Understanding Adwords™ Matching Options

Google Adwords™ has different matching options which will trigger your keywords to show your ads including 'Broad', 'Phrase', 'Exact', and 'Negative' match.

Broad Match

This is by default what your keywords will be if you just type/copy them in as is. The way it works is if you have a keyword such as golf shoes and someone types it in Google Search, then not only would golf shoes trigger your ad to be shown, but also red golf shoes, green golf shoes, I want some golf shoes, golf shoes for sale, and pretty much any phrase you can think of with golf shoes in any order. Google may also show synonyms for shoes which will also trigger your ad. So, footwear, or boots may also trigger your ad depending on whether Google sees that as a proper synonym/match for the selected keyword.

Phrase Match

The phrase match is created when you put quotations "" around your keyword/s. So if your keyword was golf shoes then "golf shoes" would make it a Phrase Match.

With phrase match if you had the term "golf shoes" (with quotations around golf shoes) then Google would show your ad only if someone typed in a phrase with golf shoes in the proper order. In other words, (shoes for golf) would not show, but red golf shoes might.

Exact Match

The exact match is created when you put brackets [] around your keyword/s. If your keyword was golf shoes then [golf shoes] would make it exact match.

With exact match if you had the term/keywords [golf shoes] then Google would show your ad only if someone typed in that word only golf shoes and for nothing else. This is the most targeted option and you should expect that if someone typed in this keyword they're searching for your exact keyword.

Negative Match

The negative match is created when you put a dash - before your keyword/s. If you didn't want your ad to show for anything free such as free golf shoes then you would add -free to your list to exclude anythung involving free.