# Keywords, Search Terms, Match Types, and Negative Keywords > Understand the difference between your keywords and what people actually searched, choose match types on purpose, review search terms, and add negative keywords without blocking good customers. Canonical: https://vassalmarketing.com/information/paid-search/keywords-search-terms-and-negative-keywords/ **Maintained by Vassal Marketing** · Last updated on September 26, 2026 Reviewed at least quarterly and whenever a platform or rule it cites changes. General information, not legal or professional advice. Check rules that affect your business with a qualified professional. Your keywords tell Google roughly what to target. The search terms report shows what people actually typed. Review it regularly, compare it with the leads you got, and add negative keywords for searches you never want to pay for—carefully, so you don't block real customers. ## Why this matters Ads can show for searches that look like your keywords but mean something else: a service you don't offer, a town you don't cover, a do-it-yourself question, or a job seeker. The opposite mistake is common too—blocking a word that looks wrong on its own but appears in searches from good customers. A regular review, tied to the leads you actually got, keeps both mistakes small. Google matches keywords by meaning, not exact wording. All keyword match types can match close variants, and you can't turn that off. Newer features go further: AI Max for Search can match searches beyond your keyword list, and Performance Max can show ads on searches without any keywords at all. The search terms report omits some low-volume searches for privacy. Negative keywords don't expand to close variants. ## Responsible practices ### Separate the work you want, the keyword, and the search Start by writing down the services, areas, and customers you want, plus what you don't. Build keywords from that list. Then treat the search terms report as evidence of what people typed. A search that matched isn't automatically a good customer. ### Pick a match type as a reach decision Exact match gives the most control, phrase match allows searches that include your keyword's meaning, and broad match reaches related searches. Google makes broad match the default and recommends it with Smart Bidding—bid strategies that use Google's AI to set a bid for each auction based on likely conversions. Choose based on your tracking quality, budget, and time to review. ### Expect meaning-based matching Close variants include misspellings, plurals, synonyms, paraphrases, and searches with the same intent. Quotation marks or brackets don't restrict ads to one exact phrase. If a campaign has AI Max for Search turned on, Google can also match searches beyond your keywords and send people to other pages on your site (final URL expansion). Check the search terms report either way. ### Review search terms against real leads On a set schedule, look at each search term's keyword, match type, cost, landing page, and conversions. Compare it with what happened to the leads it produced. Label searches as good fit, unclear, wrong service, wrong area, job seeker, existing customer, or another label you agree on. ### Add negatives at the narrowest level that works Add a negative keyword only when the full search clearly shows work you don't want. Choose whether it applies to one campaign, a shared list, or the whole account. Negatives don't cover close variants, so add plurals and synonyms separately where needed. ### Keep a record you can undo For each keyword or negative change, note the searches you saw, the date range, cost, lead results, the decision, and who approved it. Recheck after changes to services, areas, landing pages, or bidding. Some searches point to a landing-page fix rather than an exclusion. ## Search terms review checklist 1. Write down the services, areas, and customers you want, and the requests you don't. 2. Export your keywords with their match types and landing pages. 3. Remove or fix keywords that point to a service or page you don't offer. 4. Set a regular search terms review, weekly at first. 5. Label each costly search as good fit, unclear, or unwanted, using the full search. 6. Before adding a negative, check it won't block searches for services you want. 7. Record each negative, its scope, the reason, and who approved it. ## Avoid these failures - Treating exact match as exact text, or a keyword as proof the customer used the same words - Adding every converting search as a new keyword without asking whether it changes anything useful - Blocking a single ambiguous word across the account when it also appears in good searches - Assuming one negative covers plurals, synonyms, and close variants when Google says it doesn't - Judging searches by platform conversions alone instead of what happened to the leads ## Questions business owners ask ### What is the difference between a keyword and a search term? A keyword is what you add to an ad group. A search term is what a person actually typed before your ad showed. The search terms report links the two, but Google leaves out some low-volume searches for privacy. ### Does exact match show only for the exact words in brackets? No. Google says exact match can show on searches with the same meaning or intent, and all match types can match close variants. Exact gives the most control of the three, not a literal-only guarantee. ### What are AI Max for Search and Performance Max doing to my searches? AI Max is a setting for Search campaigns that can match searches beyond your keywords, adjust ad text, and choose a different landing page on your site. Performance Max can show ads on Search without keywords, guided by your assets and search themes. Both still report search terms and accept negative keywords. See Performance Max and AI Max for more. ### Do negative keywords block synonyms and close variants? Google says negative keywords don't match close variants or other expansions the way regular keywords do. Add the plurals, synonyms, and misspellings that matter, and watch results after each change. ## Primary guidance - [Google Ads: About keyword matching options](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7478529?hl=en) - [Google Ads: About the search terms report](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2472708?hl=en) - [Google Ads: About negative keywords](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2453972?hl=en) - [Google Ads: About AI Max for Search campaigns](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/15910187?hl=en) ## Connected guidance - [Google Ads campaign structure](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/paid-search/google-ads-campaign-structure.md): Place focused keyword themes, exclusions, ads, and landing pages inside clear campaigns and ad groups. - [Performance Max and AI Max](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/paid-search/performance-max-and-ai-max.md): See what Google's automated matching decides for you and which controls remain. - [Paid search lead quality](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/paid-search/paid-search-lead-quality.md): Label what happened to each lead so search-term decisions are based on real outcomes. Auctions, traffic, conversions, lead quality, acquisition cost, booked work, margin, and revenue are not guaranteed.