Match types: broad, phrase, exact, done right

Match types are the oldest steering instrument in search advertising and the most misunderstood, because their meaning has shifted while the names stayed the same.

What the three settings mean today

The operative word is meaning. Exact match stopped being word-for-word years ago. [bathroom refit] can also serve on "refit a bathroom" and "bathroom remodelling". Anyone who believes square brackets give full control is mistaken.

Why broad match is both dangerous and useful

Broad match draws on your website, the person's earlier searches and the other terms in the ad group to decide whether to serve. That can be brilliant when your offer is unambiguous and ruinous when it is not.

A real example: a driving school bought "driving licence" on broad match. It served on "driving licence lost", "exchange driving licence", "driving licence revoked". All three are thematically related and worthless to a driving school. After four weeks and £900 came the insight a negative list would have delivered in ten minutes.

The sequence that works

1. Start with exact match on ten to twenty terms you know for certain.
2. Read every search terms report for two weeks and build the negative list.
3. Add phrase match for the terms that carry.
4. Only then open a separate broad-match campaign with a capped budget.
5. What works there moves into the main campaign as exact.

This route costs three or four extra weeks and typically saves half the starting budget.

Duplicate terms are no longer a problem

It used to be considered an error to run the same term across several match types. Today the system decides which term applies to a given query and prefers the closest match. You can run [bathroom refit] and "bathroom refit" side by side without bidding against yourself.

What match types cannot do

No setting filters for purchase intent. "Bathroom refit cost" and "bathroom refit quote" are almost identical linguistically and completely different commercially. You have to make that distinction yourself, by routing information-seekers into their own ad group with their own bid and their own landing page.

A negative list to start with

For almost any service business these exclusions pay from day one: free, gratis, DIY, yourself, tutorial, guide; job, vacancy, salary, apprenticeship, work experience; used, second-hand, auction; reviews, comparison, ratings (unless you run a comparison site); course, definition, meaning, wikipedia.

This list is a start, not a substitute for the weekly look at the search terms report. Every trade has its own money-burners, and you find them only there.