Exact Match vs. Broad Match: Who Wins in the Google AdWords Auction?

Nov 3, 2008 - 7:49 am 1 by
Filed Under Google Ads

A fairly basic but confusing question in the pay-per-click auction space of search advertising is often around the topic of match types and the auction around it.

One question asked at a Google Groups thread asks if I am bidding $2.00 for broad match and $1.50 for an exact match and someone searches for the exact keyword, do I pay $2? The clear answer to that is that you pay up to a $1.50. Why? As AdWordsPro Sarah said in the thread:

If you are bidding $1.50 for the exact, Google assumes you don't want to pay more than that. You have decided that broad matches are worth $2 and exact match are worth $1.50. If we just always picked the highest bid, there would be no point in you setting different bids for the different match types.

The follow up question to that, was who wins? Meaning, would a higher bid in broad match from a competitor beat out your lower bid within your exact match campaign? As Sarah notes, assuming all else is equal, the higher bid will win.

So, if you have an exact match with a lower vid and a broad match with a higher bid, but your competitor has just a broad match with a higher bid then Google will pick your exact match bid and your competitors broad match bid and compete those two ads based on bid and quality score.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: August 28, 2025

Aug 28, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Some Sites Have Huge Crawl Rate Declines In Google Search Console

Aug 28, 2025 - 9:30 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Bug: Google Search Console Performance Report Search Appearance Android App

Aug 28, 2025 - 7:51 am
Bing Ads

Microsoft Testing Tests Larger Titles For Ads In Bing Search

Aug 28, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Gets Audience Exclusions For Shopping Campaigns

Aug 28, 2025 - 7:31 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests Bolding Site Name On Hover

Aug 28, 2025 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: CSF (ConfigServer Security and Firewall) May Be Blocking GoogleBot