Google keeps pushing broad match paired with Smart Bidding as the modern way to run Search. In the right account it genuinely works. Broad match casts wide, Smart Bidding sorts the good traffic from the bad using your conversion data, and the whole thing compounds over time.

The problem is the “in the right account” part. Broad match with clean conversion tracking and a solid negative-keyword list is a machine. The same setup on an account with broken tracking or an empty negative list is a fast way to burn budget on searches that will never convert. The setup is not the risk. Turning it on without the guardrails is.

This is why we never look at match types in isolation. We check whether the conversion data feeding the bidding is trustworthy, and whether the negatives are doing their job, before judging whether broad match is helping or hurting. Get those two right and it is a strong setup. Skip them and it is expensive.