'Near Exact' And 'Near Phrase' Google Match Types

With Google campaigns, there is a modified version of match type for phrase and exact match keywords: Near Exact and Near Phrase.

Detailed Information

Consider these three exact and phrase match keywords in Google Ads:

  •  [waterproof sunblock] "bollard cover" [single serving coffee maker]

 Now have a look at these two rows of search queries:

  1. waterproof sunblock buy bollard cover single serving coffee maker
  2. waterpoof sunblock buy bollard covers single serve coffee maker

Prior to the introduction of these match types, only the search queries in the upper row (1) were considered a match and allowed to trigger an ad that can appear in the results. The close variants in the bottom row (2) were not considered a match by Google Ads, despite the similarity in user intent. However, with the Near Exact and Near Phrase match types, phrase and exact match keywords will match close variants, including misspellings, singular/plural forms, stemmings, accents and abbreviations.

Using These Match Types In The platform

All new phrase and exact match keywords will automatically target near exact and near phrase.

Important Notes

  • The Near Exact and Near Phrase match only applies to Google search network.
  • For more information, please review this Inside Google Ads article here.

Written by Marketing @ Marin Software

Last published at: June 27th, 2023