Phrase match
Phrase match serves ads on searches that include the meaning of the keyword. It sits between exact and broad match in reach and control.
Since the 2021 match-type consolidation absorbed modified broad match, phrase match covers searches where the keyword’s meaning is contained within a larger query — "moving services NYC to Boston" matches the phrase keyword "moving services NYC to Boston" but also close variants of that intent, while excluding reversed directions.
In practice, accounts increasingly split between exact (for proven, high-value queries) and broad-plus-Smart-Bidding (for discovery), with phrase as a middle tier whose distinct role has narrowed.
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