Broad Match in Google Ads: How It Works Now and What Replaced BMM

When you start a Google Ads campaign, choosing the keyword match type is one of your most important decisions. Broad match is the default and widest-reaching option. With a broad match keyword like running shoes, your ad can show for searches related to the keyword’s meaning, including searches that don’t contain your words, such as “buy sneakers online” or “best athletic footwear”. That’s how broad match finds valuable search terms you hadn’t thought of.

It’s also where most wasted budget in Google Ads starts, and the rules have changed a lot since this topic was first written about. The broad match modifier is gone, broad match now leans on Smart Bidding, and it’s now part of AI Max. This guide covers how broad match works now, and what each match type costs across the Google Ads accounts we manage.

The short answer: broad match is Google Ads’ default keyword match type. Your ads can show on searches related to your keyword, not just ones that contain it. The broad match modifier (+running +shoes) no longer exists: Google folded it into phrase match in 2021, so phrase match is what you use instead. In our accounts, broad match keywords converted at about the same rate as phrase match at a lower cost per conversion, and exact match was still the cheapest per conversion.

What is broad match?

In Google’s words, with broad match “ads may show on searches that are related to your keyword, which can include searches that don’t contain the keyword terms”. It’s the default: any keyword you add without symbols is a broad match keyword.

Broad match doesn’t only read the words. Google says it also uses the user’s recent search activity, the content of your landing pages and assets, and the other keywords in the ad group to work out what you mean. So the same keyword can match differently in two accounts. A keyword like emergency plumber in an ad group full of drain-cleaning keywords, pointing to a drain-cleaning page, will lean towards drain searches.

Here’s how one keyword, running shoes, can match under each type:

• Broad match (running shoes): “best trail sneakers”, “marathon training footwear”, “running shoes on sale”.
• Phrase match (“running shoes”): “women’s running shoes”, “running shoes for flat feet”, “buy running shoes near me”.
• Exact match ([running shoes]): “running shoes”, “running shoe”, “shoes for running” (same meaning, different wording).

What happened to the broad match modifier?

The broad match modifier (BMM) let you put a plus sign in front of words (+running +shoes) so that those words had to appear in the search, in any order. It was the middle ground between broad and phrase match. It’s retired. According to Google’s help page on the change:

• February 2021: Google started folding broad match modifier behaviour into phrase match.
• July 2021: phrase match and BMM keywords got the same matching behaviour, and new keywords can no longer be added with the +keyword notation.
• Old +keywords still run, but they match like phrase match keywords. If you edit the text of one, it’s converted to phrase match notation (“keyword”) when you save.

So if an old guide tells you to use +modified +broad keywords for “discovery with control”, use phrase match instead. Phrase match now covers searches that include the meaning of your keyword, which is roughly what BMM did. If you still have legacy +keywords in an account, they aren’t broken, but convert them to phrase match when you next clean up the account so your keyword list says what it does.

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Broad vs phrase vs exact match in 2026

One rule people miss: when several of your keywords could match the same search, Google doesn’t simply pick the tightest one. It prioritises the ad with the highest Ad Rank. So adding the same keyword as exact, phrase and broad doesn’t guarantee that the exact version serves on an exact search.

Which of the following represents a broad match keyword?

If you’re here for the Google Ads certification question: the keyword with no symbols is broad match (running shoes). Quotation marks mean phrase match (“running shoes”), square brackets mean exact match ([running shoes]), and a plus sign (+running +shoes) is the retired broad match modifier.

1. Exact match still delivers the cheapest conversions

In accounts that ran all three match types, the median cost per conversion was about $60 on exact match keywords, $80 on broad and $85 on phrase. Exact match also had the cheapest clicks, about $3.00 against $3.50 for broad and $3.80 for phrase.

That’s no surprise: exact match keywords are usually your proven terms, and people searching them know what they want. The catch is volume: exact match reaches the fewest searches, so it rarely carries an account’s growth on its own.

2. Broad match converts as well as phrase match, for less

Conversion rates were almost the same across the three: 5.2% on exact, 5.0% on phrase and 5.0% on broad at the median account running all three. Broad clicks were a little cheaper than phrase clicks, so broad came out about $5 cheaper per conversion.

Across every account, not just the ones running all three, the gap was wider. Phrase match keywords had a median cost per conversion of about $115, against about $80 for broad and $70 for exact. Phrase is also by far the most used match type: more than twice as many accounts use it as use broad, and it takes about half of all keyword spend in our data.

Treat that wider gap with care. Accounts that use broad match are more likely to run Smart Bidding and to have solid conversion tracking, so part of that gap may come from how those accounts are run, not from the match type. What the data does show is that broad match, run with Smart Bidding and a search terms routine, doesn’t have to be the budget sink its reputation suggests. Google goes further: its own figures say advertisers who switch phrase keywords to broad can see about 25% more conversions on Target CPA and about 12% more conversion value on Target ROAS while meeting their targets (Google internal data, 2020). That’s Google’s claim, and our numbers can’t confirm or rule it out.

3. Phrase and exact match spend mostly goes to close variants

Tight match types flex more than most advertisers think. We looked at where search-term spend went, by how each search matched. Close variants, meaning searches Google judged to mean the same thing as the keyword without being word for word, took about 60% of the spend on phrase and exact match.

Close variants aren’t bad. Many are plurals, misspellings and reordered words you’d want anyway. But it means phrase and exact match need the same search terms review as broad match. “I only use exact match” is not the control it was ten years ago.

4. AI Max finds conversions at broad-match prices

AI Max search terms first showed up in our accounts in June 2026, so this is early data. In the accounts where AI Max had enough traffic to judge, it took about 19% of search-term spend. Its median cost per conversion was about $65, close to broad and phrase match in the same accounts, and well above the roughly $40 for searches that matched an exact keyword word for word.

That’s a reasonable result for reach you wouldn’t get otherwise, as long as the conversions are the ones you want. Check which landing pages AI Max sends traffic to, and judge it on cost per qualified lead or return on ad spend, not on click volume.

Broad match, Smart Bidding and AI Max

Google’s position is simple: “It’s critical to use Smart Bidding with broad match.” Smart Bidding sets a bid for each auction from signals like device, location, time and the search itself, which is how it can afford to enter wider auctions and still hold a cost-per-conversion or return target. Manual bids can’t do that auction by auction. If you run broad match on manual CPC, you get broad match’s reach without the part that decides which of those searches are worth paying for.

Two settings build on that:

• The campaign-level broad match setting makes a Search campaign use broad match for all of its keywords, and converts the phrase and exact ones. It’s only available with conversion-based Smart Bidding. Google says campaigns using it are automatically upgraded to AI Max starting September 2026.
• AI Max for Search campaigns is not a new campaign type. Google calls it “a continuous optimization layer for Search campaigns”. It adds broad match and “keywordless” search term matching, text customisation (ad copy written from your ads, assets and landing pages) and final URL expansion (sending traffic to the page on your site it thinks fits best). Features can be switched off one by one.

The upgrades don’t stop there. In its April 2026 announcement (updated in June), Google said Dynamic Search Ads campaigns will be upgraded to AI Max from February 2027, while automatically created assets and the campaign broad match setting are upgraded from September 2026. If you use any of these, decide how you want AI Max configured before the upgrade decides for you. For how AI shows up across the rest of the platform, see our guide to the AI features in Google Ads.

How to use broad match without wasting budget

Using broad match well isn’t about setting it and forgetting it. It’s a discovery tool inside a structured process. This is the order we work in.

Get conversion tracking right first

Smart Bidding can only chase what you measure. If a “conversion” in your account includes page views or duplicate form fills, broad match will find more of those. Track the calls, forms and sales that matter, and give them values if leads differ in worth.

Start with a strong foundation

Begin with phrase and exact match. They help you gather data, find your best-performing keywords and see what a converting search looks like for your business. A well-structured campaign is only part of the equation: those clicks need to land on a clear, fast website designed to convert that interest into action.

Use broad match for strategic discovery

Once you have keywords that convert and enough conversion history for Smart Bidding to learn from, test broad match in a controlled way. Run it as a campaign experiment, or as an AI Max experiment, which splits traffic inside the same campaign. Cap the test with the budget rather than a low bid: under Smart Bidding, Google sets the bids. Judge it on cost per conversion over a few weeks, not on the first days.

Refine and build your keyword list

Check the search terms report every week while a broad match test runs. It shows the searches that triggered your ads. It’s your gold mine:

• Add converting searches as new phrase or exact match keywords.
• Add irrelevant searches as negative keywords so you stop paying for them. Keep the ones that apply everywhere (“free”, “jobs”, “DIY”) in an account-level list. Our guide to Google Ads negative keywords covers how.
• Use brand settings. Brand exclusions stop a campaign serving on searches tied to brands you choose, such as your own brand in a non-brand campaign. Brand inclusions limit a Search campaign to the brands you pick.

Judge it on cost per conversion, not cost per click

Broad match often raises click volume and lowers click prices at the same time, which can look great while leads get worse. Compare cost per conversion, conversion quality and, for ecommerce, return on ad spend. If you want to know what a click should cost in your industry, see what advertisers pay per click by industry.

This cycle of discovery and refinement turns broad match from a budget risk into a research engine. It’s the process behind results like a 58% improvement in cost per lead for Sophisticated Hearing, a hearing care provider, and running it week after week is a core part of our Google Ads management work, alongside the rest of our PPC services. If you want a second opinion on your match types, we’ll review your search terms and tell you where the budget goes. You can also read what clients say about our PPC work in our reviews.

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