Are we using an automated bid strategy, which both platforms say broad match needs?
- 03What has the search terms report shown in the last month, and what became a negative?
What people get wrong
That a keyword controls which searches trigger an ad. Google says broad match uses the visitor's recent search activity, your landing page content and other keywords in the ad group to interpret intent.
Red flags
- Broad match running on a manual bid strategy, which both platforms advise against.
- A keyword report used as evidence of what broad match bought, when it credits the match type that took precedence.
- No negative keyword list, and nobody reading the search terms report.
Where you will see it
In the match type column of any keyword list, and in the gap between what you thought you bid on and what the search terms report shows.