Amazon Match Types Explained: Broad vs Phrase vs Exact

Amazon Sponsored Products offers three keyword match types: broad, phrase, and exact. Broad match reaches the widest set of searches, phrase match requires your words to appear in order, and exact match only serves on the term itself and close variants like plurals. Most profitable accounts use all three, each for a different job.

Understanding the difference matters because the match type, not the keyword, decides which searches you pay for. The keyword 'dog bed' in broad match and 'dog bed' in exact match can produce completely different traffic, CPCs, and ACoS.

How each match type works

Broad match

Broad match is the most permissive. Your ad can show when a search contains your keyword's words in any order, along with other words, and Amazon may also match plurals, synonyms, and related terms. It is designed for reach and discovery.

Phrase match

Phrase match requires the search to contain your keyword as a phrase, in the same word order, with other words allowed before or after. Amazon also allows close variants such as plurals. It is narrower than broad but still finds useful variations.

Exact match

Exact match serves your ad when the search is your keyword or a close variant, such as a plural or a common misspelling. It gives the most control and usually the most predictable conversion rate.

Example: one keyword, three match types

Here is how the keyword 'dog bed' might behave under each match type. Actual matching is decided by Amazon and can vary, but this shows the general pattern.

Notice the last row. Broad match can stray into related searches you never intended. That is fine for discovery, as long as you watch the search term report and add negatives.

When to use each match type

A common setup is to discover with auto and broad, refine with phrase, and scale with exact. Once a search term proves itself, you move it into exact match and add it as a negative exact in the discovery campaigns so traffic flows to the right place. That process is called keyword isolation.

How to bid by match type

Because exact match traffic is more predictable and usually converts better, you can afford to bid more for it. Broad match traffic is mixed, so its average value per click is lower. A simple starting framework is to set exact at your full calculated bid, phrase at around 70% to 85% of that, and broad at around 50% to 70%. Then let data adjust each one. We break down the math in Amazon bids by match type.

Worked example

Your product sells for $40, your conversion rate on exact match is 12%, and your target ACoS is 25%. Revenue per click is $40 x 0.12 = $4.80. Maximum CPC at 25% ACoS is $4.80 x 0.25 = $1.20. That is your exact bid. If broad match converts at 6%, its revenue per click is $2.40 and its max CPC is $0.60, which is half the exact bid. That is why the same keyword deserves different bids in different match types.

Match types for negatives

Negative keywords in Sponsored Products come in two match types: negative exact and negative phrase. There is no negative broad in Sponsored Products. Negative exact blocks only that exact search (and close variants), while negative phrase blocks any search that contains the phrase. Choosing the wrong one can block good traffic. See negative exact vs negative phrase for when to use each.

What about product targeting and auto campaigns?

Match types only apply to keyword targeting. Product targeting uses ASINs and categories instead, with its own options. Auto campaigns use four targeting groups (close match, loose match, substitutes, and complements) that behave a little like match types for automatic traffic. See Amazon auto campaign targeting groups and product targeting by ASIN.

A match type setup for a new product

If you are launching a product and want a structure that uses each match type for its intended job, this simple four-campaign setup works for most sellers. Keep each campaign to one match type so reporting stays clean.

1. Auto campaign: one ad group, all four targeting groups on, bid at roughly 50% to 60% of your calculated max CPC. Its job is discovery.
2. Broad campaign: 10 to 20 core and attribute keywords in broad match at a similar discovery bid. Add proactive negatives for wrong product types and audiences on day one.
3. Phrase campaign: your 5 to 15 most important two- and three-word phrases, bid at about 75% of max CPC.
4. Exact campaign: your highest-confidence keywords at your full calculated bid. Every search term you later harvest from the other three campaigns lands here.

After two weeks, review the search term report for the auto, broad, and phrase campaigns. Move converting terms into the exact campaign and add them as negative exact in the campaign they came from. Over a few months, a growing share of your spend shifts into exact match, which is usually where ACoS is most stable.

How the mix changes over time

Early in a launch, discovery campaigns might take half or more of your budget because you don't yet know which searches convert. As the exact campaign fills with proven terms, discovery spend typically shrinks to a smaller, steady share that keeps finding new variations. There's no fixed correct split; let the search term report tell you whether discovery is still producing new winners. If a month of broad and auto traffic finds nothing worth harvesting, cut their bids and budgets back.

Common match type mistakes

• Running only broad match with no negatives, then judging Amazon PPC by the resulting ACoS.
• Using one bid for the same keyword across all match types instead of bidding to each one's value.
• Launching only exact match and never discovering the variations your customers actually type.
• Putting all three match types for a keyword in one ad group, which makes it hard to see which one is doing the work. Separate ad groups or campaigns by match type are easier to manage. See Amazon PPC campaign structure.

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