Broad, Phrase, or Exact Match Keywords. What Is Best for Your Business?
If you have used AdWords you know how important it is to know the difference between Broad, Broad Modified, Phrase and Exact Match keywords. For those who are new to AdWords, these terms may seem a little foreign.
So what is the difference between these keywords and when will you use one over the other?
Broad Match- Just as the name implies broad keywords are least specific kind of keyword. When you put keywords into Google the default is broad and there is a reason why. With broad keywords you are allowing Google to have a lot of control over that keyword. The wide reach of broad keywords will increase the number of clicks on your ads, however the problem is they may be clicks that are irrelevant to your business. For example is you use broad match on the keyword “women’s hats”, your ads might show when users searches for “men’s hats”, “women’s scarves” or “girls shoes”.
Broad Match Modified- Broad Match Modified gives you a little more control over what search terms Google shows your ads to, while at the same time allowing you keep the same broad reach.
Broad Match Modified keywords work by appending a “+” to the specific word in your keyword phrase. When you put the “+” in front of a word you are telling Google you only want your ad to show when that word appears in the search query. The query can be in any order, but that one word must be in there. Using the example from before, if you use a Broad Match Modifier on the keyword “+women’s hats” Google can show your ad when a user searches for “women’s fedoras”, “hats for women”, or “women’s clothing”,but will not show for “men’s hats”
Phrase Match – Phrase Match is a good balance between control and reach. Your ad will only appear when a user searches for exact keyword phrase, in its exact order, but maybe with some additional word a the beginning and the end of the query.
So if you use the keyword “women’s hats”, in Phrase Match, your ads are eligible to show for users searching for “red women’s hats”, “women’s hats for sale” but not for “womens pink hats” or “hats for women”.
Exact Match – Exact Match will give you the most control over who sees yours ads, but also will give you the lowest reach. Just as it sounds Google will show your ad to for the exact phrase that you type in for example if you have the exact phrase [women’s hats] your ad will only show for “women’s hats” or common misspellings like “ women’s htas”.
As you can see, what match type you use for your keywords can make a very big difference in the success of your campaign. When building your campaign always think about which match types will help you accomplish your goals the best. There is not one match type that works for all situations. Each one has match type has pros and cons.
Now go out there and get your hands dirty with some keywords.