Broad match is different than 5 years ago
Broad match used to mean "my money is going into the fire". Today, with Smart Bidding (Target ROAS / Maximize Conversions) and quality conversion signals, broad match is one of the most productive match types.
When to turn on broad match
- ☐ You have 30+ conversions / month per account (smart bidding learning floor)
- ☐ You have properly set up Enhanced Conversions / CAPI
- ☐ Conversion value is sent accurately (not default 1)
- ☐ You have at least 2 weeks of historical data with exact / phrase
- ☐ Negative keyword list is anti-spam ready
Setup
- Set aside a separate campaign with broad match — don't mix with exact / phrase
- Use Target ROAS bidding with a conservative target (higher than average)
- Monitor search terms weekly for the first month
- Move high-performance broad terms as exact match
Our experience
For 60% of e-commerce clients, broad match in 2026 outperforms exact match on CPA. For lead gen it's 50/50 — depends on the quality of lead signal.