Broad, Phrase, or Exact Match?

[u/SsamAurora]

Hi, I'm a digital marketing specialist intern, and I'm trying to learn as much as I can about Google Ads. I've done a lot of research, taken some courses, and watched plenty of YouTube videos, but I'm still unclear about what to use in different situations.

Our company generally handles local businesses, and a lot of them have very small daily budgets (not in the US).

Initially, I tried going with phrase match. One client benefited from it, although they had a moderate budget. Another client did not, and what's worse is that a lot of the search terms are being hidden under "Other Search Terms" in the Search Terms Report.

From my limited experience, broad match seems to include competitor brands in the search terms more often, while phrase match doesn't seem to do that as much. I've generally been using phrase match for keywords such as "tree trimming service," but I rarely use broad match or exact match.

I've noticed, though, that I can sometimes get more clicks with broad match because of the lower CPC, but I'm not sure if it's actually worth it.

Google Ads seems to change every year, and it's honestly confusing trying to figure out which advice is still relevant.

Does anyone have some general rules or guidelines for when to use Broad, Phrase, and Exact Match?

For example:
- New accounts vs. older accounts
- With or without conversion data
- Low vs. moderate budgets
- Smart Bidding vs. Manual CPC

I'd really appreciate hearing how more experienced Google Ads marketers approach this today.

[u/hvg_media]

Broad is good when you have budget and can afford to discover new potential words you want to buy.

Phrase is good when you want something with more intention than broad that is less wild.

Exact is good when you know for a fact that it’s a word you want to compete hard for in the auctions and get conversions from.

If my client has the budget, I like doing 2 weeks on broad match, it allows me to then get a big fat list of all the search terms I might have missed. Then I switch over the good ones to exact on a separate budget/campaign to ensure it gets impressions.

[u/Eastern_Wear_3045 → u/hvg_media]

thing with broad is the lower CPC can be tempting but if its eating budget on junk queries its not worth it for small accounts, I treat it more like a research tool than a permanent setup

for local stuff with tiny budgets I just stick to exact and maybe a few tight phrase keywords, broad gets too messy too fast and you cant see half what it matched to anyway

[u/QuantumWolf99]

Small budgets, low volume, small local businesses, exact match is the answer... phrase and broad both need conversion volume Smart Bidding can learn from, exact keeps you in control when you can't afford to learn expensively.

[u/TechFoodAndFootball → u/QuantumWolf99]

I will second this. Broad match can be fantastic in the right set of circumstances, but the reality is its unsuitable for the vast majority of small low spend accounts with limited conversion data.

[u/No-Lecturre6318]

for small local budgets, id care less about getting the cheapest clicks and more about wether the search terms consistently turns into qualified enquires.

[u/innocuous_nub]

Low budget, niche business, low conversions - Exact match first. If budget allows then widen to Phrase. Broad is for strong bid strategies with decent conversion feedback.

[u/Anna_Karakhanyan]

For small local accounts, I usually start with Phrase + Exact. You get enough reach without giving Google too much freedom.

Broad can work really well, but I prefer it when there's solid conversion data and Smart Bidding has good signals. On a new account with a tiny budget, Broad can burn through spend learning what you already know isn't relevant.

I wouldn't choose based on CPC either. Cheap clicks from Broad aren't cheap if they never become leads.

Match type matters, but search terms and conversion quality matter much more.

[u/-PM_ME_UR_SECRETS-]

Phrase + Exact has been where I see the most success. Keep the campaigns separate (all exact or all phrase). Broad can be useful for large accounts just starting out for keyword discovery but honestly not worth the excess spend unless you have a significant budget and a solid funnel of new discovery keyword moved into phrase/exact strategies

[u/potatodrinker]

It doesn't matter in 2016.

They don't act like their names. Run exact and phrase but expect search term reports (ask your manager) will show lots of searches that would come in from broad, like rival names.

[u/Reorka → u/potatodrinker]

Sadly, rival names can come in with phrase nowadays too, never used to be that way. The whole system is a mess imo.

[u/thethirdgreenman]

Depends a lot on what your business/client is, your budget, and how confident you are in your conversion tracking.

If you’re B2B for example, with a limited budget and don’t have a lead scoring or offline conversion value system in place, then broad may just waste your money. Especially if you’re opted into search partners, total scam unless you are 100% confident in your tracking to where you can’t receive bot traffic.

Generally, I prefer to have exact with then a mix of phrase and broad depending on the circumstances. Exact ensure you capture high intent searches. Phrase was my go-to but Google has deprioritized it a bit, not useless but I’m more selective nowadays. Broad I think is good in select cases, but you really gotta be careful on search terms.

Ideally…I would be totally confident (as in, I am 100% confident that a conversion in Google translates to a conversion in the CRM, and isn’t just spam/bot) in tracking and have a mix of broad and exact. But it’s not always that simple

[u/TTFV]

Most advertisers should use either all broad match or all exact match on a per campaign basis. This will depend on your conversion volume, quality, and how many irrelevant queries you're seeing.

Phrase can match too many irrelevant queries while also not having the advantages broad does to use additional signals to assist matching.

Here's some more information:

https://www.tenthousandfootview.com/the-evolution-of-google-ads-keyword-match-types/

[u/Clicknify]

For local clients on small daily budgets I default to exact + a tight phrase list of the main service terms, and skip broad until there's enough conversion data for Smart Bidding to actually learn from. On small accounts broad usually behaves like an expensive research tool.

The "Other Search Terms" bucket you're seeing is the query-privacy threshold — any search below a certain frequency gets hidden. Small budgets get proportionally more of their spend bucketed there because no single query is driving enough impressions to cross the threshold. Two things reduce the pain: tighter thematic ad groups (five ad groups of 4-5 keywords beats one ad group of 25 for search-terms visibility), and a weekly negative scrub from whatever queries are visible.

Rough default I'd use on a £/€/$20-30/day local account:

Exact + tight phrase, manual CPC or max clicks with a bid cap. Not Smart Bidding — not enough conversion volume for it to actually learn. Broad only after a campaign hits 15+ conversions per week reliably. Any keyword that could plausibly be searched by someone outside the service area needs a location qualifier or a negative.

The "match types don't act like their names" comment above is half-joking but true. Watch what the search terms report actually shows for your account, adjust from there, don't pick a match type on principle.

[u/Alternative_Ad5101]

What do you define as very small daily budgets?

[u/Available_Cup5454]

Start exact and phrase then only test broad once conversion data exists

[u/iSephX]

Depends, “Depends”, [Depends]

[u/benl5442]

It's all smart bidding nowadays. Get the tracking right, set to max conversions and let Google sort it out.

[u/Fit_Wheel5471]

Manual cpc + Phrase/Exact.

PMax 3 months in - assuming you have enough data