Match types decide how far a keyword may stray. Broad + a weak conversion is how Nepal starter budgets buy digital marketing jobs. Arjan KC starts exact/phrase, mines search terms, then opens broad where the pixel tells the truth. Term: match type. PMax is not a shortcut around this.

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What the CPA case studies actually did

The Kathmandu services rebuild cut junk queries and −42% CPA — /case-studies/kathmandu-home-services-google-ads/ (starting point included loose broad). Education −40% CPL — /case-studies/nepal-education-consultancy-ppc/. Those URLs do not claim “exact match always −X%.”

Image: Arjan KC media library.

Order for NPR 20–40k tests

Stage	Match	Notes
Week 1–2	Exact + phrase on the query map	Brand in its own campaign
Ongoing	Mine search terms	Jobs, free, geo leak
Later	Broad on winners only	Needs a real conversion — not wa.me click
Never first	Broad + Maximize + no GTM ownership	Learning-phase theatre

Romanized and English pairs are often two exacts, not one broad. RSA still needs copy in both — RSA.

Image: Arjan KC media library.

How each match type behaves

Match type	Written as	Can show for (example)	Risk on a small budget
Exact	[dentist kathmandu]	dentist kathmandu, dentists in kathmandu, kathmandu dentist	Low; volume may be thin
Phrase	"dentist kathmandu"	best dentist kathmandu, dentist kathmandu price, dentist near kathmandu	Medium; needs negatives
Broad	dentist kathmandu	dental clinic jobs, tooth pain home remedy, dentist delhi	High until tracking and negatives exist

Google matches on meaning, not just words, so even exact match picks up close variants (plurals, misspellings, reordered words with the same intent). Phrase match also respects meaning: the query must include the meaning of your keyword, but can add words before or after.

Negative keywords follow different rules

Negative keywords do not match close variants. A negative jobs will not block job, and a negative exact [free] only blocks the single-word query “free”. Practical rules:

• Add singular and plural forms, and common misspellings, as separate negatives.
• Use phrase negatives for multi-word junk ("how to", "salary in nepal").
• Keep account-wide junk (jobs, free, pdf) in a shared negative list applied to every Search campaign.
• Check a new negative will not block good queries: a negative cheap may also block “cheap dental cleaning” that you want.

A starter structure for one service

1. One ad group per service theme, for example “teeth cleaning” and “braces”, not one ad group for the whole clinic.
2. Five to fifteen exact and phrase keywords per ad group, in English and the romanized spellings people actually type.
3. A brand campaign kept separate, so brand searches do not make generic keywords look better than they are.
4. A shared negative list from day one, then weekly additions from the search terms report.

Broad later — if ever

Broad can wait until offline/COD is honest and geo is Presence. Dollar-card pauses plus broad match is how a week of junk lands while you were offline.

Next: search terms · audit · hire.