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Use Google Ads keywords to connect a Search campaign with relevant searches: find candidate terms in Keyword Planner, add the best fits to an ad group, choose a match type deliberately, then review the Search terms report and exclude only searches that do not fit your offer. A keyword is a matching input, not a promise that an ad will appear only when someone types the identical words.
What Google Ads keywords do
Google defines keywords as “words or phrases that are used to match ads with the terms people use when they search.” The match is based on meaning as well as wording, so a search can trigger an ad without repeating the keyword exactly. That makes relevance to the customer’s intent—and to the product or service in the ad group—more useful than simply collecting many variations.
Plan keywords for a specific Search campaign and its ad groups. A tightly relevant set helps connect the search, ad, and destination page; an unrelated term can attract clicks from people looking for something you do not provide.
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Find keyword ideas that fit the campaign
Start with customer language
Write down the products or services the campaign should promote and the ways a prospective customer might describe or seek them. Use these themes or a relevant website as starting points in Keyword Planner, which can generate keyword ideas and provide estimates or forecasts.
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Refine the suggestions
Filter and review ideas for relevance, geography, language, network, and date range. Consider seasonality when choosing the planning period, and compare estimated searches and costs as planning inputs—not as guaranteed future traffic, clicks, or results. Google’s setup guidance says billing information is required to access basic idea-generation features in Keyword Planner.
Keep candidates that fit the offer, target audience, and landing page. Discard suggestions that sound similar but represent a different product, service, or intent.
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Add relevant keywords to a Search ad group
- In Google Ads, open the Search campaign and go to Keywords.
- Select the ad group where the keywords belong. Use the ad group’s theme to check that each proposed term fits its ads and destination page.
- Enter or paste your keywords, or use keyword ideas, then save. Google’s instructions for adding keywords describe this workflow; interface labels may change, so check the current account interface as you work.
Choose a match type as you enter each keyword. The punctuation determines the positive match type: shoes is broad, "shoes" is phrase, and [shoes] is exact.
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Choose broad, phrase, or exact match
The three types differ mainly in reach and steering. Broad match is the widest; phrase is narrower; exact gives the most steering and typically reaches fewer searches. Google says broader match types include searches available to narrower types, so adding the same keyword in all three types is not automatically necessary.
| Match type | How to enter it | Reach and steering |
|---|---|---|
| Broad | shoes |
Broadest reach. Can match related searches beyond the literal words; Google says signals can include recent searches, the landing page and assets, and other keywords in the ad group. |
| Phrase | "shoes" |
Middle ground. Matches searches that include the meaning of the keyword, with narrower reach than broad. |
| Exact | [shoes] |
Most steering and fewest searches of the three; can match searches with the same meaning or intent, not only the identical text. |
Choose based on how much reach and control the campaign needs, then use actual search terms to judge whether that choice is working for the offer. Google recommends Smart Bidding with all match types and says it works best with broad match; that is Google’s platform guidance, not a guarantee of better performance.
Use actual searches to improve targeting
After ads begin serving, open the Search terms report. It shows searches that triggered ads and match-type context, so you can see how Google matched the keywords to real queries.
- Relevant searches: Note useful customer language and consider adding it to an appropriate ad group when it fills a genuine gap.
- Relevant but too broad: Consider whether a narrower match type would better steer matching for that keyword.
- Unrelated searches: Add a negative keyword when the search represents a different product, service, or intent than the campaign should serve.
Review the report periodically rather than assuming the original keyword list will cover every useful query or exclude every poor fit.
Exclude unwanted searches carefully
Negative keywords use behavior distinct from positive match types. They do not automatically cover close variants or expansions, so singular, plural, or synonym forms may need separate negative entries. Check the Search terms report before excluding a term: an exclusion that is too broad can block wanted traffic. Account-level negative keyword lists can centralize exclusions across eligible campaigns, but apply a list only where its exclusions fit.
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