If you are looking for how to use broad match modifier, there is something you need to know first.
It no longer exists. Google deprecated it in February 2021, folded its behaviour into phrase match, and completed the rollout by July 2021. You cannot create new BMM keywords, and existing ones behave exactly as phrase match keywords.
That said, plenty of accounts still contain them, and how you clean them up matters more than most people assume. Here is what happened, what replaced it, and how to handle the legacy keywords without damaging the account.
The Short Answer
Broad match modifier is gone. Phrase match absorbed its behaviour.
If your account still shows keywords with plus signs, like +men +shoes, Google treats them as phrase match regardless of the syntax. They are not doing anything different from a phrase match version of the same term.
There are now three positive match types: broad, phrase, and exact.
What BMM Actually Did
Worth understanding, because it explains what advertisers lost.
Placing a plus sign before each word told Google that those words must appear in the query, in any order, with any additional words allowed. So +men’s +shoes matched “shoes for men,” “best men’s running shoes,” and “cheap shoes men.”
What it did not do was match wild synonyms. That combination, word requirement without semantic expansion, made it the practical middle ground between the chaos of broad match and the rigidity of old phrase match.
Practitioners liked it for good reason. It was the sweet spot, and nothing since has replicated it exactly.
What Happened, and When
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| February 2021 | Google began incorporating BMM behaviour into phrase match |
| July 2021 | Rollout completed across all languages |
| Since | No new BMM keywords can be created; existing ones behave as phrase |
Google’s own documentation states plainly that broad match modifier as a separate matching behaviour is no longer available, and that existing BMM keywords use the updated phrase matching behaviour.
Notably, Google did not delete anything. It changed how the backend interprets those keywords, which is why they still appear in accounts five years later.
What Phrase Match Became
The change was not neutral for phrase match users, and this is the part that caught people out.
Old phrase match required your keyword to appear in the specified order, with additional words allowed only before or after. Updated phrase match matches queries carrying the meaning of your keyword, with word order respected only where it changes meaning.
So phrase match got considerably wider. Accounts relying on old phrase match behaviour for control saw their keywords start matching a broader set of queries, which for tightly targeted ad groups meant performance drift.
The practical implication in 2026: phrase match is not the safe, tight option many advertisers still assume it is. It casts a wider net than the quotation marks suggest.
The Match Type Landscape Now
| Match Type | Syntax | Behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Broad | keyword | Widest reach, matches related meanings and adjacent intent |
| Phrase | “keyword” | Matches the meaning of the keyword, additional words allowed |
| Exact | [keyword] | Tightest, but includes close variants, reordering, and paraphrases |
Exact match is worth flagging too. It is no longer literally exact. It includes close variants, reordered words, implied words, and paraphrases Google considers equivalent, so a term like [emergency plumber near me] can match queries phrased quite differently.
The useful mental model for 2026: match type is a signal-tightness choice rather than a string-matching instruction. You are telling Google how wide a net to cast, not dictating which queries trigger your ads.
How to Handle Legacy BMM Keywords Without Breaking Things
Finding BMM keywords in an account is a clear sign it has been running on autopilot. The instinct is to delete them immediately. That instinct causes problems.
Two reasons for care:
Duplication. If an ad group contains both +men +shoes and “men’s shoes,” those are now duplicate keywords competing with each other.
Historical data. Smart Bidding leans on historical performance signals attached to those keywords. Deleting them wholesale discards that history.
A safer sequence:
- Identify all keywords containing plus signs across the account.
- Check for existing phrase match duplicates in the same ad group.
- Where a duplicate exists, pause the BMM version rather than deleting it, and continue with the phrase match keyword.
- Where no duplicate exists, add the phrase match equivalent alongside, let it accumulate data, then pause the BMM version.
- Review search terms for a few weeks to confirm behaviour has not shifted.
- Only then consider removal, and even then pausing is usually sufficient.
If broad match is expanding too widely elsewhere in the account, introducing phrase match is the closest available approximation to how BMM used to feel.
What Replaced the BMM Sweet Spot
Honestly, nothing did. The middle ground BMM occupied no longer exists as a single setting.
What replaces it functionally is a combination:
- Phrase match for the reach BMM provided
- Disciplined negative keywords for the control BMM’s word requirement provided
- Search term review at a cadence that catches drift early
That third item is the one that changed most. When match types enforced control, you could set and monitor loosely. Now the control lives in your negative list, which means the work is ongoing rather than structural.
The Bidding Connection
Match type choice and bid strategy are no longer separable decisions.
Google repositioned broad match in 2022 as the recommended pairing with Smart Bidding, on the argument that the algorithm needs query diversity to find converting intent humans would miss.
That is partly true and heavily conditional. Broad match with Smart Bidding and strong negatives can work well. Broad match on manual CPC without negatives is what it always was: an efficient way to spend money on queries you never wanted.
Broad match also needs conversion volume behind it. On accounts without enough conversion history for Smart Bidding to learn, it is a poor default regardless of what Google recommends.
AI Max Overrides Your Match Types
One recent development worth knowing, since it affects this decision directly.
AI Max is a campaign-level toggle Google launched in 2025. When enabled, it treats all your keywords as broad match regardless of the match type you set, and adds keywordless matching based on your landing page content and ad assets.
In effect, it is Dynamic Search Ads layered onto a Search campaign.
Whether to use it is genuinely contested among practitioners, with some recommending against it outright. What is not contested is that enabling it makes your match type settings largely advisory, so decide deliberately rather than leaving the toggle wherever it defaulted.
Negatives Do the Work Match Types Used To
Since all three match types now expand semantically, negative keywords carry the control burden.
The discipline that works:
- Review search terms weekly, not monthly
- Add negatives at the right level, campaign or ad group depending on scope
- Build negative lists for recurring irrelevant themes: jobs, free, DIY, competitor names where inappropriate
- Segment conversion data by match type, so you know which is actually producing results
One reported example illustrates the value: 47 negative keyword candidates identified from one week of search terms, 31 approved, and a 12% CPA reduction within three weeks, with no bid or match type changes at all.
Mistakes That Follow From Outdated BMM Advice
- Trying to create BMM keywords that the platform no longer accepts.
- Deleting legacy BMM keywords immediately, discarding historical signal.
- Running BMM and phrase versions of the same keyword in one ad group.
- Assuming phrase match is tight, when it absorbed BMM’s reach.
- Assuming exact match is literal, when it includes paraphrases.
- Mixing broad, phrase, and exact versions of the same term in one ad group, where they compete and inflate CPCs.
- Running broad match without Smart Bidding or negatives.
- Never checking the search terms report, since match behaviour shifts continuously.
Where to Start
Filter your keyword list for a plus sign. If anything appears, the account has not been reviewed properly since 2021, which usually means other things need attention too.
Then check whether any ad group contains multiple match types of the same keyword. That is the most common structural problem left behind by the BMM transition, and it is quietly raising your costs.
Fix those two things before touching bid strategy.
FAQs
Does broad match modifier still exist in Google Ads?
No. It was deprecated in February 2021, with rollout completed by July 2021. Existing BMM keywords now behave as phrase match.
What replaced broad match modifier?
Phrase match absorbed its behaviour. Google’s updated phrase match now shows ads on searches carrying the meaning of your keyword.
Should I delete old BMM keywords?
Not immediately. Check for duplicates, add phrase match equivalents, let them accumulate data, then pause rather than delete to preserve historical signal.
Is phrase match still a safe, tight option?
No. Phrase match absorbed much of what BMM did and casts a wider net than most advertisers expect.
What controls query matching now?
Negative keywords and regular search terms review, since all three match types expand semantically rather than matching strings literally.
