What are Amazon keyword match types? Broad, phrase and exact
Amazon keyword match types decide which searches trigger your ad: broad for related searches, phrase if the search contains it, exact for the keyword.
Amazon keyword match types decide which shopper searches can trigger a keyword in a Sponsored Products campaign. Broad matches related searches, in any word order and even with different words; phrase matches searches that contain your phrase; exact matches searches that are your keyword. All three include plurals, misspellings and translations.
Match types apply to manual campaigns; automatic campaigns use targeting groups instead. Checked against Amazon's help pages in October 2026.
Each match type includes the narrower ones: an exact-match search also matches phrase and broad. Illustrative searches.
The three match types
| Match type | Your ad can show when… | Amazon's example |
|---|---|---|
| Broad | the words appear in any order, or related words do; your keyword may even be absent | "sneakers" → "basketball shoes", "trainers" |
| Phrase | the search contains your phrase, or a close variant | "curtain rod" → "extra long curtain rods" |
| Exact | the search is your keyword, or a close variant | "outside lights" → "outdoor lights" |
Broad brings the most traffic, exact the most precise. Phrase sits between the two.
Five rules to know
- A keyword's match type cannot be changed once the campaign exists. Add the keyword again with another match type instead.
- The same keyword in several match types? The one with the highest bid is used for a matching search, so give each its own bid.
- No search, no problem: on a product page or off Amazon, Amazon infers the most likely search from the context.
- Limits: up to 1,000 keywords per ad group, each up to 80 characters and 10 words.
- Restricted keywords never serve: prescription drugs, offensive words, and products Amazon does not advertise. They can be added, but get no impressions.
Which match type to start with
Amazon's advice: start with broad, add at least 25 keywords, then after about two weeks read the search term report. Raise the bids on the searches that sell and add them in exact match; lower or remove what does not convert.
Negative match types
The opposite of a keyword: searches where your ad must not show. Sponsored Products has two, negative phrase (up to 4 words) and negative exact (up to 10 words); there is no negative broad. How negative keywords work.
Sponsored Brands is different
In Sponsored Brands, keywords also match searches with the same meaning in other words ("semantic" matching), and a "+" before a word forces it to appear in the search (broad match modifier). Amazon describes neither for Sponsored Products. What Sponsored Brands are.
Sources
- Understand keyword match types, Amazon Ads
- Set up keyword targeting, Amazon Ads
- Understand targeting, Amazon Ads
- Sponsored ads campaign limits, Amazon Ads
- Sponsored Products set-up, Amazon Ads
- Limits (Amazon Ads API) (keyword length), Amazon Ads
Gloriads is an Amazon Ads automation platform that creates, monitors and optimizes Sponsored Products campaigns for sellers, brands, authors and agencies, by rules you control. See how it works.