googleadwordshero
- Feb 8, 2021
- 2 min read

PPC | Breaking: Google Ads to Phase Out Modified Broad Match

Article by Susan Wenograd

Modified broad match will be sunset, with phrase match taking over. Here's what this means for advertisers and how queries match to keywords.

Google announced today what is potentially a large change for certain paid search managers: the broad match modified version of keywords will be going away.

This change will start rolling out in two weeks.

What’s Happening to Broad Match Modified?

Phrase match will now expand to cover broad match modified instances. Google notes it will “continue to respect word order when it’s important to meaning.”

Advertisers will not have to take any specific action. Performance data will stay where it is, but the new matching behavior will start to take place.

Broad match modified keywords can continue to be added until July. At that point, it’s anticipated the full roll-out will be completed and no new ones will be added. Existing broad match modified keywords will continue to serve, but will be matched based on this update.

This is much like the transition from text ads to expanded text ads, where they could continue to serve, but advertiser ceased being able to create new ones.

Google notes this streamlining helps save account management time so brands are spending less time managing specific keywords.

How Does this New Matching Mechanism Work?

Currently, broad match modifier tells Google “these terms must all be present in the search query.” It’s expressed by putting a plus sign in front of the keywords required in the search.

Phrase match traditionally tells Google “the words must appear in this order.”

While Google isn’t specific, they note that Phrase Match will now cover both of these needs, while considering whether word order is important.