What is Broad Match Modifier? | Definition & Guide
Broad match modifier (BMM) was a Google Ads keyword matching option that used the "+" symbol before keywords to indicate that those specific terms must appear in a user's search query — providing more control than pure broad match while maintaining wider reach than exact or phrase match.
Definition
Broad match modifier (BMM) was a Google Ads keyword matching option that used the "+" symbol before keywords to indicate that those specific terms must appear in a user's search query — providing more control than pure broad match while maintaining wider reach than exact or phrase match. Google deprecated BMM in July 2021, folding its functionality into an updated version of phrase match. Despite its retirement, understanding BMM remains relevant for marketers analyzing historical campaign data, studying the evolution of keyword matching, and grasping how modern phrase match behavior was shaped by its predecessor.
Why It Matters
The deprecation of broad match modifier marked one of the most significant changes to Google Ads keyword targeting in the platform's history. B2B SaaS advertisers who had built highly optimized campaign structures around BMM keywords were forced to restructure their accounts and adapt their bidding strategies. Understanding what BMM was and why it was retired helps marketers avoid outdated advice and build campaigns that work with Google's current matching logic.
For SaaS companies that have been running Google Ads for years, historical performance data often contains BMM keywords. Campaign audits, performance trend analyses, and budget allocation reviews require understanding how BMM keywords behaved differently from phrase match and exact match keywords to accurately interpret past results and identify why performance metrics may have shifted after the transition.
The BMM retirement also illustrates a broader trend in paid search: Google's ongoing consolidation of manual controls in favor of algorithm-driven matching. Smart Bidding, broad match with automated bidding, and Performance Max campaigns all reflect the same philosophy — giving Google's machine learning more latitude to match ads with queries. Marketers who understand this trajectory can make more informed decisions about how much control to retain versus delegate to automation.
How It Works
Before its deprecation, broad match modifier worked as follows:
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Syntax — Advertisers placed a "+" symbol directly before keywords they wanted to require in matching queries. For example, the BMM keyword
+project +management +softwarewould only match queries that contained all three words — project, management, and software — in any order. -
Matching behavior — BMM keywords matched queries containing the modified terms in any order, along with close variants (misspellings, singular/plural forms, abbreviations, and stemmings). The query "software for project management teams" would trigger the ad because all three required terms were present, even though the word order differed from the keyword.
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Comparison with other match types:
- Broad match (no modifiers) would match any query Google deemed semantically related, including queries that did not contain any of the keyword's terms. This provided maximum reach but minimal control.
- Phrase match (keywords in quotes) required the query to contain the keyword's terms in the specified order, with additional words allowed before or after.
- Exact match (keywords in brackets) required the query to match the keyword's meaning closely, with minimal variation.
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Strategic use — BMM occupied the middle ground between broad match's expansive reach and phrase match's word-order constraint. Advertisers used BMM to discover new converting queries while maintaining relevance guardrails. A common campaign structure used BMM keywords for discovery, then promoted high-performing queries to phrase or exact match campaigns with dedicated bids.
What replaced BMM: In July 2021, Google merged BMM's functionality into phrase match. Updated phrase match now considers word order as a signal but not an absolute requirement, and it incorporates the "must contain" logic that defined BMM. Existing BMM keywords were automatically transitioned to phrase match behavior.
The practical impact for B2B SaaS advertisers was a slight broadening of phrase match traffic. Campaigns that previously used phrase match for tight control began matching a wider range of queries, requiring closer monitoring of search term reports and more aggressive use of negative keywords to maintain relevance and ROAS.
Broad Match Modifier and SEO/AEO
Understanding keyword match types — including historical ones like BMM — strengthens how SaaS marketers think about search intent across both paid and organic channels. At xeo.works, we help B2B SaaS companies align their paid and organic keyword strategies to ensure that intent signals inform content creation, bidding decisions, and audience targeting in a unified framework.