When it comes to Google AdWords Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing, there are basically 4 keyword types – And they are “broad”, “phrase”, “exact”, as well as “negative” matched keywords.
You may probably have heard of as well as know what these 4 different types of keywords are, but do you know exactly when your ads will be triggered for each keyword type? What I’m going to do in this post is to show you when your ads will be triggered for each keyword type…
1. Exact Match Keywords
Exact matched keywords are keywords that are surrounded by square brackets. Here are some examples of exact matched keywords:
[infant potty training]
[baby shower planner]
[saltwater fishing]
If you bid on exact match keywords, ads will only be displayed whenever someone enters exactly what you are bidding for. For example, for [infant potty training], your ad will only be displayed when someone enters infant potty training.
If someone enters infantpotty training or learn how to infant potty training, you ad will not be displayed.
2. Phrase Match Keywords
Phrase match keywords are keywords that are surrounded by inverted commas. Examples of phrase matched keywords are:
“infant potty training”
“baby shower planner”
“saltwater fishing”
Your ads will be displayed whenever someone searches the keyword as they are (i.e. infant potty training, baby shower planner, saltwater fishing) or they enter anything that’s before, as well as after the keyword that you are bidding for (and the order of the keywords you are bidding for is not changed).
For example, your ads will be triggered if someone searches for the following keywords:
learn infant potty training tips
saltwater fishing locations
where to find baby shower planner
However, your ads will not be triggered if someone searches for the following keywords:
infant potty trainings guide (there is a ‘s’ in trainings, which is different from the keyword that you’ve bid, which is “infant potty training”, therefore your ad will not be displayed)
saltwaterfishing (even though the words are the same, but these 2 words are joined together, which makes it different from “saltwater fishing” which you’ve bid, therefore your ad will not be displayed)
3. Broad Match Keywords
Broad matched keywords are keywords as it is, without any square brackets or inverted commas surrounding it, examples are:
infant potty training
baby shower planner
saltwater fishing
For keywords that are broad matched, your ad will be displayed whenever the words that you’ve bid are there, in any order, or when someone searches for keywords that are synonyms of keywords that you’ve bid.
The following are examples where your ad will show for the keyword infant potty training:
infant potty training
potty infant train
baby toilet training
The following are examples where your ad will show for the keyword baby shower planner:
free baby shower planner
baby shower planner guide
how to plan a baby shower
4. Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are different from broad, phrase as well as exact match keywords in that, keywords you specify as negative match keywords will not be displayed. These keywords are denoted by a negative sign in front.
The following are some examples of negative keywords:
-free
-downloads
-installs
-moments
Let’s say, if you bid for a phrase match keyword “baby shower planner”, and at the same time you’ve specified a negative keyword -free, your ad will not be displayed when someone enters the following:
baby shower planner free
get free baby shower planner
how to get baby shower planner for free
The reason why the above keywords will not trigger your ad is because you’ve specified a negative keyword “free” – Which means that as long as the keywords that someone enters contain the word “free”, your ad will not be displayed.
I hope with this post, you now have a better understanding of the 4 different types of keywords that’s in use in Google AdWords, and understand when to use which types of keywords in your Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing campaigns.