Plus One! Google Adds Another Match Type - IndSEO

Google's latest targeting feature is the release of the new modified broad match. This new match type gives targeting results that are in between phrase match and the original broad match, but is more closely related to phrase match.


As many advertisers know, broad match can be quite risky, and sometimes not produce the most desirable ROI's. Modified broad match can help advertisers get more impressions and show for more variations than phrase match; however, reduce the number of unwanted irrelevant impressions associated with standard broad match.

The new match type is annotated with a + sign in front of the word that is to be modified. It's important to note that if you are currently using mostly broad match keywords, switching to modified broad match will most likely significantly reduce impressions.

Here is an example of how this match type works:

Regular Broad Match: Buy Makeup
Matching Examples: Buy Cosmetics, Cheap Makeup,

Modified Broad Match: +Buy +Makeup,
Matching Examples: Buy Maekpu, Buy loreal makeup

As you can see above, modified broad match will match you to misspellings, spelling variations, singular/plural variations, and stemmings (e.g., "floor/flooring", "Italy/Italian"); however, not to synonyms as regular broad match does.

If you are going to modify more than one word in the phrase, make sure you put a space in front of the plus symbol.

Correct Annotation:
+Buy +Makeup

Incorrect Annotation:
+Buy+Makeup

If you do not put a space, Google will ignore the plus symbol and treat the keyword as standard broad match!

Here is Google's official announcement of this new match type.

Here at ROI we look at modified broad match as another tool to have more control over your keywords, and squeeze more value out of your advertising dollar. Also, if you are currently only running your keywords in phrase & exact match, then using modified broad match is a great way to increase traffic without having to worry about the increased risk of irrelevant traffic incurred by many broad match searches. This feature is currently available to all advertisers in the US & Canada.

Prachar is the owner of IndSEO, A India based search engine marketing firm offering a variety of SEO related services including reputation management, social media marketing, email marketing, website conversion metrics and mobile phone application development. Please contact Prachar@ymail.com to learn more

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