Broad Match Modifier vs Phrase Match: BMM Is Now Phrase
In short: This is a migration question, not a choice. Broad Match Modifier was retired and its behavior folded into phrase match, so every surviving +keyword is matched under phrase match rules today. What changed is the rule: BMM required each marked word to appear in any order, while phrase match requires the keyword's meaning in its implied order.
By the AdFlint research team · Fact-checked against current Google and Meta platform behavior · Last reviewed July 2026
Broad Match Modifier
Retired Google Ads match type, written with plus signs, that required every marked term to appear somewhere in the query in any order.
It was folded into phrase match in 2021: existing BMM keywords now behave as phrase match, and new ones cannot be created. Old account documentation and agency templates still carry the plus syntax, which is why the term keeps surfacing. If you inherit an account full of +keywords, audit them as phrase match and expect their traffic profile to have drifted well away from the original setup.
Full definitionPhrase Match
Matches queries that carry the keyword's meaning while preserving its implied word order, allowing extra words before or after it.
Since the 2021 rewrite, phrase match keys on meaning plus sequence rather than exact strings, so it absorbed most of what Broad Match Modifier used to do. Accounts use it as the middle setting: tighter than broad, wider than exact, and workable under manual or automated bidding. The common misread is assuming words must appear verbatim, when close variants and reordered paraphrases also qualify.
Full definitionSide by side.
The differences that actually change what happens in your account.
| Broad Match Modifier | Phrase Match | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Retired; cannot be created | Live, the middle match type |
| Matching rule then | Every marked word present, order irrelevant | Keyword meaning preserved with implied order |
| Matching rule now | Identical to phrase match | Meaning plus sequence, extra words allowed either side |
| Syntax | Plus signs, kept as legacy text only | Quotation marks |
| Paraphrases | Excluded originally; included now | Included |
| Work required | Audit inherited keywords and refresh negatives | Normal search terms hygiene |
What actually separates them.
There is no live behavioral difference: a +keyword and the same keyword in quotes are matched by the same system.
Historically BMM ignored word order entirely, whereas phrase match enforces the keyword's implied sequence, so some old reordered matches no longer qualify.
BMM required literal presence of each marked term, while phrase match accepts same-meaning paraphrases that never contain the original words.
The plus-sign syntax survives in account exports and templates, which is the main reason people still believe BMM is a setting they can pick.
Because the rule changed rather than the keyword, inherited BMM keywords usually need a fresh negative list built from current search terms, not the old one.
Which one should you use?
Use Broad Match Modifier when
- You inherited an account or a template full of plus-sign keywords and need to interpret it.
- A client brief, SOP, or old agency deck still specifies BMM as the standard match type.
- You are investigating a historical shift in query mix that lines up with the BMM retirement.
- You are cleaning up syntax so the account reads honestly to the next person managing it.
Use Phrase Match when
- You want reach beyond exact match without handing query selection fully to broad.
- The campaign runs on manual bids or has thin conversion volume that broad match would waste.
- You want to see which qualifiers people attach to a term that already converts.
- Per-keyword reporting still needs to be readable enough to act on.
Common questions.
Do plus signs still do anything?
No. They are accepted and displayed but ignored as a matching instruction, and the keyword serves under phrase match rules. Leaving them in place costs nothing in performance but misleads anyone auditing the account later, so strip them during a normal cleanup pass rather than treating it as an urgent fix.
Did my traffic change when BMM became phrase match?
For most accounts the mix shifted rather than the volume collapsing. Queries that reordered the marked terms could drop out, while same-meaning paraphrases that BMM never touched could come in. If you are diagnosing an old performance change, compare search terms across the transition rather than looking at keyword-level totals.
What is the modern equivalent of a BMM-heavy strategy?
Phrase match on the terms you want covered, exact match on the head terms you must own, and a disciplined negative list doing the filtering BMM used to do with word requirements. If the account has reliable conversion tracking and automated bidding, broad match plus negatives now covers the discovery job BMM was often used for.
Or stop choosing between them.
AdFlint picks the setting, writes the ads, and keeps optimizing inside the Google and Meta accounts you already own.
Related comparisons
- Broad Match vs Phrase Match
- Broad Match vs Exact Match
- Broad Match vs Broad Match Modifier
- Broad Match vs Negative Keywords
- Broad Match vs Search Terms
- Exact Match vs Phrase Match
- Negative Keywords vs Phrase Match
- Phrase Match vs Search Terms