Reach more customers with broad match

Did you know that 20% of the queries Google receives each day are ones we haven’t seen in at least 90 days, if at all? With that kind of unpredictable search behavior, it's extremely difficult to create a keyword list that covers all relevant queries using only exact match.

Broad match is a great way to capitalize on those unexpected, but relevant queries. When you include a keyword as a broad match, your corresponding ad is not only eligible to appear alongside queries with that exact spelling, but it can also capture keyword expansions that include synonyms, singular/plural forms, relevant variants of your keywords, and phrases containing your keywords.

Matching your ads against all these relevant query variations can have a big impact on the success of your online search campaigns. In fact, broad match currently accounts for over 1/3 of all clicks and conversions for advertisers, worldwide.

To make the most of broad match, you can run search query reports to monitor your expansions. If you discover a query that's performing exceptionally well, consider adding it to your ad group as a broad match keyword and setting an appropriate bid. Conversely, if you see that one of your keywords has been matched to a search query that doesn't fit with your campaign, include that search query as a negative keyword in the appropriate campaign or ad group.

We recently improved the search query report to provide more granular detail on which queries are triggering ads for your broad match keywords. This means less of your traffic may be reported under the "other unique queries" heading.

We also recommend trying the Conversion Optimizer, a bidding feature that uses your conversion tracking data to get you more conversions at a lower cost. Conversion Optimizer helps you by automatically finding the clicks from broad match terms that convert the best.

With so much traffic on Google each day, finding the queries that are most relevant for your business can be a challenge. With broad matches accounting for 1/3 of all clicks and conversions, using broad match keywords can help you capture relevant clicks and conversions that you never knew existed.

For more information, check out our frequently asked questions on broad match in the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew