Google Ads matches – what is it?

When using Google Ads, sooner or later we always come across the term “keyword matching”. What is under this name? Well, each keyword in Google Ads can be added in three match types: exact, broad, and phrase match. Which option we choose depends on how widely the system will search for recipients to whom our ad should be displayed. Thus, Google Ads matching determines, in short, how exactly the password entered by the user in the search engine should match the one we added as a keyword. Depending on the selected match, the system may display the ad only to recipients who entered the same phrase, or also to recipients who specified their password with additional terms or entered a password only loosely related to the keyword. What meaning ranges do the individual matches cover?

Match types

Exact match – This is the most precise match of Google Ads. It reaches the narrowest group of recipients, but it allows you to maintain the greatest control over who our ad will be displayed to. By using this type of match, we only get to users who entered the exact same keyword or phrase with the same meaning (or differently – with the same search intention). When entering an exact match keyword, put it in square brackets, eg [men’s pajamas]. Then the advertisement will be displayed for this slogan and very similar slogans, such as pajamas for men, pajamas for men, etc.

Phrase match takes into account all searches as exact match, and also allows you to show your ad on terms where the keyword has been specified by the user. We’ll still show your ads only for searches that include our product or service, but it doesn’t have to be an exact repeat of the keyword. So this is a slightly more casual match type, but still allows you to keep a relatively large amount of control over how your budget is spent. We mark phrase match by placing the keyword in quotation marks. If we enter, for example, the word “women’s boots”, the ad will also be visible on more specific inquiries, e.g. black women’s ankle boots, comfortable high-heeled women’s boots, etc.

Broad match allows your ad to appear also on queries that are very loosely related to the selected keyword. Thanks to this, on the one hand, we reach a very wide audience, and on the other hand, we have little control over the contexts in which the system shows our advertisements. Broad match doesn’t have any special characters, so when you type just a keyword into the system, no additional characters, it defaults to that type of match. If you enter, for example, low-sugar diet as a keyword, your ad may also show results such as: low-carbohydrate recipes or low-sugar books.

How to use broad match wisely?

Does this mean that by using broad match, we are wasting resources on users who will not buy our product anyway? Not necessarily. Showing your ads to audiences who are not yet ready to buy is part of guiding them through the buying funnel. So, if your ad is shown to users who are not yet looking for our product, but are interested in a given topic, it may later lead to conversion.

However, to make sure your budget is used optimally, it’s a good idea to use Smart Bidding for each Google Ads match type – and broad match in particular. Thanks to this solution, the system will decide what chance for conversion is given by a specific recipient, and thus how high the rate should be determined in a given case. Considering how much he knows about the users, one can be sure that his forecasts regarding the effectiveness of activities will most often be characterized by high accuracy. What does Google Ads take into account when searching for audiences? Among other things, it may be influenced by the user’s last searches, the content of the page to which the ad leads, or other keywords from a given ad group.

Additionally, in each match type, we can narrow down the search context by introducing the so-called negative keywords. Excluding certain words will result in the ad not being displayed if the user includes these words in the keyword entered into the search engine. This feature allows us to gain a bit more control over the ad and prevent it from showing in contexts that we deem unprofitable.

Which type of approximation is best to use?

There is no clear answer to this question. Exact matching allows you to keep a lot of control over your expenses, but on the other hand, it narrows the field of activity and may deprive you of valuable recipients. Phrase match gives you more freedom and broadens the audience, but still ads are displayed only on terms strongly related to a given product or service. Broad match, in turn, carries a potentially high risk of reaching uninterested recipients. On the other hand, we can reach completely new groups of recipients and learn new keywords that are highly effective for our brand. So let’s just use keywords tailored to the specific goal that we want to achieve thanks to a given campaign.

Choosing keywords for positioning is one of the first problems you need to solve in order to best conduct further actions. In most tutorials you will come across suggestions to use the keyword tools in Google Ads. It’s also worth adding Google Ads campaigns to this list.

When choosing keywords, you’ll ask yourself a few questions that require immediate answers. Among other things: do you want to position general keywords that give you greater ranges or a long tail? Is your domain brand strong enough? Later, it remains to select phrases within a given group. There are constantly new questions. In this case, a well-run Google Ads campaign can be the answer. If you have properly invested in this advertising channel, it may prove to be a great support for you.

In Google Ads campaigns, you can extract a very large amount of data about the searched and clicked keywords and their effectiveness. Both for text and shopping ads. In both cases, you are able to check the keyword that the user entered, clicked on your ad, and then converted (or not).

Where to look for all this information?

Where to look for all this information? In the search terms report. After logging in to your Google Ads account, select Keywords from the left menu, then click Search terms in the options at the top.

You import the entire report into a spreadsheet to freely analyze the data and suddenly you discover a sea of data. There are so many keywords here that you don’t know where to start.

You can do several things:

– Leave only those phrases that have brought valuable conversions and focus on them. With this solution, I recommend taking data from a minimum of six months back, preferably one year. Then you won’t be exposed to seasonal data analysis. Additionally, you can expand your word list in the direction of long tail niche phrases.

– Leave only keywords that have a specified minimum number of impressions in the analyzed time range. Here, I also recommend relying on data from a minimum of half a year. Then sort the data by number of views, descending. It is worth referring to the quality of traffic in Google Analytics and leave those phrases that have good results or have converted.

– Group keywords by product category, e.g. filter phrases for whether they contain the word “jacket”, “pants”, “sweatshirt”, etc. Then you need to determine the potential of each of these groups and analyze their effectiveness. However, remember to leave words with the best reach and conversion rates. In this way, the list will actually contain searched and clicked phrases from a given topic.

Analyze detailed data

If you do not want to analyze such detailed data and bury yourself in a huge spreadsheet, you can use the results in Google Ads at the keyword level. You’ll find them in your campaigns. This list will allow you to evaluate phrases and similar variations in terms of efficiency and profitability for business.

You can also download this data to a spreadsheet, then filter and sort according to your needs. The main difference between this report and the previous one is that here you won’t see exactly what users enter in the search engine, only the keywords from your campaign. In addition, this report does not include data from shopping campaigns.

What can you do with a table full of keywords?

What can you do with a table full of keywords? Exactly the same as with the search terms report. Depending on the amount of time you have and the amount of data, you are able to prepare and then choose the positioning phrases that will bring the best results. However, regardless of which method you choose, you always get reliable data. Not only about the possible ranges, but also the effectiveness of these phrases (number and value of conversions and conversion rate). Thanks to this, you don’t choose keywords in the dark, based on the “can convert” principle, only according to real performance data.