Google loves when you use broad match. They don't think you can choose your own keywords properly, so broad match is their solution. In reality, they might be right — many advertisers don't choose the best keywords. But Google isn't helping. They make money from every click, relevant or not. Keep that in mind.

Before we go on, let's get on the same page.

Search terms are exactly what people type into Google. Keywords are what you add to your campaigns. Search terms trigger keywords, which trigger your ads. The closeness between search terms and keywords is decided by match type.

There are three options:

Exact — your ads show for searches very closely related to your keywords. Basically, you choose which searches trigger your ads.

Phrase — this used to mean search terms had to include your keyword in full, with optional words around it. Google has relaxed this definition a lot in recent years. Think of it as looser than exact, tighter than broad.

Broad — the default match type and the silent killer. Some search terms will be relevant. Some will make you want to cry.

So what's wrong with broad match?

Here are some real examples from accounts we've audited.

A resin driveway installer in Yorkshire running the keyword "resin driveways" had their ads triggered by:

SEARCH TERM WHY IT'S A PROBLEM "disadvantages of resin driveways" Someone actively researching reasons not to get one. The business was paying to appear in front of people in the process of ruling them out. "diy resin driveway" They want to do it themselves, not hire anyone. "how to lay a resin driveway" A tutorial seeker, not a buyer.

A fencing company in Fairfax, Virginia running "fence company" had their ads triggered by:

SEARCH TERM WHY IT'S A PROBLEM "james earl jones fences" Someone Googling the movie. Not a typo. The movie. "hurricane fence damage" Someone whose fence just got destroyed in a storm, probably looking for insurance help, not an installation quote. "fairfax county fence regulations" Researching whether they even need a permit. Nowhere near ready to buy.

A senior downsizing company in Minneapolis running "senior downsizing" had their ads triggered by:

SEARCH TERM WHY IT'S A PROBLEM "uhaul bloomington mn" Renting a truck and doing it themselves. "taskrabbit" Looking for odd job help, not a specialist. "swedish death cleaning" Yep, no idea either.

These businesses paid for every single one of those clicks.

You should see advertisers' faces when I show them, live, what search terms they've been spending money on. They look like they've just been robbed. As they should, unfortunately.

The numbers

This would be fine if clicks were free — but they're not. And these clicks aren't going to convert enough to offset the cost.

We've done dozens of analyses on this and the CPA for broad match keywords is consistently at least double that of exact match.

We've seen accounts with £100k monthly budgets burning £30k a month on irrelevant traffic. Every month. Because nobody looked at the search terms report.

What to do about it

If you've already been using broad match, go into your search terms report and pull every term that's generated real results. Add those as exact match keywords. That's your foundation.

If you haven't been using broad match — good. And don't believe Google when they suggest you try it.

Of course they want you to try it. Google Ads still makes up around 75% of Alphabet's revenue — $300 billion per year. Every irrelevant click is money in their pocket.

And as I've seen with more "business minded" agencies — and with Google themselves — as long as performance is acceptable, that's all they need. If your target CPA is $200 and it's coming in at $210, they're happy. Even though with the right keyword structure it could easily be $140.

Don't be fooled. And if you have been — it's shockingly common.

The fix starts with proper keyword research. Your best performing search terms are a great starting point, but you should also be getting ahead of things — identifying what your actual customers are searching before it even shows up in your data.

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