Exact match keywords
Exact match is the tightest Google Ads keyword match type, written in square brackets like [running shoes]. Match type is the rule that decides which searches can show your ad. The ad shows for searches with the same meaning as the keyword, including close variants such as plurals. It no longer means the typed search must match your letters exactly.
Theodor Lindfors, Founding Marketer ·
What exact match is
Square brackets tell Google to serve only for the keyword's meaning. Match type is the rule that decides which searches can trigger your ad. Exact match is the strictest of the three types, with phrase match (extra words around the meaning) and broad match (related meaning, including synonyms) opening progressively wider.
The strictness is relative. Close variants have widened repeatedly over the years, so exact today allows paraphrases that would have been blocked a decade ago.
Let's take a plumbing company as an example. The plumbing company buys Google ads to get homeowners who need a plumber this week. They add [emergency plumber] in brackets. That can match emergency plumber, emergency plumbers, and maybe plumber emergency. It should not match plumbing apprenticeship. The plumbing company also runs exact match on its own name as a brand term, the same idea as any company bidding on people who already typed the name.
Why exact match matters
Exact match is control. When a query is known to convert, exact match lets you bid on it deliberately, write copy for it, and send it to the right page.
Exact match is also how most accounts protect brand terms (people typing your company name into Google): a tight keyword set, a dedicated budget, and no chance of the brand campaign wandering into generic queries.
How to read exact match performance
Check the search terms even here. Close variants can pull in intents you did not want, and a paraphrase can carry a very different buying stage.
Let's take a plumbing company as an example. [emergency plumber] gets 80 clicks and 10 booked visits on $640 of spend. Divide $640 of exact-match spend by 10 booked visits. That is $64 per booked visit. Tight, efficient, small. The phrase and broad versions of the same theme brought more volume at a higher cost. The plumbing company keeps exact for the known winner and for the company name, where 40 clicks become 20 booked visits because those people already knew who to call. An account built only on exact match will look efficient and stay small, because it can only bid on demand you already thought to write down.
Common exact match mistakes
- Assuming exact means literal and skipping the search terms report.
- Relying on exact match alone, then wondering why the account cannot grow.
- Missing negative keywords (terms you tell Google not to serve on) that would have blocked an unwanted close variant.
- Missing negative keywords (terms you tell Google not to serve on) that would have blocked an unwanted close variant.
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