Stop Using Google Ads Phrase Match Targeting

[@MarkFayard]

Why would anyone ever run a local services search ad campaign without including how to their account level negative keywords? Start with account level negative keywords when building any search campaign - include how, can, should, could, can i, would, diy, manuals, free, cheap...

[@PeacefulPPC]

In since local service niches, some of these can lead to quality calls. N-gram analysis is the key as not all "how to" search terms are created equal. If you can the ones that generate quality leads you'll have a competitive advantage over all of those folks who are blocking them all by default. Machine learning cna help a lot here.

[@SupremeDetail510]

I’m married to phrase match but I’ve seen a major decline in results. Problem is broad gives me car product results and I strictly want detailing. I always have to add tons of negative words.

[@mladenkrstin]

I also run detailing ads for 3 years so far and now i started being contacted just for services not relevant to my company :) car washes , body shops , etc

[@SupremeDetail510]

@@mladenkrstin We have to monitor negative keywords almost daily. Those clicks are a waste of $. I would screenshot ALL the irrelevant keywords that triggered it and make a list you remember to input on all new campaigns.

[@PeacefulPPC]

@@SupremeDetail510 I'm curious, what bid strategy are you using?

[@SupremeDetail510]

@@PeacefulPPCconversions for when my contact form is out on a thank you page.

[@PeacefulPPC]

@@SupremeDetail510 given how specific your offering is, you might want to test adding as many quality search terms into your account as exact match keywords as possible and turning broad off or going more long tail with it. You might also consider switching to manual CPC and setting bids according to how well they convert while also monitoring Google's bid estimate columns. Adding phrase match versions of those exact match keywords and setting bids on them manually, based on performance, is another option. In the end, what's important is that you are utilizing your budget and getting the results you want in terms of quality and quantity of lead. If exact + some phrase + manual CPC can you get there along with adding negative keywords from search terms a couple of times a week, so be it.

[@HuxleyOstell]

You putting this up for free is actually clutch - praise to you

[@tomgreenhalgh]

I waited until the end of your video to comment because I trust your content. My experience (very little) has been different. I am working with a fitness coach and broad match brought in rubbish search terms, like gymnastics or fitness class types that are not mentioned in any of the content on their website and not the leads they need. The couple of keywords that were broad were at least 4 words long but Google seemed to just lump all fitness bits together when they are not the same. I guess maybe the exact matches in the list were not targeted enough. I'm still very new to all this and have a lot to learn. Thank you for your content.

[@AaronYoungGoogleAds]

Hey Tom, firstly glad to hear you have found value in my content. The key to remember is that especially where you have a lot of similar themes you need to focus on search term audits at least 2-3 times a week (for the first 4-6 weeks) so that you can: - build out your negative KWs - add in [exact match] keywords All the best

[@tinkerjefe]

What did your negative keyword list look like? Make sure to add those terms and constantly check while building the campaign.

[@tomgreenhalgh]

@@AaronYoungGoogleAds thank you, it must be my negative keywords. I'll get back to building out that list of negatives.

[@tomgreenhalgh]

@@tinkerjefe thank you for the tip. It makes total sense that this would be my problem. I can't expect Google just to know everything without telling it to avoid similar ish keywords.

[@SupremeDetail510]

@@AaronYoungGoogleAdsthanks this helped me

[@kylesbagels]

Uhh- at about 2:38 all the keywords you gave as examples were clearly broad match keywords... did I miss something?

[@danieldimsey7463]

legit, literally showed how shit broad are once again

[@HispanicNach0s]

I saw that too. That plus a lot of over-generalizations in this video have me very skeptical. I've no doubt this guy's expertise, but this video was actually sent to me by a Google rep who has been trying hard to sell me broad match. Feels like there might have been some incentives with this video

[@jacoberdei8533]

indeed, examples shown there are not correct because those where clearly broad and not phrase. Phrase match is now thematic as many people know. So Phrase match in many ways works similar to broad. The extreme broad match push by Google is nothing more than a clear money grab to increase CPC and fully monetize all searches. Broad can work if the CPC is cheap enough but it's rough going and as someone who also spends 150K+ a month on client accounts and roughly $30k on my own ecom accounts I have yet to see broad bidding be a good strategy. Narrowly focused I have had it work but it's just not viable.

[@JimAlbers]

That's the Search Terms report, not the actual keywords

[@joebuchanan8141]

​@@jacoberdei8533 what would you suggest then? Phrase or exact?

[@FinnHorne-u5o]

Everything is clear. Brief and clear. No water. Thank you)

[@AndyBlackJnr]

We mostly just use Phrase Match. Works fine. If we go exact match we often clone the campaign and change all keywords to exact match and add exact match negatives. It's old school but still works in the right situation. We create thousands of phrase match keywords in one-keyword-per-adgroup. Each ad matches the keyword, and we pass parameters to the page so the page matches too. Using broad match would screw that all up.

[@xdsamar]

Hey sir you need google ads loaded in 50% of You can tell us we will load that much amount

[@KadenWood-q2l]

Appreciate the non-fluff straightforward approach. Was a great review for me. Thank you!

[@JacobRobinson-t9d]

A good lecture that will benefit all who have followed this excellent explanation.

[@WalterPhilips-z2m]

Crisp, smart way of explaining, necessary and sufficient information. That was helpful. Thank you.

[@digistronic]

Very well explained. I have one question about negative keyword. what will be your suffesyion on the bases of your experience? Should we go with phrase match or exactch match or broad match in negative keywords.Thanks. I mean when we use negative keywords then which keyword match is best to use.?Thanks once

[@JaxsonSegal]

Really clever explanation and no unnecessary verbiage! Respect! + subscription

[@MilesBain]

Thank you for explaining everything so clearly. Everything is very clear. Like for the explanation.

[@HamzaKhan-f5k3e]

With broad match comes massive negative keywords. What's the best way to add those negative keywords? How you do it like manually or use some software? Is there something easy and convenient?

[@UnchartedDiscoveries]

Use scripts to exclude highly irrelevant search terms. But make sure to review for at least a month what is being excluded

[@jdmoy7384]

Chat gpt will also give you negative keyword lists. just ask it to by a prompt

[@ReelGreezy]

He just explained that broad and phrase produce essentially the same keywords but broad has better benefits. Someone didn't watch the whole video.

[@SupremeDetail510]

Here’s a string of video ideas. How I would make a Google Ad as a tattoo artist, car detailer, painter, realtor, fitness trainer, clothing brand, ebook store, furniture store and so on including shopping ads. The retention rate would be 100% and replayed like 8x for years by businesses lol. If you made a car detailing ad tutorial I’d watch it 10x. I know plenty of businesses would love that and make more $ with that tutorial. Just a suggestion because I know people run to make ads and still need help.

[@PeacefulPPC]

That's a really cool idea. I might take you up on that challenge. Car detailing, huh? Interesting. I've got the idea, the knowledge, and the ability...now I just need a video editor to get it done! 🤔

[@MMDZ_05]

Thank you for the sound advice. This is your default strategy since 2021- are you no longer using broad match modifiers (now used as phrase matching).

[@HudsonCastle]

Clear and understandable, I wish there was more information like this.

[@diZtHoMaS]

As always... insightful, cutting edge, stellar content, Aaron. Thank you.🔥

[@AaronYoungGoogleAds]

My pleasure!

[@tituskam]

Hi Aaron, could you share where you get the image at 4:13? I'd like to read the documentation

[@ColeKrohnGoogleAds]

I tried posting the link but KZbin wouldn't let me. You can find it in the Google Ads Help article called "The ABCs of Account Structure"

[@tituskam]

@@ColeKrohnGoogleAds you're a legend. Thanks!

[@DailyHalachaMillBasin]

Would you recommend this for a local service business like a plumber Hvac or locksmith?

[@hokhoichan7657]

Hi Aaron, if new account without conversion, will you still recommend using boardmatch with max click? thanks!!!

[@hinaberks]

yes

[@dogasavas264]

the person who says yes probably works for Google. Don't do it unless you have extra money to share with Google :D

[@PeacefulPPC]

In this case you're probably better off starting with exact match only on manual CPC or maybe max clicks. You could also include phrase match but maybe pause them at first to see how it does without them. I wouldn't shift to broad match until I've gathered some performance data and identified many negative keywords.

[@hinaberks]

@@PeacefulPPC This is a nice thought but I have noticed if you use anything other than broad match, google doesn't give results. it withholds the conversions, which then impacts learning.

[@nVizGG]

hell fking no! CPC!

[@jame880]

I'd love to see a simple guide on Dynamic Keyword Insertion. I've been wanting to use it to swap out some city names in my copy.

[@Ephremjlm1]

I can definitely say that anecdotally at least, I'm seeing user location,other keywords in ad group, and previous searches seep through in phrase match. I have been so diligent on a specific campaign in particular that it feels like I basically have it all in broad lol. That said the search terms report data has built up nicely and I have a solid negative keywords list.

[@AaronYoungGoogleAds]

Yeah if you have an exisiting good list of negative KWs the effect won’t be as bad.

[@Ephremjlm1]

@@AaronYoungGoogleAds very correct! These are generally on new campaigns where the keyword research is technically still being conducted before transfer to either max clicks or max con.

[@jamesmagree-m2m]

This video is unreal thank you very much!

[@LoveHopkins-q6p]

You explain it very well!

[@JasonDainter]

This was an insightful video, thanks! Im curious about a structure within an ad group using RSA (responsive search ads) would it be decent practise to have a mix of broad match and exact match, then to gradually add more exact match do that ad group (based on what the broad matches catch)? I heard exact match will take priority over the broad match, is that correct and does that set up sound sensible to you?

[@CharlesRandall-cs6bv]

It's beyond praise.

[@jame880]

Uhg, I just had a ton of keyword recommendations to add. It wanted to add them as broad, I change them all to phrase before adding. Looks like I need to go back to that account. :)

[@KellyAlfano]

Hi, great video. I've been managing accounts since 2010. The match type changes are so painful. I stopped using phrase match a few months ago for the reasons you explain. I went to exact match only and CPCs SKYROCKETED. So now I'm working to crack the broad match space. Can you please tell me which bid strategy you're using for your BM+EM combo campaigns?

[@PeacefulPPC]

I've heard it is best to use broad match when it is paired with an automated bid strategy like max conversions, max conversion value, etc. in theory the extra signals will allow the machine learning to find your customers even though the search terms may look irrelevant. I'm in the early stages of testing this out.

[@KellyAlfano]

@@PeacefulPPC thanks, i'm using a tcpa portfolio bid strayegy with a max cpc. just wanted to see if I should test something else if BM & EM keywords are in the same campaign

[@MasonBurt-iy7ko]

The video is great, informative!

[@nekneversleep]

I’m team exact match , I get nothing but nonsense with broad match.

[@OddsWin_Ant]

for small businesses sure. bigger businesses, google has made it so you have no choice but to use broad match.

[@MrJimslaton]

We were like you for years but with all the changes with AI you have no choice or you are losing out

[@nekneversleep]

@@MrJimslaton please elaborate

[@ponyboy6002]

what about when doing Search Term audits.... is it best practice to use phrase match there?

[@JaymeCoulter]

I've heard that broad match should not be used in Maximize Clicks bid strategy campaigns because it's not a smart bidding strategy, and broad match works best with smart bidding. But, can i still add 1 or 2 broad match keywords into my Max Clicks campaigns and still be ok if the rest of my keywords are exact match like you're talking about? Does broad match and all it's signals still work for strictly automated (automated, but not smart bidding) strategies? It's just that no one is talking about how all this works with different bidding strategies, or does it even matter?

[@dprice2800]

I still need to get on the broad match train, I am not there yet. There is too much wasted spending and low-quality spam leads. I recently switched an account that we took over from broad match keywords to phrase, and it started performing way better with higher-quality leads. Like anything, I think this is a per-account choice on what works for them or not.

[@HarrisonMarch-j7w]

Great video!

[@HoraceFlynn]

Everything is great!

[@SamElliott-g4e]

Thank you for creating the video - likes Unequivocally !!!!

[@KeywordResearchSimplified]

*Wow, I’ve been relying on phrase match for a while.*

[@Y3MMovement]

Hello Aaron and everyone. I'm looking all over for this... how can I see what are the keywords that are triggering my Google Video ad! I see that its doable within a google Search campaign but cannot find the info for video ads. how can I do this pls. thanks

[@Rodion_Markov]

just checked the accounts that I'm running currently I don't see this problem across my accounts phrase match keywords don't have any impressions on broad match type search terms

[@PeacefulPPC]

If phrase match keywords are converting at a good cost for you then, you're fine. If not, it could be the 40% - 60% of phrase match search terms that Google isn't showing you. I feel like in many cases they are hiding some bodies in those missing search terms and phrase match would be more susceptible to this

[@KrissyPleiman]

Are you putting them into separate ad groups or the same? Usually I see broad match get all of my searches and exact gets none.

[@NateStewart-q6k]

You're doing a good job.

[@SPYMASTERUSA]

Aaron- If you use an exact match keyword, and you use a broad match that has the same terms, how do keep from those keywords competing against themselves for the number 1 position?

[@nVizGG]

exact should have a priority :) ref Google

[@KamdenAnderson-mv1mo]

That's just awesome.

[@Test-p2r6f]

Phrase match and exact match still working well for me and profitable - will test your approach though

[@AaronYoungGoogleAds]

Remember to test slowly and don’t change everything at once as your existing campaigns also have conversion and CTR data that is it taking into account. A good step is to: - duplicate “phrase match” keywords to [exact match] in the same ad group That way you can access the data

[@rajeevdsamuel]

broad match works great for a few weeks then it has hallucinations and goes completely insane and keeps adding and adding broader terms to search from that you can't be bothered to keep up with adding more and more negative keywords.

[@Hbhatti5]

How about law firms. When I set bid limits, its gets limited ads. Otherwise it sometimes costs upto $200 per click

[@ccw6050]

thx, great explanation especial for those of us using Google ads for years and not wanting to move to broadmatch. I have a question, from what you have said in the video in regard to have only a couple of 4-5 worded broadmatch phrases with exact match, is then wise to make more specific adgroups eg car smash repairs make a adgroup for car smash repairs pricing, another car smash repairs sydney and going to specific landing pages rather than one ad group for car smash repairs and having all broadmatch phrases in that one group. also if you have a number of separate adgroups that are close words is this redundant now?

[@mellow.marketer5677]

Hey. I believe, you should have been doing that a while ago. Granular ad groups, and very specific keywords help with reporting and optimising your ads. I'm still not sure about this new approach. To be honest, my ads have been underperforming for a couple of weeks now. It might be time to freshen things up.

[@cwalker-zt6sc]

@@mellow.marketer5677 I have been just wanted to check. Yes my adds are now under performing ad whats more my google manager said that we shouldnt be using broadmatch at all and the phrase match was still relevant

[@davidkeller8360]

At 5:11, you said "broad match has limitations that phrase match doesn't have, giving it an advantage" ? - same thing at 5:55, where you said: "broad match is actually more limited than phrase match, because it brings in those extra data points" Can we agree that is just an (unfortunate) slip-up since phrase match actually has limitations, as described at 4:11?

[@CoreyCreed]

Brilliant. Thanks for breaking it down. This clarifies some questions I had from your earlier videos.

[@AaronYoungGoogleAds]

Great to hear! Corey

[@BraydenFuller-z2c]

No water, fast! Way to go.

[@RileyBeaton-r6b]

Thanks for the video!)

[@cricketlovers4121]

I am in the legal industry with cpcs crossing $100, so exact and phrase are currently working for me as I target a niche audience that are actively looking for an attorney. But ill try your strat with long tail broad match with proper negative keywords list

[@BillKozdron]

I also work in the legal industry and phrase match has been much worse since the AI explosion. You can say "bankruptcy attorney" and Google shows that ad to anyone looking for an attorney in any practice area. Like you, I have to have a ton of negative keywords. Very frustrating.

[@cricketlovers4121]

@@BillKozdron i think the key is to have as many negatives as possible before the launch of a campaign, this way a lot of the unnecessary keywords are filtered out.

[@ChrisHoller-xx6sk]

Thank you for this information!

[@HotohoriTasuki24]

Can you create a content about google ads advertising for Dentists? What type of keyword match, high converting landing page and other tips.

[@c1arkj]

several exact match keywords based on location is all you need know.

[@staceem]

Super helpful. Thank you!!

[@eh234]

If I use a keyword including more than 2 words, it says : Not eligible, low search volume!!!

[@patrick_performanceone]

when you only use broad and exact match you don't need that much keywords right? It doesnt make sense to have several broad matches in one adgroup because one broad match covers all the possible searchterms right?

[@PeacefulPPC]

Since Google is interpreting the keywords semantically, it stands to reason that significantly different variations of keywords might trigger for different search terms. Also, if you're using dynamic keyword insertion in ads, having more keywords indirectly gives you more ad variants.

[@JuniorWilliams-ee7ud]

Thank you for this video!

[@EddieReed-db6fu]

Wow, interesting information about phrase!

[@MasterBrain182]

Thank you Aaron 🔥

[@dablackdon]

I wonder if the same rules apply to MS Ads...

[@TremaineJaskolski]

Cool information. Thank you!

[@billyalfathin9454]

Super Agree! especially using "long tail broad match at least 3 word" 🔥

[@AaronYoungGoogleAds]

Thanks

[@AustynConsidine]

Thank you. I get new information!

[@ChadThorne-eq8hs]

Cool video. Thank you!

[@user-yi8tl4vd4h]

I used excat match using long tail keywords ...they suspended my account and now says pending . They wernt making anything on me ,,

[@PaulKennedy-fw1vk]

Thank you! I do it

[@StephenCox-du3jb]

My last few months sales have got really bad compared to previous months and reckon this could be the reason so have removed Phrase match from all my Search campaigns and using a few broad terms to bring in the Exact match keywords and keeping the ones I had that were working. Something at Google changed back in March and hoping this is the fix.

[@xdsamar]

Hey sir you need google ads loaded in 50% of You can tell us we will load that much amount

[@grayslayers]

Broad match is so random. This campaign targeting "small business coach" using only 10 broad match keywords delivered 68 search terms like this. aimee cohen anna brambilla bonnie marcus bonnie tuttle bossmakeher brenda terry cindy bloomquist danielle sunberg derek mulhern etc Loads of impressions like that.

[@PeacefulPPC]

That's a perfect example of how Google is interpreting broad match semantically. You entered the broad match keywords for 'small business coach' so it showed your ad for people looking for small business coaches. In this case, the keyword is too short. If you're gonna go broad match you should star with long tail keywords that contain a minimum of 4 words and maybe even up to ten. For example, a problem focused, long tail broad match keywords might perform better such as: coaching to help me grow my business - those kinds of keywords paired with the right bid strategy, in theory, would still find your customers though the search terms will look less relevant. Ultimately what matter is whether you're getting good results at a good cost.

[@grayslayers]

@@PeacefulPPC Typical Google making what worked and was understandable complex and utter bullshit.

[@PeacefulPPC]

@@grayslayers 100!

[@grayslayers]

​@@PeacefulPPC so you would go Exact match Broad but longer tail, 4 words minimum? No phrase at all?

[@PeacefulPPC]

@@grayslayers I'd probably start by combing through my search terms reports and identifying all converting search terms as well as those that have high intent. I'd then add these as exact match keywords to the appropriate ad groups as well as the phrase match versions of them. At first I'd pause the phrase match of these. Also, probably good to have at least one RSA in each ad group that is using dynamic keyword insertion in some of the position 1 headlines to take advantage of these high quality keywords. Then, in some of the ad groups Id add long tail broad match keywords, perhaps one or two and I would pause them as well. Next, I'd run the exact match only for a week or two to see what happens. During this time I would continue to monitor search terms, etc. If I discover that I need more volume after that, Id enable phrase match keywords. I'd reserve my broad match until I am getting steady conversions without them AND need more volume.

[@chaiti1985]

Awesome

[@BenMilsom]

Been spooked off Broad Match except on mature campaigns with great conversion numbers and budget's large enough to test. Will be giving your structure here a try, some really good points made. Very aware it makes sense to keep up to speed with Google rather than long for the old skool days!

[@devonthe777]

Target CPA?

[@milochamp1586]

No more middle ground. All or nothing attitude is the way to deal with it.

[@hi_alti_fit]

Where are you getting that Google is not using location data on phrase match. I have never seen anything to suggest this before

[@PeacefulPPC]

I couldn't find this either but I probably haven't searched hard enough yet. I was very interested in reviewing all the signals that Google uses for each match type. Would love to see the link to that graphic too

[@AaronYoungGoogleAds]

I got this information from an internal Google team member earlier this year but wanted to Tripple test again (as this was my assumption) before I shared the data on my channel. Google has recently shared the image here publicly: support.google.com/google-ads/answer/14752782?hl=en-AU#:~:text=Your%20account%20structure%20is%20critical,clearer%20trends%20and%20fewer%20errors.

[@PeacefulPPC]

@@AaronYoungGoogleAds thank you for this

[@hi_alti_fit]

Wow. Google hid that 😂 thanks for getting it out there

[@phillipdinh8442]

For sex pills, my phrase matches are super random. Ironically, my broad match seems even more accurate than exact match half the time. What a contradiction!

[@krokodilpil8335]

2025 - "broad match is more targeted than exact match"

[@magimixil]

this is crazy

[@cdropbox]

liked

[@Hohihiho56]

Ur skin color blinds me

[@XavierGraham-hr7xl]

You putting this up for free is actually clutch - praise to you

[@ZacharyMatthews-vh4mn]

Everything is clear. Brief and clear. No water. Thank you)

[@RomanHoffman-j7b]

Crisp, smart way of explaining, necessary and sufficient information. That was helpful. Thank you.

[@CaseyFuller-s3z]

Appreciate the non-fluff straightforward approach. Was a great review for me. Thank you!

[@EmmettYoung-l8h]

Really clever explanation and no unnecessary verbiage! Respect! + subscription

[@KylerKeen]

A good lecture that will benefit all who have followed this excellent explanation.

[@NateStewart-q6k]

Clear and understandable, I wish there was more information like this.

[@JordanReynolds-g8b]

Thank you for explaining everything so clearly. Everything is very clear. Like for the explanation.

[@CarterGoodrem]

You explain it very well!

[@JeremiahMiller-t9r]

The video is great, informative!

[@BlakeRichards-f9sq]

Thank you for creating the video - likes Unequivocally !!!!

[@MaximusRose-c3o]

It's beyond praise.

[@DominiqueFrancis-i8u]

No water, fast! Way to go.

[@BrodyOliver-e8n]

You're doing a good job.

[@CarterTaylor-h5p]

Great video!

[@ZanderRogers-gu5qs]

Thanks for the video!)

[@QuinnWilson-pn8uj]

That's just awesome.

[@JamesJackman-eo1fo]

Everything is clear. Brief and clear. No water. Thank you)

[@AtticusMcCrae]

Appreciate the non-fluff straightforward approach. Was a great review for me. Thank you!

[@WadeTurner-pd8id]

A good lecture that will benefit all who have followed this excellent explanation.