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

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

Keyword match types help Microsoft Advertising determine how closely you want your keywords to match potential customers' search queries. Keyword match types include broad match, phrase match, and exact match. When your keywords match with search queries, your ads are considered for the ad auction.

How keyword match types work

Based on the keyword match type you choose, your ad will surface on a wide variety of search queries (broad match) or specific search queries (exact match).

Broad match captures all the search queries of narrower match types and more. This means that a broad match keyword will match all the search queries of phrase and exact match keywords, and additional relevant search queries.

You can use auto-bidding strategies to help ensure that you're reaching the right audience at the right time and getting a good return on investment (ROI). Auto-bidding strategies work best with the broad match keyword type because it provides Microsoft AI with a wide variety of search queries that help us learn what bids are best suited for your ads.

For instance, the table below shows how the keyword “Contoso tea” would match with the different keyword match types.

Search query	Broad match Syntax: keyword	Phrase match Syntax: "keyword"	Exact match Syntax: [keyword]
Where can I find the best tea
What does Contoso sell
Contoso tea reviews
Contoso tea near me
Contoso tea
Tea made by contoso

Keyword match type options

Which match type is used?

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. Note: If you see "(close variant)" in your search term report in the Match type column, this means that minor variations of your keyword (e.g., misspellings, plurals, same search intent, etc.) triggered your ad to be displayed, so you can maximize relevant matches without having to add all of these variations yourself.

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.

How bids are inherited from one match type to another

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

Choosing the right match type

When choosing a keyword match type, consider your advertising goals, the audience you're targeting, and make sure to cross-reference your keywords with your bids and budgets. We recommend you use broad match because it can help you reach the best audience for your ads. However, please consider all regulatory policies and risks before using broad match if your ads are for highly regulated industries, such as adult content, financial products and services, gambling/contests, and pharmacy and health care products and services. For all regulatory issues and region-specific policies, please check with your legal team and review our guidelines.

Best practices for optimizing your keyword lists

• You can run a search term report and use the results to refine your keyword list.
  Note: If the majority of search terms in your report are unrelated to your ad, consider using phrase or exact match for your keyword.
• If there are specific search terms that you want to trigger your ad more often, we recommend you add them to your keyword list and pair them with phrase or exact match.
• For keywords that you don't want to trigger your ad, add them to your negative keyword list.

Negative keywords

Negative keywords

Syntax: [keyword] or "keyword" What it does: Negative keywords define search queries that should not trigger your ad. Negative keywords can be exact or phrase matches. Why use it: Negative keywords let you specify words that you want to ignore. Examples: Let's say you have a broad match bid wide shoes, and you have a negative keyword with either exact match [womens shoes] or phrase match "womens shoes". Search term Is ad eligible? Negative EXACT Negative PHRASE mens wide shoes womens wide shoes womens shoes wide womens shoes Get more info: Learn about using negative keywords to get to the right customers