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Broad vs. Phrase vs. Exact Match: Which Keyword Strategy Works Best?
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In SEO and internet marketing, the correct keywords are essential to drive targeted traffic and increase rankings. The second half of the main portion of this campaign is understanding the different keyword match types Broad Match, Phrase Match, and Exact Match. All these match types are strong or weak depending upon your campaign goals, targeting your audience, and budget. What keyword strategy is optimal? Let’s discuss each match type.
What Are Keyword Match Types?
What are keyword match types prior to discussing each keyword strategy in more detail?.
When you’re running an ad campaign, particularly on platforms like Google Ads, you have the option to select the level to which your target keywords should match the user’s search query. These types of keyword matches determine the closeness by which your ads are triggered based on users’ intent in search and what they type in.
Broad Match: Maximum Reach
Broad Match is Google Ads’ default match type. With Broad Match, your ad will appear for any search term that contains your keyword or a variation of it, such as synonyms, related terms, misspellings, and even broader searches.
If your keyword is “running shoes,” for instance, your ad can appear when someone types the following:
- Best shoes to run in
- Shoes for jogging
- Running footwear
Advantages:
Maximum Reach: Your ad can have massive reach with hundreds of individuals in mind as a target, for companies looking to build top-of-mind awareness or get a lot of their desired demographic.
Less Keyword Management Needed: Broad Match campaigns require less keyword management activity since they necessarily address several searches associated with your product or service.
Limitations
Low Relevance: Even though it has broad coverage, Broad Match will also show your ad for irrelevant or off-topic searches. For instance, “running shoes” might trigger ads for “running equipment” or “exercise tips,” which might not result in conversions.
Higher Costs: Since Broad Match is casting a broader net, you will end up paying more for non-converting clicks, which means a higher cost per acquisition (CPA).
Best For: Businesses that want to generate awareness, reach a large audience, or build high-volume traffic in the early phases of a campaign.
Phrase Match: Balanced Reach and Relevance
Phrase Match is a more specific option that provides more control over the way your keywords activate your ads. With Phrase Match, your ad will show for a search query that includes your keyword phrase in the same order, but can also include other words before and after the phrase.
For instance, if your keyword is “running shoes,” your ad could appear for searches such as:
- Affordable running shoes
- Running shoes for beginners
- Best running marathons shoes
But it will not spark for searches like “running shoes” or “comfortable running sneakers.”
Benefits:
Better Control: Phrase Match strikes a balance between volume and relevance. It allows you to be precise with your search that includes your target word in the correct order so your search query will nearly match your product.
Less Waste: Phrase Match does not have irrelevant searches, so you get to reach a more targeted audience and get better conversion rates.
Flexibility: You still get to reach all types of search queries but, this time, they will be more targeted towards your products or services, which means there are better chances of conversion.
Disadvantages:
Fewer Reach: The increased relevance that Phrase Match enjoys is at a price of reaching fewer people by displaying your advert. This means fewer impressions as well as reduced traffic for some businesses.
Hand Management: You may have to add more words or refine later on in a bid to keep yourself visible to the right folks because Phrase Match is more attuned than Broad Match.
Best For: Brands who want to get the most reach out of the least relevance. Exact Match is ideal for brands with a niche audience but who still want to cast a relatively wide net.
Exact Match: Highest Precision
Exact Match is the most specific keyword match type. With Exact Match, your ad will show up only if someone searches for your exact keyword or nearly synonymous words of your keyword. The synonyms may involve misspelling or singular/plural forms, but in general, the search term must be extremely close to your keyword.
For instance, if your keyword is “running shoes,” your ad will show for searches such as:
Running shoes (exact match)
Running shoe (singular/plural variation)
Selling running shoes (close variation)
But your ad will not show for more general searches like “best jogging shoes.”
Advantages:
High Relevance:
Exact Match ensures your ad is shown only for search queries exactly relevant to your keyword, i.e., quality traffic and improved chances of conversion.
Lower CPA: Since you are promoting to such a highly focused audience, you will likely receive a lower cost per click (CPC) and higher return on investment (ROI).
More Control: Exact Match gives you the most control over who will see your ads, lessening the risk of wasteful clicks.
Drawbacks
Limited Reach: The most unfortunate aspect of Exact Match is that it has limited reach. By showing ads only for exact or close variations of your desired keywords, you may be missing out on possible traffic that might be generated by similar but not exactly the same searches.
Needs Optimization: While accuracy is a bonus, Exact Match campaigns must be optimized and managed at all times so you’re displaying the same exact keywords and aren’t missing out on any similar search queries.
Best For: Marketers who know what their target market is and would like to maximize their campaign ROI. This ad match type is ideal for those that desire the most contextually targeted click throughs at the lowest cost.
Which Keyword Strategy Works Best?
Your best keyword strategy will depend on your individual goals and objectives. Let me illustrate:
If you want the greatest reach and try to cast out a large net hoping to make people aware or touch an instantaneously gigantic audience, then Broad Match will be best. Just make sure that you should expect to be handling stupid clicks on your ad opportunities and must make adjustments to the campaign so your spend does not get completely out of hand.
If you like to search for a balance between reach and relevance, then Phrase Match is your best bet. With it, you have the advantage of being able to select more targeted searches without giving up your latitude for capturing a variety of different versions of related search terms.
If you require utter accuracy and want to target only the most specific crowd, Exact Match is the best option. This is appropriate when you are familiar with your customers’ search behavior and want to maximize the effect of your spend.
Conclusion
The choice among Broad, Phrase, and Exact Match depends on your campaign objective, budget, and level of control you would like over the targeting. An intelligent approach will lean towards utilizing a mixture of all three match types, testing each one to see what performs best for different stages of your campaign. By continuing to monitor your performance, you can continue to fine-tune your approach to further maximize reach and relevance. Whether you are searching for ultimate visibility or super-targeted clicks, having insight into how such matches are constructed will help you create a better and more affordable advertising campaign.