If you have begun to use Google Adwords, you will notice that you have match options such as Broad, Phrase, Exact and even Negative matches to use with your keywords. But what exactly are these terms and how to they impact your ad?
Broad match
The default option that you will get when you start entering your keywords is the broad match. Basically it means that as long as the searcher has your keywords somewhere in their search query then your ad will be shown.
If your keyword was for ‘celebrity perfume’ then your ad will be shown for any search that included those two words such as ‘perfume that celebrity’s wear’ or ‘latest celebrity perfume’.
Phrase match
The Phrase match means that they keywords that you are bidding on must be in the exact same order. In the above example you would not get ‘perfume that celebrity’s wear’ because the words are not in the correct order. However you would get a match for ‘latest celebrity perfume’ because the keywords are in the correct order.
Exact match
This match will show your ad if the user searches for the exact keywords that you bid on. This way your ad will not get shown for any of the above search terms because even though the second search term contains the right keywords it also contains the word ‘latest’. Only those searches that exactly match your keywords will be shown.
Negative match
You can also improve your ad matching by including keywords that you don’t want your ad shown for. For example you might add -free so that your ad will not be shown if anyone is searching for free items or products. Using negative matches can help improve your CTR due to not wasting your ad on searchers not interested in your ad.