What are keyword match types, and how do I use them?

For exact match and phrase match keywords, your ad may also show on queries that match minor variations of the keyword, so you can maximize relevant matches without having to add all of these variations yourself. Close variations are also considered for broad match modifier keywords. Close variation matching takes place in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Examples of the types of close variations that are considered include:

• Plurals: The keyword luxury +resorts will match the query luxury resort.
• Stemming: The keyword +swim team will match the query swimming team.
• Misspellings: The keyword Hawaii +vacation will match the query Hawaii vacaton.
• Abbreviations and acronyms: The keyword Redmond +Washington will match the query Redmond WA.
• Word blending and splitting: The keyword +super +market will match the query supermarket.
• Common spelling variations: The keyword community theatre will match the query community theater.
• Punctuation: The keyword real estate will match the query real-estate.
• Accents: The keyword +café will match the query cafe. Accents are not considered for close variations for English ads in the United States and Canada.
• Reordering: The keyword chicken teriyaki will match teriyaki chicken. Reordering occurs only if it doesn't change the meaning of the query.
• Stop/function words: The keyword tv schedule tonight will match tv schedule for tonight. Stop/function words (for example: is, a, the, on, for, in) may be ignored if they don’t impact the intent behind a query.
• Synonyms and paraphrases: The keyword glucose levels normal range will match normal range for blood sugar.
• Implied words and same search intent: The keyword Contoso airlines will match Contoso flights airlines.

If you're not sure which match type to use, we suggest starting with broad match. This will give you the best chance of reaching your target customers right off the bat. You can then run a search term report and use the results to refine your keyword list. Here are some quick tips on how to optimize your keyword lists:

• If a majority of the search terms in the report are not related to your ad, you might want to consider switching the relevant keyword to one of the more specific match types.
• For search terms that you want triggering your ad more often, add them to your keyword list with a more specific match type (such as phrase or exact).
• For keywords that you don't want triggering your ad, add them to your keyword list as negative keywords.

Some other best practices to keep in mind are:

• When you select a keyword match type, consider your advertising goals, as well as the audience you are targeting.
• Cross-reference your keywords with your bids and budgets.
• Always run a search term report to make sure you are covering the queries you want.

If you bid on the same keyword on exact and broad match, exact match will take precedence when your ad is displayed. For example, if you bid on both the exact match keyword [red flower] and the broad match keywords red flower or flower, a search on red flower will trigger the exact match and not the broad match. Additionally, exact match is preferred over exact match close variants.

To avoid duplicate reporting, all reports, such as keyword performance reports, will only report the match type that took precedence. In this example, an impression would be reported for the exact match [red flower] and not the broad match flower.

Match types are on a spectrum from least restrictive (broad match) to most restrictive (exact match), in this order: Broad match > Broad match modifier > Phrase match > Exact match.

If you do not specify bids for all match types, bids are inherited from less restrictive match types. So, while bidding on broad match is convenient and easy to manage, bidding on each match type independently gives you greater control and allows performance data to be broken out by match type.

In the absence of a bid, the next less restrictive bid is inherited by the match type without a bid. This means exact match inherits the phrase match bid, and the phrase match inherits the broad match bid. If neither exact match nor phrase match bids are specified, then both match types inherit the broad match bid. This is never reversed: Exact match bids are never applied to a phrase match, and phrase match bids are never applied to a broad match.