Phrase match

What is Phrase Match? – Definition

Phrase match is used in Google Ads to show a given ad only when users type the exact match or similar variants to the indicated exact keyword phrase. The keywords should be placed in quotation marks. The examples of such close variants can be, for example: misspellings, abbreviations, acronyms, singular and plural forms, or paraphrases. What’s more, an ad will also be displayed when users type words before and after the indicated phrase.

Exact Phrase in Practice

Let’s assume you run an online store that sells baby care products. By selecting “child car seats” as a phrase match keyword, your ad will be displayed to users who typed similar variants of the declared keywords, such as “child car seat”, “best child car seats”, “child car seat requirements”, etc.

Negative Phrase Match

Here, the match is quite different. A negative phrase match is put in quotation marks as well, however, an ad will be excluded for searches that contained the declared phrase – what’s important – in the same order. Here, Google also takes into account additional words before and after the negative phrase.