Keyword match types

Match types control how loosely Google is allowed to interpret your keyword when deciding which searches to show your ad for.

There are 3: broad, phrase and exact.

Exact match shows your ad for that search and very close variants of it, so it's the tightest control available.

Phrase match allows words either side, so "blocked drain adelaide" can also match "emergency blocked drain adelaide northern suburbs".

Broad match lets Google decide what it thinks you meant, which on a small budget spends the money in places you'd never have chosen.

I use exact for anything expensive and phrase only on cheaper themes where the extra reach is worth the looseness.

Whatever you choose, the search terms report is what tells you whether the interpretation was reasonable.

What this means for you

Match type is how much of your budget you're handing to Google's judgement. On a $1,000 a month account there isn't room to find out the hard way.

I'll look at what you've got and tell you where it stands, in the same plain terms.