Google AdWords: Learning Centre

Broad match keywords are typed as plain words, such as used book. The function of broad matching is to allow your ad to appear for all relevant variations of your keyword, including synonyms, related phrases and plurals.

Using broad-matched keywords ensures that as many potential customers as possible view your ad and you do not have to spend time developing an exhaustive keyword list. With the wide distribution potential of broad matching, your ad may accrue impressions quickly. These impressions are important, particularly the ones triggered by more general keywords, which are delivering clicks and providing a good ROI.

Phrase-matched keywords appear with quotes around them, such as "used books". Using phrase match ensures that your keyword or keyword phrase corresponds to a user's entered search term, even though the user may have entered other words both before and after your matching keyword.

The benefits are controlled cost and improved ROI. Ads triggered by phrase matches typically accrue fewer impressions than broad matches, so your campaign may not require as high a daily budget to display your ads. You will spend less of your advertising budget on clicks that are unlikely to gain you a conversion or sale. Additionally, because phrase-matched keywords help your ad reach a targeted audience, the more potential your business will have for an improved ROI.

Exact match is the most targeted keyword matching option. Exact match keywords are enclosed in square brackets, such as [used books]. Exact match keywords are very specific and can be useful for targeting ads when more broadly targeted variations of the same keyword have not resulted in many clicks.

The benefit of exact-match keywords is that your ad is shown to an audience looking for precisely what you are advertising. This increases the likelihood your ad will receive relevant clicks and maintain a high Quality Score, while keeping your costs down.

Negative match keywords appear with a minus sign (-) in front of them, such as -college. Negative keywords or keyword phrases prevent your ad from appearing even if a user searches on one of your other keywords. We recommend using our keyword tool to add keywords to your Ad Group if you need help with creating a keyword list. You can access this tool by clicking Keyword Tool above the keyword table for the Ad Group you wish to edit. Negative keywords can also be created at the Ad Group level or applied at the campaign level if you would like the negative match to apply to the keywords in each of the campaign's Ad Groups.

While broad, phrase and exact match help you control who sees your ad, negative keywords allow you to control who will not see your ad. This may increase your CTR and ROI. Negative matches may also reduce the cost of your ad by collecting fewer and higher quality clicks.

Embedded matching is an advanced feature of AdWords using a combination of matching features. For example, -[Toy Story] uses both negative matching (–, the minus sign) and exact matching ([ ], square brackets). This technique allows you to combine the features of negative and exact match or negative and phrase match. Therefore, the potential benefits would include controlled costs and improved ROI (and potentially, CTR).