Broad Match vs Search Terms: Keywords You Buy, Queries You Get
In short: Broad match is an input, a setting on a keyword telling Google how widely to match. Search terms are the output, the queries that actually triggered your ads. You cannot judge one without the other, because broad match is the setting that makes the gap between what you bought and what you got widest.
By the AdFlint research team · Fact-checked against current Google and Meta platform behavior · Last reviewed July 2026
Broad Match
Matches a query to anything Google judges related to the keyword's meaning, including synonyms, misspellings, and adjacent topics the keyword never named.
Google reads the keyword as a topic hint rather than a literal string, then uses the landing page, the other keywords in the ad group, and account history to decide which queries qualify. Advertisers reach for it to feed automated bidding more volume once conversion tracking is solid. The usual mistake is running it on manual bids with a thin negative list, which buys wide irrelevant traffic quickly.
Full definitionSearch Terms
The actual queries people typed that triggered your ads, reported separately from the keywords you chose to bid on.
The search terms report shows what your match types actually bought. You mine it to add negatives, promote strong queries into their own keywords, and sanity-check broad match. Google withholds terms it considers low-volume or privacy-sensitive, so the report never reconciles perfectly against total spend. The mistake is judging keyword performance from this report alone while assuming the withheld remainder is negligible.
Full definitionSide by side.
The differences that actually change what happens in your account.
| Broad Match | Search Terms | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A match type setting on a keyword you chose | A report of queries people actually typed |
| You control it | Directly, per keyword | Not at all; you observe and react |
| Where it appears | Keywords table in the campaign | Search terms report, alongside the matched keyword |
| Completeness | Fully visible in the account | Partial; low-volume and privacy-sensitive queries are withheld |
| What you do with it | Widen or tighten how much query selection Google does | Add negatives, promote converters, verify match quality |
| Relationship | The wider it is set, the less familiar the report becomes | The only evidence that the setting is working |
What actually separates them.
One is a control you configure and the other is telemetry you read, so they are never substitutes for each other.
Broad match maximizes the distance between keyword and query, which is why the search terms report matters most on broad match campaigns.
The search terms report never reconciles to total spend, because Google withholds terms it considers low-volume or privacy-sensitive.
You can add a search term as a keyword or a negative directly from the report, which is the normal loop for turning broad match discovery into structure.
Judging a broad match keyword by its own row hides the intents underneath it; the search terms report is the only place that mix is visible.
Which one should you use?
Use Broad Match when
- You want Google to find query variants your keyword list never anticipated.
- Automated bidding is running on trustworthy conversion data.
- Tighter match types have hit their volume ceiling.
- The account has capacity for continuous negative maintenance.
Use Search Terms when
- Any time a broad match campaign is live; it is the only view of what the setting bought.
- You need to build a negative list from evidence rather than guesswork.
- A converting query deserves promoting into its own keyword and ad group.
- Costs rose without a keyword change and you need to find the query mix that shifted.
Common questions.
Why does the search terms report not add up to my total cost?
Google withholds queries it considers low-volume or privacy-sensitive, so a share of spend never appears against a named term. That gap is normal and tends to be larger on broad match, where the long tail is widest. Use the report to find patterns and build negatives, not to reconcile spend line by line.
How often should I review search terms on broad match?
Weekly while a campaign is new, then on a fixed cadence you will actually keep. Broad match keeps producing query shapes nobody has seen before, so negatives are maintenance rather than setup. The moment nobody reviews the report is the moment broad match stops being a volume strategy and becomes a leak.
Should I add every converting search term as a keyword?
No. Promote terms with enough volume to justify their own bid, ad copy, or landing page, and leave the rest to broad match. Adding hundreds of single-conversion terms fragments data across keywords too thin to learn from, which is the opposite of what automated bidding needs.
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
- Exact Match vs Phrase Match
- Broad Match Modifier vs Phrase Match
- Negative Keywords vs Phrase Match
- Phrase Match vs Search Terms