Paid search advertising and Google Ads rely on keyword match types as control parameters for governing which search terms trigger your advertisements. There are four main keywords match types as follows:

Broad Match: The default setting in which your ad will be eligible to appear on any search term related to the keyword. Reach is maximized, but also may generate inappropriate clicks.

Broad Match Modifier (Now Legacy but Good to Know): Some time ago, placing a + sign before terms ensured that each of those words had to occur in the query. Google phased this out some time ago as part of introducing phrase match functionality.

Phrase Match: Places your keyword within quotation marks, such as “keyword.” It will then have your ad appearing for searches where the keyword phrase is present but with variation prior to or subsequent to the placement.

Exact Match: By using brackets with the word itself ([keyword]), ads only come up if a search has specifically included the same phrase or variation, allowing maximum control over relevancy.

Keyword Match Types for Negative Keywords : Negative keywords are one of the essential things that filter irrelevant traffic. The addition of a few words as negative keywords prevents your ads from appearing in unwanted searches.

There are three negative keyword match types.

Negative Broad Match: If all negative keywords are included within a search, your advert will not be displayed. However, it can be served for partial matches.

Negative Phrase Match: The ad will not appear if the negative keyword phrase is in the search query and in the same order as in the specification.

Negative Exact Match: Your ad will be appeared only when the search query is an exact phrase.

Making proper use of negative keywords eliminates unnecessary spending and enhances the campaign’s efficiency.