Exact Match Keywords is a filter used in paid advertising campaigns to target users who only use these exact search queries. Excluding every other variation from a campaign.
This keyword setting allows your ad to only appear when someone searches for your keyword.
Exact matchkeywords mean the person searching for a particular keyword is using the exact words you’ve included in your keyword and with the exact word order.
What makes Exact Match Keywords Different?
Let’s take a look at the other match types to see the benefits each one provides.
Broad Match
Broad match keywords help you get seen by a greater number of people as you’ll show up in SERPs when people search for something similar to your keyword.
Broad match terms are great for large vague industries that have a huge audience.
Say you bid on the term ‘ceramic mixing bowl’, you could end up showing up for people who just searched for the term ‘mixing bowl’
The downside is that you could also just show up for people who searched for ‘ceramic’ alone therefore matching you with a fair few irrelevant searchers who then won’t go on to buy your product.
Phrase Match
Phrase match happens when your key phrase is searched for with the words in the same order and with no interjecting words.
For example, ‘vintage tv cabinet’ could still be found by someone searching for ‘white vintage tv cabinet’ however it would not been seen by a user who has searched for ‘tv cabinets that are vintage’
Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are also worth a mention here as they can help filter out things you don’t want.
If you’re listing a job role in a theatre and don’t want job seekers who are looking for medical theatre jobs then you can include ‘medical’ or ‘hospital’ as negative keywords in order to only focus on those wanting jobs in the Arts.
Exact Match
So, as expected, exact match shows terms that are exactly the same as the keywords you’ve set aside
They’re most useful when you only want to appear on certain serps as you have a niche audience or product.
To repeat the example above, should you bid on the term ‘ceramic mixing bowl’ you really would only be paired with people search for ceramic mixing bowls and nobody else.
Won’t this Freeze out Potential Customers?
Yes and no. But we wouldn’t recommend ONLY using exact match keywords throughout your advertising campaign. There are pros and cons to all match types.
The Cons
A negative of exact match is that it doesn’t account for long tail keywords searched.
Therefore, if you have bidded on ‘ceramic mixing bowl’ you won’t be matched with users who searched for ‘buy ceramic mixing bowl’ or ‘ceramic mixing bowls for sale’.
The Pros
Since an update to the Google Algorithm, exact match now includes search terms that are the same semantically giving you a slightly larger reach than it previously did.
Before, if you were to bid on ‘ceramic mixing bowl’ you would only be presented with searchers who had searched for that exact phrase. When they said exact - they meant exact.
Now, your potential customer could have searched for ‘mixing bowls that are ceramic’ and still see your ad.
The inclusion of allowing little words such as ‘in, are, of’ etc now allows for a wider scope of visibility.
Exact Match Keywords: Tools for Running Paid Ad Campaigns
We've put together some of the best tools that can help you throughout your advertising campaigns.
Serpstat provides a powerful SEO keyword research tool that helps users find exact match keywords for their paid ad campaigns. Backed by a database with over 6 billion keywords and 4 billion search suggestions, the software makes it easy to pinpoint what your ideal customers type into Google’s search bar when looking for your products.
For more targeted research, there’s a keyword niche finder that focuses only on keywords relevant to your products/services. Serpstat also offers features to find the most profitable keywords for advertising, compare up to 100,000 keywords across five parameters, and identify the best-performing keywords per region.
SEMRush has an online tool that simplifies keyword research and helps website owners find high-performing exact match keywords for better ads performance. From just one seed phrase, the software can generate 2 million long and short-tail keywords, sorted based on click potential and search intent.
Users also get important analytics like competitiveness, keyword difficulty, and search volume (regional and global). The SEMRush suite is supported by a database of 20 billion keywords across 800+ million domains, and you can quickly compare your keyword strategy with that of rivals in your niche and identify where you fall short.
SE Ranking’s Keyword Suggestion Tool is an effective solution for organic SEO and paid ad campaigns. It provides features to analyse keywords extensively, find new keyword opportunities, and assess your competitor’s keyword and PPC campaign strategies.
Using this software, you can build a keyword list from scratch, optimise an existing list of keywords, and review the important keyword research analytics. To help users find the perfect exact match keywords, SE Ranking shows which competitors are already using the phrase and how well it is performing, along with a preview of the advert with the keyword in action.
After getting the exact match keywords you need for your campaign, the next step is to build a landing page, infuse your keywords, direct traffic to the page, and ensure optimal conversion. Leadpages provides resources to help users create beautiful and high-converting landing pages.
There’s a code-free drag-and-drop editor with a library of templates to help you start building. And users get a forecast of how well a page would perform before publishing, along with tips on what to adjust to improve performance.
Leadpages also makes it easy to match individual ads to relevant landing pages optimised for a specific audience, thereby increasing the chances of a positive outcome and maximising your ad budget.
How Can We Help?
Really struggling with your keyword strategy? We can help you.
Just get in touch and we’ll pair you with an awesome team that will be able to lay out a plan of action for you and maybe even implement it for you!
In the meantime, why not check out our training courses to get some great marketing techniques under your belt and help you figure it out for yourself.
