Google Ads Japan Changed Broad Match To Intent Match

Google Ads has changed what they call broad match to intent match in Japan. So now it is called インテントマッチ (Intent Match), it was called 部分一致 (Partial Match).

I found this via Dario Zannoni, which Greg Finn pointed out on It’s New yesterday, which he found via @btob_courtelage. He wrote in Japanese, which I translated using Google Translate to, “Partial match has been changed to “intent match.” The literal translation matches the intent, so it seems closer to reality. However, if the name changes when the default for new campaigns changes, there may be cases where people use it without realizing it. There are no particular changes in functionality.”

Here is the screenshot of the document change:

Ginny Marvin, Google’s Ads Liaison, confirmed this is a change only in that region and not a change coming to other regions. She wrote on X, “This was a local translation change specific to Japanese only.”

Greg Finn said he was a fan of this change and is hopeful this would also come to US and other regions, as it explains the match type more accurately.

Here are those posts:

#GoogleAds has just changed how Broad Match keywords are called in Japan:

NEW name:
インテントマッチ / Intent Match

OLD name
部分一致 / Partial Match

Will we see similar adjustments in other languages as well? https://t.co/XGZkdY584k

— Dario Zannoni@ASUE (@DarioZannoni) July 11, 2024

This was a local translation change specific to Japanese only.

— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) July 16, 2024

Forum discussion at X.