A keyword is the term an advertiser targets; a search query is what someone actually enters. Google Ads uses broad, phrase and exact match to control the relationship between the two. A matching query makes an ad eligible to compete, rather than guaranteeing that it appears.
The important distinction is how far the query's meaning can extend beyond the keyword. Counting identical words will not explain all three match types.
Exact match: the same meaning or intent
Enter an exact match keyword in square brackets: [bathing suits]. This is the narrowest of the three options, but the search does not have to reproduce those characters.
Google gives swimming suits as a possible match for [bathing suits]. Its close-variant rules also allow changes such as plurals, reordered words and omitted words when the required meaning or intent survives. These variants are enabled automatically and cannot be switched off.
Phrase match: the keyword's meaning within a wider search
Use quotation marks for phrase match: "moving services NYC to Boston". The search can express a more specific need, and the keyword's meaning can be implied.
In Google's moving-service example, a query for a corporate move from New York to Boston can qualify even with extra words inside the phrase. Reversing the journey does not qualify: Boston to New York is a different service. Word order matters where it changes the meaning; phrase match does not simply require an uninterrupted string of identical words.
Broad match: related searches
Broad match uses the keyword without quotes or brackets, such as low carb diet plan. It can reach related searches beyond the keyword's direct meaning. Google gives mediterranean diet books as one possible match for that keyword.
Its matching documentation says broad match can also use context from recent searches, landing pages and other keywords in the ad group. For equivalent keywords, broad covers phrase and exact matches plus additional related queries. Wider eligibility alone does not tell you whether those additional searches are useful to the business.
Negative keywords use different rules
Negative keywords exclude searches. Do not reverse the positive definitions and assume the exclusions work the same way. A negative exact keyword blocks that term without extra words; negative phrase blocks the terms in order within a longer search; negative broad blocks searches containing all the terms in any order.
Negatives do not expand to synonyms or singular and plural variants. Excluding flowers, for example, does not also exclude flower. Google documents these separately in its negative keyword rules.
For SEO, decide what the page should answer
An organic page has no broad, phrase or exact match setting. Google's SEO Starter Guide explains that a page can be understood as relevant to queries whose exact terms it does not contain. That supports writing for the subject and reader, without manufacturing every possible wording variation.
I would not build separate shop pages for bathing suits and swimming suits merely because a keyword export lists both. If they describe the same products and shopping task, one category can answer both. A guide to choosing swimwear for open-water swimming asks for different information; it needs an answer that a product grid alone may not provide.
Before splitting pages, check the current search results and the content each query actually needs. Shared results and the same reader task support one page; a materially different task can justify another. That is a page decision made from evidence, not the organic equivalent of changing a match type.
The next question is which of those opportunities the business should pursue. Our SEO strategy guide connects that choice to demand, the current results and what the site can deliver.