In February 2021, Google Ads began to incorporate behaviors of broad match modifier (BMM) into phrase match. As of July 2021, both phrase and broad match modifier keywords have the same updated phrase matching behavior for all languages and show ads on searches that include the meaning of your keyword.
You don’t need to take any specific action for your phrase match or BMM keywords in order to see these changes.
Updated phrase match
The updated phrase match simplifies match types by combining the control of phrase match, and the expanded reach of the discontinued broad match modifier. The new phrase matching behavior is more expansive than the former phrase match, and slightly more restrictive than the discontinued BMM.
For example, the phrase match keyword “moving services NYC to Boston” will continue to cover searches like “affordable moving services NYC to Boston.” It will also cover searches that traditionally only matched under BMM, such as “NYC corporate moving services to Boston.” For the updated phrase match, word order continues to affect matching behavior and ads won’t show for searches where the wording changes the meaning of the match (for example, people looking to move from “Boston to New York City”). Find more examples of updated phrase match here.
Broad match modifier
Broad match modifier as a separate matching behavior is no longer available. This change means that existing BMM keywords will behave exactly as if they were phrase keywords and you are no longer able to create new BMM keywords.
If you have legacy BMM keywords in your account:
- Existing BMM keywords use the updated phrase matching behavior.
- You don't need to add the same keywords in phrase match in order to continue serving.
- In the past, it was possible to add the BMM modifier to a subset of the terms in a keyword, and the other terms would operate like a broad match. These partially modified keywords now behave entirely as a phrase match.
- If you edit legacy BMM keyword text, your keyword will automatically convert to phrase match notation (“keyword”) upon saving.
- You can still edit other attributes of your legacy BMM keywords, such as bids or status.
As of July 2021:
- New keywords can't be added using the legacy BMM notation (+keyword).
- Legacy BMM keywords will continue to serve, but will behave as phrase match keywords.
How to convert broad match modifier keywords to phrase match keywords
- Go to Search keywords within the Campaigns menu
.
- Select the keywords you want to change, or you can use the checkbox at the top of the table to select all keywords.
- Select Edit, then go to the Change match types option.
- When you hover on Change match types, you will find an option to Change broad match modifier keywords.
- Select Change broad match modifier keywords to convert them.
Recommended actions
- Check the “Remove redundant keywords” recommendation to highlight redundant BMM keywords in the same ad group where the keyword is already present as phrase match.
- Monitor your traffic and add negative keywords if you wish to exclude certain queries. Learn more about negative keywords
- Check your campaign budgets to make sure you aren’t budget-constrained as some phrase match keywords may see an increase in volume.
- Review the “Add new keywords” recommendation to see if there are additional keywords you should add to maintain coverage. Because we’re tightening BMM’s reach, there may be some queries you’re no longer reaching using your existing keywords, and we’ve labeled these keywords in the list of recommended keywords. Learn more about recommendations
- Consider converting your phrase and BMM keywords to broad match if you are using Smart Bidding. This will maximize your reach, while still respecting your performance goals.