How to Approach Google's Broad Match in 2026

Broad match is now a fundamental piece of Google Ads. Google has been explicit about this shift: broad match is now part of a system designed to work with Smart Bidding and conversion signals.

When it’s paired with the wrong goals, broad match performance erodes, optimizing toward cheaper, lower-intent conversions that technically “count” but don’t move the business forward.

When it’s paired with strong signals and clear guardrails, though, broad match can unlock incremental reach and insights that exact and phrase match simply can’t capture.

Here’s how we set up our broad match campaigns to tap into that potential.

Broad Match Now Runs With Smart Bidding, Not Beside It

Heading into 2026 you need to understand that broad match no longer functions in isolation. Google has built it to work alongside automated bidding strategies like tCPA and tROAS, using conversion signals to interpret intent beyond the literal query.

Here’s how it works:

• Broad match expands reach
• Smart Bidding determines who is worth bidding for
• Conversion signals define what “good” actually means

If those signals are weak or misaligned, broad match fills the gap with volume – because it hasn’t been taught any differently.

Why Broad Match Became the Default

In July 2024, Google made broad match the default keyword type. That was a strategic signal that Google is betting on:

• Modeled intent over rigid query matching
• Automation over manual control
• Signal quality over keyword precision

Search behavior is less predictable, more conversational, and increasingly shaped by AI-driven SERP experiences. Exact and phrase alone limit the system’s ability to learn from that reality.

Broad match is how Google future-proofs Search.

The Real Risk Isn’t Relevance; It’s Drift

Most advertisers worry Broad Match will pull in irrelevant searches. What we see more often is something quieter and more dangerous.

Broad match optimizes toward low-quality conversions because the account is telling Google the wrong thing to chase.

Common causes:

• Conversion goals tied to low-intent actions
• No value differentiation between leads
• Missing downstream or offline quality signals

With any of those in play, broad match slowly re-optimizes toward what’s easiest to achieve.

When We’d Make the Case for Broad Match by Default

We’re comfortable leading with broad match when a few conditions are already met.

Specifically:

• The campaign has sufficient conversion volume
  Best practice: ~30+ conversions per month to support Smart Bidding
• Growth has plateaued on exact and phrase, and incremental scale is the goal
• You have a solid structure (strong conversion tracking, tCPA or tROAS, and negative keyword frameworks) in place
• Your team has alignment on capturing emerging or unpredictable search intent
• Your team can confidently measure downstream conversion quality

Without these fundamentals, broad match tends to introduce noise instead of leverage.

What Well-Run Broad Match Campaigns Actually Deliver

When broad match is paired with firm guardrails, you get consistent outcomes:

• Incremental conversion volume beyond exact and phrase coverage
• Discovery of new, profitable search themes and intent patterns
• Lower average CPCs by entering less competitive auctions
• Improved reach without sacrificing efficiency
• Stronger long-term learning for the bidding algorithm via diversified intent signals

The bonus: better signal depth over time that helps build a performance foundation.

The Most Common Mistakes We See in Broad Match Accounts

When we take over accounts where broad match “didn’t work,” the issues are almost always structural. They include:

• Running broad match with manual bidding instead of tCPA or tROAS
• Misaligned conversion goals (usually low-intent actions)
• Missing or incomplete brand exclusions that allow broad match to absorb brand demand
• No robust negative keyword frameworks to block low-quality traffic
• Judging performance too early and making reactive changes before the model stabilizes

That last one is the most damaging. Broad match needs time. Early volatility is normal, but impatience kills learning.

What Brands Need to Feed the Algorithm in 2026

Broad match only works as well as the signals behind it.

To train the system to find the right conversions, brands need to:

• Use value-based bidding so optimization isn’t driven by volume alone
• Implement Enhanced Conversions to strengthen first-party data signals
• Set up Offline Conversion Tracking to feed back accurate, real-world outcomes
• Ensure conversion actions reflect true business impact
• Maintain negative keyword, brand control, and audience frameworks as guardrails

Google’s own guidance reinforces this signal-first approach.

When We’d Let Broad Match Run With Fewer Qualifiers

There are limited cases where we loosen constraints intentionally:

• Early new product launches, where search language and intent are still unknown
• Mass-market products with broad appeal and minimal downside
• Exploratory strategies where spend is capped, and performance is closely monitored to prevent drift

Even then, “fewer qualifiers” doesn’t mean “no measurement.” Always, always give Google guardrails where you can, and make sure you’re analyzing and adjusting to the results as they come in.

Broad match in 2026 doesn’t reward blind trust. It rewards clarity. It can be a powerful growth lever if you clearly define:

• What a quality conversion actually is
• How value is measured downstream
• Where the system is allowed to explore

If you don’t, it will still optimize perfectly – for Google’s shareholders, not your business’s growth.