Broad Match vs Exact Match Keywords: The CPA Gap Was Brand

In 23 US Google Ads accounts, a broad match conversion cost a median 2.15 times an exact one. Then I took out the brand campaigns, and the gap fell to 1.08 times.

Most of exact match’s lead came from people searching for the business by name. If you avoid broad match because exact “converts cheaper”, brand searches are most of that gap.

Below you’ll find the costs by match type, the syntax, and how to test it in your own account.

Broad, phrase and exact match

Match type	How you write it	What it can match
Broad	running shoes	Searches related to the keyword, including ones without its words
Phrase	”running shoes”	Searches that include the meaning of the keyword
Exact	[running shoes]	Searches with the same meaning as the keyword

Google’s page on keyword matching options has the full definitions. Microsoft Advertising uses the same three types and the same symbols, as its match type help page shows. Broad match modifier (+running +shoes) is gone: Google folded it into phrase match in 2021.

To turn one list into all three, my free keyword wrapper adds the quotation marks and square brackets for you.

What a broad match conversion cost next to exact

I took every US account I can see with $1,000 or more of Search keyword spend and at least one conversion between 18 July and 16 October 2026. That’s 59 accounts. For each one, I added up cost and conversions by match type, then divided the broad match cost per conversion by the exact match one. I only compared accounts that spent $300 or more and got at least one conversion on both.

With all campaigns in, 30 accounts qualified. Broad match conversions cost a median 2.21 times exact, and exact was cheaper in 26 of the 30.

Brand searches explain most of that. Someone typing your business name was going to buy anyway, and brand keywords are usually exact match. When I left out every campaign with “brand” in its name (but kept the ones called non-brand), 23 accounts qualified and the median fell to 1.08 times. Exact was still cheaper in 14 of the 23, by a much smaller margin. To check it wasn’t just a different set of accounts, I ran the same 23 accounts both ways: broad cost 2.15 times exact with brand campaigns in, and 1.08 times with them left out.

Without brand, it depends on the account

The median hides a wide spread. In 9 of the 23 accounts, broad match conversions were cheaper than exact, 5 of them by a quarter or more. In 4 accounts, broad cost 1.5 times exact or worse, and one account paid 7.8 times as much.

Optmyzr ran a bigger version of this in its State of PPC study. It left out branded campaigns too, and exact match had the better CPA in 73.84% of accounts. In my 23 accounts, exact was cheaper in 61%. Both say the same thing: exact usually wins on cost per conversion, but not by as much as the brand-heavy numbers suggest, and in a large minority of accounts broad wins.

Igor Ivitskiy at Doctor Ads ran a third version on 25 accounts and found broad cost a median 6.4% more per conversion than exact. His comparison doesn’t separate brand from non-brand, and half his accounts sat between 0.96 and 1.20 times. Three sets of accounts, measured three ways, and all three point the same direction: exact is cheaper in most accounts, by much less than the brand-heavy numbers suggest.

Each row below uses every account that had $300 or more on that match type with brand left out, so the counts differ from the 23 accounts above.

Match type, brand left out	Median CPC	Median conversion rate	Median CPA	Accounts
Broad	$4.80	5.46%	$91	42
Phrase	$6.71	6.55%	$101	48
Exact	$6.54	7.14%	$91	29

Across accounts, broad clicks were the cheapest and converted the least, and the two cancelled out at about the same CPA as exact. Phrase came out slightly worse than both. Inside the same account, broad beat phrase on CPA in 20 of 34 accounts.

How much the accounts spend on broad match

The median account put 29% of its keyword spend on broad match. 15 of the 59 used none, and 9 put three quarters or more on it. There’s no standard setup, which is why it’s worth testing in your own account.

Why broad match can beat exact

Broad match on its own is just a looser keyword. With Smart Bidding, Google sets a different bid for each search using signals you can’t see, such as the device, the location, the time and what the person searched before. On a broad keyword it can bid up on the searches likely to convert and bid down or skip the rest.

That leads to something I’ve seen in many accounts.

A running shoe store finds that “gym sneakers” converts cheaply through a broad keyword, so it moves the term into its own exact match ad group. The cost per conversion goes up. Inside the broad keyword, Google was only bidding hard on the “gym sneakers” searches it expected to convert. As an exact keyword, every “gym sneakers” search gets the same push.

Google’s own advice is to pair broad match with Smart Bidding. Without it, broad match is a loose keyword with a manual bid, and that’s how accounts end up paying for a lot of irrelevant clicks.

When I use each match type

1. Exact for the proven winners. Most accounts I work on have 4 or 5 keywords that drive the best leads. They get their own exact match ad groups and the budget they need.
2. Phrase for the core services. It keeps the ad close to the words people use, with some room for new searches.
3. Broad once exact is maxed out. At some point you’re spending all you can on the exact keywords. Broad match with Smart Bidding is how you reach more people without guessing at every search.
4. Negatives for all of it. Read the search terms every week, and add the searches you’ll never sell to. My negative keyword examples have lists by industry, and this prompt finds the close variants your exact keywords are matching.

The lead quality problem

If you sell leads, broad match can fill the account with cheap conversions that never turn into customers. Smart Bidding goes after whatever you count as a conversion. If a junk form fill counts the same as a sale, it will find you more junk.

Before you trust broad match on a B2B or lead generation account, send lead quality back into Google Ads, through offline conversion imports or by counting only qualified leads. Otherwise the CPA in the comparison above can look fine while sales fall.

How to test broad vs exact

1. Pick a non-brand campaign with at least 30 conversions a month, so Smart Bidding has enough data.
2. Set up a Google Ads experiment that adds broad versions of the keywords to half the traffic.
3. Run it for at least 4 weeks, and longer if your sales take time to close.
4. Judge it on cost per qualified lead or on profit. The conversions Google reports can hide junk leads. If calls are part of your leads, check that calls from your website are tracked too.

My guide to PPC testing covers how long to run a test and when a result is real.

Is broad match better than exact match?

Not on average. In 23 US accounts I can see, with brand campaigns left out, broad match conversions cost a median 1.08 times exact ones, and broad was cheaper in 9 of the 23. With brand campaigns in, the gap was 2.21 times, because brand searches are cheap and usually exact match.

What is the difference between broad match and exact match?

Broad match can show your ad for searches related to your keyword, even without its words. Exact match shows it only for searches with the same meaning. You write broad match with no symbols, phrase match in quotation marks and exact match in square brackets.

Should I use broad match with manual bidding?

Google recommends pairing broad match with Smart Bidding, which sets a bid for each search. With a manual bid, broad match pays the same for a good search and a poor one.

How much of my budget should go on broad match?

There's no standard. In 59 US accounts I can see, the median put 29% of keyword spend on broad match. 15 used none and 9 put 75% or more on it. Test it on one non-brand campaign first.

Does broad match modifier still exist?

No. Google folded broad match modifier into phrase match in 2021, and you can no longer add new broad match modifier keywords.