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Keyword Match Type Study Notes: Phase Match, Exact Match And Negative Match


Phrase Match

According to the course, phrase match uses quotation marks ("") to make sure your ad only appears for searches containing your exact keyword and close variants, with additional words or phrases before or after your keyword.  It still can generate many bad clicks for irrelevant queries. And the click-through rate is low.

For example, a phrase match keyword could be "winter coat", if someone is searching for "winter coat for sale", the ad will show on the Google search result. Even though "for sale" is not included in the phrase, but the phrase keyword "winter coat" is included and also in the same order, so the ad will show. 

However, if someone searches "coat for winter", the ad will not show. Even though it includes "coat" and "winter", but it is not in the right order, so it is not eligible to trigger the ad.

Pros of phrase match:
  • begin to get more control of your search terms
  • still can get new ideas
  • improved CTR over broad match modified
  • less irrelevant clicks
Cons of phrase match:
  • needs to watch for negative keywords
  • limits search volume for search terms in a different order than your keywords
  • limits the quality of data and ideas you will get
  • can be more expensive

Exact Match

This is the final form of positive match types. It uses brackets [] to ensure your ad will only show for queries containing your exact keyword without any additional words or phrases appended or prepended. Negative keywords are not needed to supplement exact match. The exact match generates the highest CTR and CPC.

For example, if the exact keyword is [winter coat], your ad will only be shown when someone types "winter coat" on Google. 

The instructor recommended that unless your budget is super tight, you are not allowed to spend money on the wrong keywords, then exact match type keywords may be a good strategy. However, it is better to have a certain low level of errors on the count because that shows you are trying to find new ideas. 

Negative Match

A negative match uses the "-" symbol to prevent words and phrases found in search terms from triggering your ads. The negative match can be broad, phrase or exact match. It doesn't trigger anything, and they are only preventative.

For example, if your negative keyword is "-winter coat", which is a negative phrase match, your ad will not show for "winter coat for sale" because the phrase "winter coat" is included in the search term which is a negative keyword. However, your ad can show for "warm coat in winter" because those words are not in the same order as the phrase keyword. This search term is not treated as negative. 

The instructor recommended some free negative keyword research resources such as Google related search, search term report or Google autocomplete suggestion. They are all free to use.




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