Amazon Keyword Match Types: Broad vs Phrase vs Exact

Amazon Sponsored Products has three keyword match types. Broad match shows your ad when a search contains all your keyword's words in any order, with other words allowed. Phrase match needs your words in the same order, with words allowed before or after. Exact match needs the search to be your keyword, or a close variation such as a plural, with nothing added.

Key takeaways

• Broad finds the most new searches, exact gives the most control, phrase sits in between.
• All three match close variations like singular and plural forms.
• Use broad and phrase to discover search terms, then move the winners to exact.
• Negative keywords use only two match types: negative exact and negative phrase.

The three match types at a glance

Say your keyword is bamboo sheets queen.

The pattern: as you move from broad to exact, you trade reach for control.

Broad match

Broad match shows your ad when the search includes all the words in your keyword, or close variations, in any order. Extra words can appear anywhere.

Amazon has made broad match more flexible over time, and it can match searches with related meaning, not only the literal words. In practice, that means broad keywords can pick up surprising search terms. That is useful for discovery, and costly if you never check the search term report.

Use broad match when:

• You are launching and need to learn how shoppers actually search.
• You want long-tail searches you would never guess, like "bamboo sheets queen for hot sleepers".
• You have budget for testing and a habit of adding negatives every week.

Watch out for: irrelevant matches and high spend on low-intent searches. Pair broad campaigns with a strong negative keyword list. Our guide to negative keywords shows how.

Phrase match

Phrase match shows your ad when the search contains your keyword's words in the same order. Words can come before or after the phrase, but not in the middle.

Use phrase match when:

• Word order changes the meaning. "dog bed cover" and "cover dog bed" might be the same, but "phone case card holder" and "card holder phone case" can be different products.
• You want long-tail reach with less noise than broad.
• You have a strong two- or three-word root, such as "bamboo sheets", and want everything built around it.

Phrase match is often the best balance for mid-sized catalogs. It finds new terms while staying close to the root.

Exact match

Exact match shows your ad when the search is your keyword, or a close variation of it. Close variations mainly mean singular and plural forms. No extra words are allowed.

Use exact match when:

• A search term already has proven orders at a good ACoS.
• You want the tightest control over bids and spend.
• You are pushing organic rank for a specific keyword and need to know exactly which search you are paying for.

Exact match usually has the highest conversion rate of the three, because the shopper typed precisely what you targeted. It also has the smallest reach, so it rarely finds new terms on its own.

A note on misspellings and filler words

Amazon matching generally ignores small filler words such as "the", "of" and "and". Coverage of misspellings is less certain for positive keywords. If a misspelling like "bamboo sheats" shows real search volume, add it as its own keyword instead of hoping a match type catches it.

How match types work together

Most sellers use match types as a funnel:

1. Discover with auto campaigns plus broad and phrase keywords.
2. Review the search term report every week or two.
3. Harvest search terms with orders at or below your target ACoS into exact match.
4. Negate the harvested term as negative exact in the discovery campaign, so the two campaigns do not compete.
5. Scale the exact keyword with its own bid, based on its own conversion rate.

This is how a single broad keyword like "bamboo sheets" can become 20 profitable exact keywords over a few months. See keyword harvesting for the full process, and Amazon PPC campaign structure for how to lay out the campaigns.

How to bid by match type

Different match types bring different traffic quality, so they need different bids. Use the same max bid formula for each:

Max CPC = Average order value x Conversion rate x Target ACoS

ACoS (advertising cost of sales) is ad spend divided by ad sales. CPC is cost per click. CVR (conversion rate) is orders divided by clicks.

Worked example

Your product sells for $39.99 and your target ACoS is 30%. Over 30 days, the same root keyword shows these conversion rates by match type:

If you bid $1.50 on all three, exact is under-bid and likely losing impressions it could afford, while broad is losing money on most clicks. Setting each bid from its own conversion rate fixes both. Run your own numbers in the Break-even ACoS & Max Bid Calculator.

Where to set match types in the Ads console

When you create a manual Sponsored Products campaign with keyword targeting:

1. Go to Campaign Manager > Create campaign > Sponsored Products.
2. Choose Manual targeting, then Keyword targeting.
3. Under Match type, tick Broad, Phrase and/or Exact.
4. Enter or upload your keywords. Each keyword is added once per match type you ticked, with its own bid.

To add keywords to an existing ad group, open the ad group and go to Targeting > Add keywords. You cannot change the match type of an existing keyword. Add it again in the new match type and pause or archive the old one.

Match types for negative keywords

Negative keywords stop your ad from showing for searches you do not want. Sponsored Products offers two negative match types:

There is no negative broad match. A single-word negative phrase works like one, because it blocks the word anywhere in the search.

Common match type mistakes

• Only using exact match. You will never find new search terms, and growth stalls.
• Only using broad match. Spend spreads across loose searches and ACoS climbs.
• Same bid across all match types. Broad traffic rarely converts as well as exact.
• Skipping the negative step after harvesting. The term keeps running in the broad campaign at a worse bid.
• Too many keywords in one ad group. One default bid cannot suit 80 keywords with different conversion rates.

Bottom line

Broad finds new searches, phrase finds them with more control, and exact scales the ones that work. Run all three in separate ad groups or campaigns, set each bid from its own conversion rate, and move winners into exact while negating them where they came from. Check the search term report weekly so broad match works for you instead of against you.

Frequently asked questions

Amazon fees, policies and features change often. Figures here were checked in October 2026; confirm current rates in Seller Central before making pricing or budget decisions. Sotrics is not affiliated with Amazon.