Google Ads Keyword Match Type Formatter
Paste your keyword list, choose broad, phrase or exact, and copy the correctly formatted output straight into Google Ads. Free, instant, nothing stored.
Not sure which match type to use? Read our PPC for small businesses guide
Google Ads gives you three ways to tell it when to show your ads.
If you get this right, your budget will get conversions. But get it wrong, and you put your ad in front of the wrong audience, which is like burning your money.
For any business running Google Ads on a limited budget, the wrong match type can burn through your budget and leave you with zero profit to show for it. The damage is invisible, so you might not even know it is happening.
This formatter adds the correct Google Ads syntax for you to copy and paste into your campaign. Choose your match type. Paste your list. Copy the output directly into Google Ads.
How to Use This Tool
Paste your keywords into the box, one per line.
Next, select the match type you want to apply. Copy the formatted output and paste it into your Google Ads keyword list.
If you are not sure which match type to use, read the section below before you start. Not reading the quick explanation could waste a lot of your ad spend.
The Three Match Types Explained
Broad Match
Broad match is Google's default. When you add a keyword without any formatting, broad match is what you get.
It tells Google to show your ad for any search it considers related to your keyword, and this includes synonyms and similar searches. A keyword like "running shoes" on broad match might trigger your ad for "gym trainers", "sports footwear", or even "comfortable shoes for walking".
When should you use it? Broad match helps large campaigns with healthy budgets. If you are trying to discover new search terms and you have the data and the spend to let Google learn, then you should use it.
What is the cost if you get it wrong? For small budgets, broad match is the most expensive default in Google Ads. You hand control to an algorithm whose job is to spend your budget, and without tight negative keywords, broad match will find searches to spend money on. It will find searches, but they will not be the correct searches.
At CreateTheWeb, our experts believe this is one of the biggest causes of wasted spend. You can read more in our article on why your Google PPC campaign fails.
Phrase Match
Phrase match sits in the middle. It shows your ad when someone searches your keyword as part of a longer query, in the same order, with words either side of it.
Add phrase match formatting, and "emergency plumber" will trigger ads for "emergency plumber in Leeds", "find an emergency plumber near me", and "emergency plumber open now". It will not trigger for "plumber emergency callout" or "emergency gas engineer", because those do not preserve the word order or the exact phrase.
When should you use it? Phrase match is the practical choice for most campaigns. It gives you control without cutting off the long-tail variations, and those convert well. A phrase match keyword is an affordable way to discover search intent without Google draining your bank.
What is the cost if you get it wrong? Complacency is the biggest risk factor here. Slowly, it can slip into completely different variations, words that do not match your keyword target at all. Without regular review of your search term reports and negatives, you will start to spend on irrelevant queries without noticing. Treat phrase match as a starting point rather than an end goal.
Exact Match
Exact match only shows your ad when someone searches for your keyword closely. Think the same words, in the same order, with minimal variation. Google does permit close variants, such as plurals and minor spelling mistakes, but the intent and meaning must match.
Add exact match formatting, and "emergency plumber Leeds" will trigger for "emergency plumber Leeds" and "emergency plumbers Leeds" only.
When should you use it? Exact match is the right choice when you know which searches convert and want to protect your budget by targeting only those phrases. For high-value, high-intent terms with expensive click costs, you cannot afford to waste impressions.
What is the cost if you get it wrong? The risk is the opposite of broad match. If you go too narrow, you may miss searches that convert, and used alone exact match can starve a campaign of volume. Use exact match alongside phrase match to protect your best terms while still reaching broader high-intent queries.
Where Small Budgets Win
Expert PPC managers use one pattern to help a business with a small budget find a successful middle ground: long-tail, high-intent phrases.
Consider the difference between "plumber" and "24-hour emergency plumber in Leeds". One is broad and expensive, capturing just about everyone. The second is hyper-specific: this person is standing in a flooded kitchen at 11pm and needs immediate help.
Long-tail keywords like "24-hour emergency plumber in Leeds" get fewer searches, but that is exactly the point. Fewer impressions, fewer irrelevant clicks, a lower cost per click, and a higher conversion rate. If you have a limited budget, it only makes sense to spend less per click on searches with higher conversion rates, and that is far more profitable in the long term.
Phrase match on "24-hour emergency plumber in Leeds" captures the intent without limiting your reach if the searcher words it differently. Exact match ties it down to the specific search. Broad match undermines the precision that made the keyword valuable in the first place.
Most PPC Experts Ignore This
Negative keywords tell Google which searches should not trigger your ads. This is as important as your positive keyword list, yet many neglect it, and it will burn through your budget in the long term.
Here is what neglected negatives look like in practice:
- A roofing company bids on "roof repair".
- Without negatives, that keyword on broad or phrase match starts showing for irrelevant searches like "roof repair DIY guide" and "roof repair tools".
- Every one of those clicks costs money and wins no customers.
Add "DIY", "guide", "tools", "cost", "how much", "complaints" and "free" as negative keywords, and this stops immediately. On an average small business PPC account, negative keywords can reduce wasted spend by 20 to 40% without reducing the volume of valuable clicks.
Negatives work at the campaign level or the ad group level. Campaign-level negatives apply everywhere. Ad group negatives allow specificity, blocking certain terms in one ad group without removing them across the whole campaign.
After your campaign runs for at least a week, open the Search Terms report in Google Ads. Here you can see exactly which searches trigger your ads and what they cost. Work through it, add anything that does not match your offer to your negative list, and repeat the process every week or two. Our experts find this is the best method to optimise a campaign.
Use This Tool Alongside a Proper Campaign Strategy
Formatting your keywords correctly is an important step, but it is one step.
A well-structured campaign also needs the right keyword research, ad copy that moves the reader, a landing page that matches the ad's promise, and relentless optimisation as the data comes in.
New to Google Ads, or running a campaign on a limited budget? Read our PPC for small businesses guide for an overview of how to structure a successful campaign without wasting money. And if you want a team to manage it properly, our PPC management service covers everything, from initial setup to ongoing optimisation.
Frequently Asked
Questions about this tool
Broad match shows your ad for any search Google considers related to your keyword, including synonyms. Phrase match shows your ad when someone's search includes your keyword phrase, in order, within a longer query. Exact match shows your ad only when the search matches your keyword with minimal variation. Each offers a different level of control over which searches trigger your ads, and carries a different level of risk if applied without thought.
For most campaigns, phrase match is the sensible starting point because it gives you meaningful control without cutting off useful long-tail variations. Once you have enough data to know which specific searches convert, add them as exact match keywords to protect your best terms. Avoid broad match on a limited budget unless you have an extensive negative keyword list and a clear strategy.
Negative keywords tell Google not to show your ad for specific searches. Without them you waste budget on irrelevant clicks, such as people researching rather than buying, searches in the wrong location, or queries that share a word with your keyword but have completely different intent. Regularly adding to and refining your negative list is one of the highest return strategies for improving campaign efficiency.
Not necessarily per click, but almost certainly in total. Broad match pulls in a wider range of searches, including many that will never convert. For a small budget this can be damaging, because you end up paying for unnecessary volume at the expense of the focused spend that would have produced results.
Open the Search Terms report in Google Ads. It shows every search that triggered one of your ads, how many times, and what it cost. From there you can find negative keywords to add and understand where your budget goes. Check it at least once a week on any active campaign. It is the most honest view of your campaign's performance.