There’s been considerable speculation that Google Ads will remove match types entirely. However, marketers must manage accounts based on what works today, not what might work in the future.
We analyzed extensive Adalysis data to show how match types are performing right now. Since match types behave differently based on your bid method, we’ve also broken the data down by method so you can choose the best approach for your account.
Our goal is to show you how non-brand campaigns are performing. Since brand data can significantly skew even large datasets, we excluded large brand advertisers so our findings reflect what most accounts will see.
We analyzed data from 16,825 search campaigns over three months, focusing on what most advertisers experience with non-brand keywords.
Brand profile campaigns were removed from the study. This type of campaign generally has very high CTRs, conversion rates, and ROAS. They behave differently from non-brand campaigns and would skew all results upwards.
Campaigns with anomalous data were also excluded. Examples include campaigns with thousands of conversions at $0.05 CPAs, ROAS in the millions, average revenue per conversion of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and conversion rates under 0.005% with tens of thousands of clicks.
Campaigns without conversion data were removed.
Campaigns that represented a significant portion of the total dataset were also excluded. This prevents individual advertisers from skewing the overall results.
All currencies were converted to USD using the latest exchange rates.
The data was first aggregated across all campaigns for each segment (match type, bid method, and spend levels), and then the final metrics were calculated. We didn’t use averages of averages.
Match type definitions
Exact match
The search term’s intent must be closely related to your keyword. The word order or spelling doesn’t matter. Google generally matches these keywords to suitable search terms well, with some notable exceptions, such as matching to other brands.
Phrase match
The search term must include your overall keyword’s meaning, but additional ideas can be included. For example, the phrase match keyword plumber would match to cheap plumber or plumber phone number. Google’s matching for phrase match keywords is very inconsistent from account to account. We’ll cover this in more detail below.
Broad match
These keywords match to similar search terms. ‘Similar’ is a term that Google uses, and from a marketer’s perspective, the actual closeness of these search terms has ebbed and flowed over the years. Some years, terms like coal match to apple iphone charger. In other years, Google has been more specific.
The main benefit of broad match is that Google uses additional signals for its automated bidding, such as the user’s previous search history. Google hasn’t made this bidding technology available to any other match types.
Aggregate performance by match type
We established a baseline by aggregating all the data across every bid method. This shows how each match type performs at a high level.
Exact match is the most commonly used match type, followed by phrase, and then broad. However, exact match keywords have the lowest number of impressions of any match type. This is expected, given the more restrictive matching rules for this type.
While exact and phrase are used more frequently than broad match, the distribution of clicks is nearly equal across all three match types.
Efficiency is where exact match shines. It delivers higher CTRs, conversion rates, and ROAS while maintaining lower CPAs than both phrase and broad match.
Phrase match presents an interesting paradox. Despite having both higher CTRs and conversion rates than broad match, it actually delivers worse CPAs and ROAS. Our analysis suggests this is because bids are generally set too high for phrase match.
This could be a weakness in Google’s automated bidding, as broad match uses bid signals unavailable to phrase.
We’ll address phrase match in detail near the end of the analysis, but next, let’s look at the data by bid method.
Ecommerce bidding: Focusing on conversion values
Ecommerce companies focus on revenue and ROAS, relying primarily on Max Conversion Value or Target ROAS bidding.
With these bid methods, Google prioritizes revenue and ROAS over CPA. Therefore, our analysis will focus on revenue-based metrics.
Max Conversion Value bidding
The goal of Max Conversion Value is to maximize your campaign revenue. ROAS isn’t a consideration for bid purposes.
This bid method is used primarily by small ecommerce companies. The vast majority of larger ecommerce advertisers use Target ROAS, along with significantly larger budgets.
Broad match delivers higher revenue per conversion
Max Conversion Value is the only bid method where each match type has a similar number of keywords.
Comparing the percentage of keywords used to their impressions and conversions, all the match types pull their weight. However, broad match made up 32% of keywords, 39% of impressions, 34% of revenue, but only 25% of conversions. That means each broad match conversion leads to more revenue than the other match types.
Broad match delivers higher ROAS despite higher CPA
With Max Conversion Value bidding, broad match had a significantly higher CPA than exact match, but it also had a higher ROAS. You rarely see these two facts together since a high CPA usually means a poor ROAS.
Google appears to find broad match search terms with a low conversion rate. However, if you accumulate enough cheap clicks and some of those users make a purchase, they can add up to a healthy ROAS.
Only Google has the data to validate this strategy. While this study supports advertiser concerns that broad match generates lower-quality clicks, this approach can still deliver a positive ROAS. There simply need to be enough cheap clicks to offset lower conversion rates.
Exact match for single products, broad match for shopping sprees
One way to frame the analysis is around this data:
Exact match is 40% of conversions and 31% of revenue
Broad match is 25% of conversions and 34% of revenue
The average checkout amount for broad match is higher than exact match.
Advertisers use exact match because they know what the user wants, and the customers are buying that single product. These keywords have more competition, leading to low CPAs, high conversion rates, and low checkout amounts. For known commodities, you need exact match or you’ll lose these sales to the competition.
Users who are unsure of their needs or are simply online shopping are triggering broad match keywords. These users aren’t searching for a single product, but rather buying multiple items, which is why the checkout values are higher.
Phrase match struggles with Max Conversion Value
Phrase match has the highest CPA and lowest ROAS. In fact, we’ll see that phrase match has a higher conversion rate than broad match, but worse CPAs and ROAS for many bid methods.
Google bidding appears to be less effective for phrase match keywords. We’ve noticed similar examples to the poor-quality matching seen with broad match back in the 2010s.
Google has significantly expanded the search terms that phrase match keywords can match to. However, since the bid signals used for broad match aren’t applied to phrase match, the bids are leading to poor results.
Most advertisers using Max Conversion Value bidding have relatively few conversions, resulting in less data for Google’s system. This means we can’t recommend phrase match for Max Conversion Value.
While we’re still not ready to walk away from exact match keywords, overall, broad match is performing well with Max Conversion Value bidding. If you aren’t using that match type, it’s worth trying for some of your keywords.
Match type recommendations for Max Conversion Value
Start with exact match keywords to capture buyers who know what they want. If you can’t spend your entire budget on exact match, add your top keywords and search terms as broad match.
What we don’t know is the long-term revenue, repeat buyer behavior, or average returns by match type. This is internal data you should combine with your match type usage.
Just remember, Max Conversion Value bidding is primarily used by smaller accounts. If you have a larger budget, you’ll want to review the Target ROAS section.
Target ROAS bidding
With Target ROAS, Google sets bids to try to meet your ROAS goals. Target ROAS bidding is generally used by three sets of advertisers.
Mid-sized and larger ecommerce companies
Companies with online checkouts (website hosting, travel, etc.)
Lead gen companies
◦ Some assign different conversion values to each lead type
◦ Others assign values to each lead stage and push the value for each stage back to Google (ie. lead, MQL, SQL, sale)
Companies employing Target ROAS bidding generally have more sophisticated ad group structures and campaign setups than those using Max Conversion Value.
ROAS consistency across match types
The data shows a heavy reliance on exact match, which makes up 55% of keywords. When we review efficiency, exact match accounts for 27% of impressions and 40% of conversions, but only 30% of revenue. Exact match converts well, but for low checkout amounts.
This is one of the few bid methods where phrase match shines. It makes up 24% of conversions and 35% of revenue. The difference in phrase match between Target ROAS and Max Conversion Value bidding is startling.
The campaigns that use Target ROAS are generally much larger than those using Max Conversion Value. This means Google’s automated systems have more data for setting bids.
We also see fewer extremely poor search terms for phrase match keywords when using Target ROAS compared to Max Conversion Value. Broad match keywords show ads for a lot of search terms: 25% of keywords, but 46% of impressions. However, the match type holds its own with 35% of conversions and 35% of revenue.
It’s easy to see why large advertisers prefer exact match. It has the highest CTR by a wide margin, the best conversion rate, the lowest CPA, and the highest ROAS.
However, the other match types have comparable ROAS numbers. Google is doing well at delivering on your ROAS goals with every match type.
Exact match for acquisition, phrase match for revenue
Success metrics for ecommerce companies include repeat buyers and lifetime visitor values. Therefore, a common goal is to add buyers to your CRM system, so you can market to them in additional ways. Since exact match has the lowest CPA, it will get more buyers than the other match types into your CRM.
Interestingly, the highest checkout amounts come from phrase match keywords. Once again, the CPAs are extremely high compared to the other match types. Its ROAS is slightly higher than broad match, even with a very high cost per conversion. Phrase match’s conversion amounts compared to revenue amounts show that most of the online shoppers with large carts are matching to phrase keywords.
It appears that Google initially expands phrase match keywords to a wide range of search terms. As those keywords accumulate conversion data, Google gets better at bidding and deciding which search terms to bid on. Phrase match ends up with a nice ROAS.
Many larger cart queries that trigger broad match keywords in Max Conversion Value are captured by phrase terms for Target ROAS bidding.
Since broad match can use additional bid signals, it’s showing for fewer questionable queries, making it also a profitable match type to use with Target ROAS bidding. Overall, Target ROAS is a very good bid method for high-volume accounts.
Match type recommendations for Target ROAS
Start with exact match keywords. If you can’t spend your entire budget on exact match, add your top keywords and search terms as phrase match. If you have additional budget or want more volume, then add the broad match versions of your keywords.
Target ROAS with top products & brand keywords
For this study, we removed brand-profile campaigns to focus on typical advertiser data. Brand campaigns generally have very high CTRs, conversion rates, and ROAS.
However, some ecommerce companies do achieve 2000% ROAS on non-brand keywords or 35% conversion rates. This section shows the complete picture for Target ROAS bidding.
We included these high-performing campaigns while still excluding anomalies (like $1 million average checkouts or 100,000% ROAS campaigns).
The overall percentage of keywords used and conversion-to-revenue ratios remain similar to non-brand Target ROAS data by match type.
The metrics reveal significant differences. Exact match has over double the click-through rates of other match types. While all match types see improved conversion rates, exact match pulls further ahead.
For ROAS, exact match dominates with 615% versus 341% for broad match.
These campaigns contribute a significant amount of data to the analysis. Despite this, phrase match still has a worse CPA than broad match, and only slightly higher ROAS.
These numbers showcase the power of exact match, even with all the signals Google can use for broad match bidding.
Match type recommendations for Target ROAS for brand and top keywords
Start with exact match keywords and spend as much as you can on this match type. If you can’t spend your entire budget on exact match, then you can use a mixture of phrase and broad match.
Phrase match will accumulate more clicks, allowing your remarketing audiences to grow. Broad match has a slightly lower ROAS and a lower CPA, so you’ll get more customers into your loyalty programs. Using a combination of phase and broad match should produce the best results for this bid method.
Lead gen bidding: Focusing on conversions
Lead generation companies focus on achieving the highest possible conversions or the lowest cost per conversion. Therefore, CPA and conversion rates are the biggest focuses.
We’ve included ROAS numbers for reference, but many companies use lead quality estimates or assign random values. Spot checks showed that most advertisers simply use a conversion value of 1.
Conversion count was the most significant difference in ROAS across many accounts. Companies choosing to count duplicate leads as conversions had the highest ROAS.
Max Conversion bidding
Max Conversion focuses on capturing the most conversions regardless of CPA. Target CPA often doesn’t work well if you don’t have a lot of data. So while cost per conversion is important, Max Conversion bidding is usually the fallback bid method.
The vast majority of advertisers using this bid method are small to mid-sized lead gen companies. Campaign budgets are generally under $10k per month, and budgets under $5k are very common.
Some small ecommerce companies with huge variances in checkout values also use this method, as their ROAS numbers by keywords are too variable for Google to bid consistently.
Exact, then phrase, then broad
Once again, we see a huge reliance on exact match. It makes up 54% of all keywords, followed by phrase, and then broad match. Looking at the efficiency of each impression, it’s clear why exact is so commonly used: it captures 23% of impressions but 32% of conversions.
Phrase and broad aren’t too far apart. Phrase comes in at 43% of impressions and 41% of conversions, with broad at 34% of impressions and 26% of conversions. It’s a common scenario where the best match type appears to be exact, followed by phrase and broad match when we examine conversion rates and the efficiency of each impression.
Phrase match has a higher conversion rate than broad match and by far the worst CPA. This shows again that Google struggles with setting bids for phrase match keywords.
Broad match generates a lot of cheap clicks, as it has the lowest conversion rate, but also the lowest CPA.
Broad match is also the least used of all the match types, accounting for only 10% of keywords. This means there is more competition for exact match terms, which will drive up CPAs. However, the CPA for exact match is only $57, compared to $53 for broad match. The gap is fairly small.
CPA vs. lead quality
With lead generation campaigns, the CPA only tells part of the story. Lead quality is a massive factor in determining where to place your budget.
There’s no way for us to determine lead quality at scale; that’s for each advertiser to evaluate. Anecdotal evidence suggests that exact match keywords have a higher lead quality, but this may be changing. Many companies are bidding based on MQLs (marketing qualified leads) or lead quality rather than total leads.
Match type recommendations for Max Conversion
Start with exact match keywords as they have the highest conversion rates. They’ll set benchmarks for CPA, CTR, and conversion rates, which you can use to assess your search terms and match types.
If you can’t spend your entire budget on exact match, add your top keywords and search terms as broad match.
In highly niche or jargon-heavy industries where Google’s understanding may be limited, consider testing phrase match alongside broad match. It may yield better results in some cases. As always, examine lead quality in case you do see a difference in lead quality by match type.
Target CPA bidding
With Target CPA, Google sets bids to try to meet your CPA goal.
While Max Conversion is primarily used by smaller lead gen companies, most mid-sized to enterprise lead gen companies use Target CPA.
Advertisers using Target CPA rely heavily on exact match as it makes up 43% of keywords. However, phrase and broad match are also significant, making up 29% and 28% of the keywords respectively. Once again, broad match generates a much larger percentage of impressions than the keyword count suggests. Over half of all impressions generated by Target CPA bidding come from broad match keywords.
While exact match is only 17% of impressions, it accounts for 29% of conversions. It’s still a force for lead generation.
Looking at effectiveness, exact match is a clear winner. It has a much higher CTR, a higher conversion rate, and a significantly lower CPA than any other match type.
Phrase match edges out broad match for CTR, conversion rates, and CPA. This is one of the few bid methods (along with Target ROAS) where phrase match worked well with Google’s automated bid technology. It does appear that the more conversion data you have, the more effective phrase match becomes.
‘Target’ bid methods (both ROAS and CPA) are generally used by larger advertisers who have more conversion data to work with than most advertisers using ‘Max’ bid methods. Phrase and broad match keywords perform similarly. You can use a mixture or test them against each other to see what works best for you.
Match type recommendations for Target CPA
Start with exact match keywords. If you can’t spend your entire budget on exact match, add your top keywords and search terms as phrase match. If you have additional budget or want more volume, then add the broad match versions of your keywords.
Target CPA with top products & brand keywords
Target CPA is another bid method where brand keywords and top products make a significant difference to the results. For most of this study, we removed brand-profile campaigns with very high CTRs, conversion rates, and ROAS.
However, we wanted to ensure you see the whole picture. For these charts, we included brand campaigns, but still kept out anomalies (like conversion rates over 100%, $0.05 CPAs, etc). Here is the comparison of what non-brand vs. brand produces with Target CPA bidding.
We see a higher reliance on exact match, which makes up 57% of the keywords. Exact match performs very well, as it produces 41% of the impressions but 61% of the conversions. Exact match is by far the most effective match type for this bid method.
Overall, the metrics are in line with what we expected. The highest CTR, conversion rate, and the lowest CPA are from exact match keywords.
Phrase match beats broad match. While broad match has respectable numbers, it’s far enough behind phrase that it should only be used to get more volume or if you can’t spend any more budget on phrase and exact match keywords.
This is one of the few bid methods where exact match did considerably better than broad match. Once again, we see that with enough data, Google can set appropriate bids for phrase match.
Match type recommendations for Target CPA bidding for brand and top keywords
Start with exact match keywords and spend as much as you can on this match type. If you have budget left over, add your keywords as phrase match. If you still have budget left or you just want to experiment, then layer in broad match keywords for your top search terms.
Other bid methods: Focusing on impressions & clicks
There are bid methods that don’t use conversions or revenue data in setting bids. We’ll still reference conversions when comparing the statistics for each method, to see how they perform by match type. This will help you make an informed decision on choosing your match types for these additional bid methods.
Manual CPC bidding
With Manual CPC, you set the bids for every ad group or keyword. Before March 2025, you could use enhanced CPC, where Google gave some bid assistance. That option was retired, so now all bids are directly controlled by advertisers.
The most significant advantage of Manual CPC is that you have complete control over every bid modifier. This type of campaign usually has one or more bid modifiers in place.
Manual CPC bidding is generally employed for specific campaign types:
Extremely high CPC campaigns
◦ Often CPCs are $100+, with $500+ not being uncommon
Campaigns that rely heavily on bid modifiers
Campaigns that use bid data Google doesn’t have access to
◦ Example: Changing bids based on wait times in a call center
Campaigns with very little data, so automated bidding doesn’t have enough data to function
Brand campaigns. Brand is usually run with Manual CPC, Target IS, or Target CPA/ROAS bid methods
Campaigns that don’t pass conversion data to Google Ads
◦ This commonly happens in healthcare or other privacy-regulated industries
◦ Note: We excluded these campaigns from the study since there wasn’t any conversion data
Broad match used by smaller advertisers
Exact match dominates this category, making up 70% of all keywords in Manual CPC campaigns. Exact match also has the highest percentage of clicks, conversions, and revenue.
The data gets messy when we compare phrase to broad match. Broad match signals for bid purposes aren’t used in manual campaigns. However, the CPAs for broad match are half that of phrase match.
Interestingly, phrase match still maintains a higher ROAS than broad match, even with extremely high CPCs. This is a data anomaly. Manual CPC is one of the least used bid methods, and broad match only makes up 5% of overall keywords.
When we segmented campaigns with budgets over $10,000 per month, broad match usage dropped to under 1% of keywords being used. Clearly, broad match is mainly being used by smaller advertisers.
Most small companies using Manual CPC bidding employ exact and broad match, and most high-CPC, large-budget campaigns use exact and phrase match. This is the cause of the significant difference in CPAs for phrase match.
Broad match has long been used to try to get more volume for small data campaigns, especially those who see ‘low search volume’ warnings in their account. Based on the data, it’s OK to use broad match in those campaigns.
Match type recommendations for Manual CPC
This bid method is used by two different types of advertisers:
High CPC industries
In high CPC industries, it’s essential to only show your keywords on relevant search terms. Start with exact match, and if you have budget left, expand to phrase match. While you might experiment with broad match, do so sparingly and be sure to watch the search terms closely.
Low-volume accounts
If you’re using manual CPC due to a lack of volume, then start with exact match and phrase match. You probably won’t be able to spend your budget on these match types, either due to ‘low volume alerts’ within Google Ads, or because there aren’t enough impressions available. In these cases, use broad match keywords to find more volume.
Max Clicks bidding
Max Clicks focuses on capturing the most clicks, regardless of how those clicks perform.
This is a common bid method for small advertisers. It’s also used for launching new campaigns, allowing them to quickly accumulate data before switching to a conversion-based method.
Low take-up of broad match
Surprisingly, broad match only made up 10% of these keywords. However, it captured 22% of all clicks.
Broad match also had the lowest CPA. There were only two bid methods where broad match had a lower CPA than exact match, and this is one of them.
Once again, the numbers for phrase and broad match are confusing. Phrase match has a higher CTR, but a lower conversion rate. While its conversion rate isn’t that far from broad match, its CPA is significantly higher. It still has a better ROAS than broad match.
It’s impossible to know if the leads from any one match type are better or worse than another without lead quality data. It appears that broad match is capturing cheap clicks for users that will convert, which leads to a lower CPA than phrase match. However, those users have lower cart amounts, and why the phrase match ROAS is higher.
Match type recommendations for Max Clicks
If you just need clicks, broad match is a good option. To take click quality into account, you need to decide whether to focus on ROAS vs CPA:
If your goal is the most conversions and a low CPA, then start with exact and broad match keywords. If your campaigns consistently have more than 10 conversions per month, you should switch to Max Conversion bidding. For more than 30 conversions per month, switch to Target CPA bidding.
If your goal is a decent ROAS along with the most clicks possible, then start with exact and phrase match keywords. If you can’t spend your budgets, expand to broad match. If your campaigns consistently have more than 10 conversions per month, you should switch to Max Conversion Value bidding. For more than 30 conversions per month, switch to Target ROAS bidding.
Please note: some accounts find success with Target bidding around 15 conversions per month. You can always try out these bid methods to see how they work for you.
Target Impression Share bidding
Target Impression Share aims to give your ads exposure based on where you want them to appear on a search results page. It’s most commonly used for brand or conquest (competitor brand or market domination for generic terms) campaigns.
The focus of this bid method is to provide specific keywords with exposure. As expected, exact match dominates usage at 59% of all keywords.
Brand and competitor terms dominate
Not only is exact match the most common match type used, but it also has by far the most impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue. Considering these are primarily brand keywords, this is expected. Broad match has a history of matching brand terms to random generic words, resulting in much lower CTR and conversion rates.
The conversion rates by match type were quite unusual, with phrase match having the highest conversion rate, but also the highest CPA.
Investigating this anomaly, we found that phrase was matching to many search terms, including: coupon, discount code, sale, or competitor terms.
The second item that stood out was the significantly lower conversion rates for this bid method compared to many others. This is directly related to how we cleaned the data to remove anomalies and brand data. Over 70% of campaigns using Impression Share bidding matched our brand profile of extremely high CTRs and conversion rates.
The data we’re left with is mostly small brands, competitor terms, or generic words. The generic term usage was led by the legal industry, where lawyers wanted to dominate the market for terms like ‘personal injury lawyer’.
When we include all campaigns using this bid method, the exact and phrase match CTRs and conversion rates increased by over 30%, while broad match lagged significantly behind.
Match type recommendations for Target Impression Share
This bid method is used for two purposes:
If you’re using Target Impression Share to maximize visibility for your brand and high-converting keywords, start with exact match. If you aren’t spending your budget, expand to phrase match. While broad has done OK with this bid method, expand sparingly. Broad match risks showing your ads for other brands or irrelevant keywords.
If you’re using Target Impression Share for conquest campaigns (competitor terms or non-brand terms where you want your ads to show all the time, regardless of CTRs or conversion rates), then you should also start with exact match. If you aren’t spending your budget, expand to phrase match.
Broad match rarely performs well for conquest campaigns since it will expand to search terms that aren’t related to your goal. You can test broad match keywords, but make sure you watch the search terms closely.
The phrase match problem: expansion without control
It’s clear that phrase match performs poorly for many bid methods. The match type has expanded to search terms we wouldn’t consider related to the actual keywords. The most common mismatches include:
Brand terms matching to other brands
Brand terms matching to generic search terms
Generic keywords matching to unrelated search terms
Generic keywords matching to brands
Specific examples:
Luxury hotel Amsterdam matching to Rotterdam
Flights to Rome matching to cheap times to travel to Italy
Mortgage application matching to: can i buy a house with bad credit, multiple brands
Large cap growth funds matching to individual stock names, Morningstar, stock name dividends
Home plumbing repair matching to individual room and plumbing items (sinks, faucets, tubs, etc), and questions like what happens when i flush the toilet when the water is off
In the past, these search terms would only have matched to these keywords with broad match.
To further complicate the issue, Google is ignoring many ad groups with closely related keywords. For instance, the home repair account has ad groups for sink repair, clogged toilets, shower installation, etc. However, the phrase match keyword home plumbing repair, which is in a different ad group, is showing ads instead of the more specific keywords.
Duplicate search terms occur when the same search terms show from multiple ad groups. When this happens, the wrong ads, bids, and landing pages are used for the duplicates. As these aren’t your chosen ads and landing pages for those terms, your CTRs and conversion rates suffer. This has remained a problem since the expansion of exact and phrase match several years ago. As Google keeps expanding phrase match, the problem is only getting worse.
The phrase match bidding disconnect
Phrase is matching to more and more search terms, becoming similar to broad match. However, phrase doesn’t use the bid signals that broad match can.
Google has expanded the match type without compensating with better bid signals. This is obvious when, for many bid methods, phrase match has a higher conversion rate than broad, but a lower ROAS or higher CPA.
If Google were to set better bids for phrase match, it would be a more effective option than broad. Instead, broad match has better CPAs and ROAS, even with worse conversion rates.
For accounts with a lot of data and Target CPA/ROAS bidding, phrase match often improves on its own. For accounts with smaller amounts of data, it can become a liability.
It’s hard to say whether this is deliberate. Google may eventually eliminate match types, or its machine learning may simply struggle with search term expansion unless there’s a substantial amount of data.
The Adalysis approach to match type analysis
Adalysis compares your search terms to your keywords and recommends terms to add as exact match or negative keywords. This helps steer the machine and ensures that the correct ad groups display your ads. You can also automate these tasks within the platform.
Adalysis analyzes PMax search term overlap and suggests keywords to control cannibalization.
Due to these tools, it’s likely that Adalysis customers use comparatively more exact match and negative keywords than most advertisers.
Want to carry out your own match type analysis? It’s built right into the platform:
What match type should you use?
The right match type strategy depends on your advertiser profile and bid method.
If you’re a large advertiser with conversion tracking, then you probably use a ‘Target’ bid method. In this case, the correct approach is still to start with exact match, expand to phrase, and finally broad match (based on your budget).
Phrase match may behave poorly when you first launch a campaign. As you accumulate data, you should see improvements.
If you’re a smaller advertiser with conversion tracking, you may rely on a ‘Max’ bid method. Starting with exact match and expanding to broad is most likely to work for you. Please still experiment with phrase match, as every account is different. However, broad match’s bid signals currently give it the edge for low-data accounts.
Working on campaigns that focus on target impression share or manually set CPCs? Prioritize exact and phrase match, and use broad match sparingly.
Always remember to watch your top search terms and add them as exact match keywords. This will help ensure the correct ad group shows ads, and PMax isn’t stealing impressions from your Search campaigns.
This data is what most advertisers will see, but there are always exceptions. Please review data from your own account to ensure every match type is working effectively based on your goals.
While Google may one day remove match types, they’re currently a powerful optimization lever. The correct match types will help increase your overall CTRs and conversion rates for your Google Ads accounts.
