Free tool · Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising
A keyword wrapper that exports straight into Google Ads Editor
Paste a keyword list and get it back wrapped in every match type you need, cleaned of the characters Google rejects, deduplicated and ready to upload. The second tab does what no other wrapper does: builds a Google Ads Editor import with the Campaign, Ad group, Keyword and Match type columns Editor actually expects, using Editor’s own match type values, so you can paste or download a CSV instead of hand building one. There is also a keyword combiner for service plus location lists, and a search terms workflow that turns your winners into exact match adds and your losers into negative phrase adds with the plurals filled in. Broad match modifier has been gone since 2021, so it is not offered here, and the page explains what replaced it.
Match types to generate
Cleaning
Paste some keywords above. Results update as you type.
Uses the keyword list from tab one. This builds the import file Google Ads Editor expects, with the match type in its own column rather than as symbols, which is the combination Editor accepts without errors.
Add keywords on tab one first.
Every item in list one is combined with every item in list two, then list three. Useful for service plus location, product plus modifier, or brand plus intent.
Fill list one to start.
The weekly search terms routine. Paste the terms that converted on the left and the terms that spent without converting on the right, and get both lists back ready to paste into the account.
Paste some search terms above.
Everything runs in your browser. No keyword you paste is sent anywhere, stored or logged, and the CSV is generated locally.
What are the Google Ads keyword match types in 2026?
Three, not four. Broad match modifier was retired in 2021 and is not coming back, which is worth saying plainly because half the wrapper tools online still offer a plus sign option.
| Match type | How you write it | What Google says it does | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broad | keyword, no symbols | Ads may show on searches related to your keyword, including searches that do not contain the direct meaning of it | tennis shoes could show for buy tennis sneakers |
| Phrase | “keyword” in quotes | Ads may show on searches that include the meaning of your keyword | “red shoes” can show for running shoes red |
| Exact | [keyword] in square brackets | Ads may show on searches with the same meaning or the same intent as the keyword | [bathing suits] can show for swimming suits |
Notice that even exact match is not literal any more. It matches intent, so [images royalty free] can serve for free copyright images. That is by design, and it is the single biggest reason a search terms report still surprises people who set everything to exact.
What do the brackets, quotes and minus sign actually mean?
They are notation, not settings. Square brackets tell the platform exact, quotes tell it phrase, and a leading minus makes it a negative. Google Ads Editor reads all three on paste, which is why you can drop a list of wrapped keywords straight in and have them import with the right match types.
Does Google still use broad match modifier?
No. The change rolled out from February 2021 and completed in July 2021, when phrase match and broad match modifier merged into the current phrase behaviour. Google described the new phrase match as more expansive than the old phrase match and slightly more restrictive than the retired modifier. New keywords cannot be added with the plus sign notation, and old modifier keywords still serve but convert to phrase notation the moment you edit them. Any tool still offering a plus sign option in 2026 is producing keywords Google will not accept.
What are close variants and can I turn them off?
Close variants are the family of searches Google treats as equivalent to your keyword. Every match type is eligible for them and there is no way to opt out. They cover:
- Misspellings, so shoos matches shoes.
- Singular and plural forms.
- Stemming, so floor matches flooring.
- Abbreviations and acronyms.
- Accents and diacritics.
- Reordered words, so [shoes mens] and [mens shoes] are the same keyword.
- Function words added or removed, so [daydream vr headset] can match daydream headset.
- Synonyms and paraphrases.
- Searches with the same intent expressed differently.
This is why negative keywords matter more than they used to. Your positive keywords expand automatically, your negatives do not.
Which keyword does Google choose when several of mine match?
If one of your keywords is exactly identical to the search, that one is used. If not, and several keywords are eligible, Google’s relevance signals pick the ad group and Ad Rank breaks the tie. In practice this means duplicate keywords across ad groups are rarely the crisis people assume they are, but they do make reporting harder to read.
How do negative keyword match types work?
The same three shapes, with a minus in front, and one important difference in behaviour.
| Negative type | How you write it | Blocks | Does not block |
|---|---|---|---|
| Negative broad (default) | -running shoes | Any search containing all those terms in any order, so blue running shoes is blocked | blue tennis shoes, because it does not contain both terms |
| Negative phrase | -“running shoes” | Those exact terms in that order, so blue running shoes is blocked | shoes running, because the order is different |
| Negative exact | -[running shoes] | Only that exact search, with no extra words | blue running shoes, because of the extra word |
Do negative keywords match close variants?
Not the way positive keywords do. Google states plainly that negative keywords will not match to close variants or other expansions. Since a 2024 update one negative does block its own misspellings, which was a genuine improvement, but plurals, singulars and synonyms still have to be added by hand. A negative for running shoe will not block running shoes. That is why tab one has an option to add singular and plural forms to negative lists automatically, and why the search terms tab does it by default.
Which characters are not allowed in keywords?
Google rejects commas, exclamation marks, at signs, percent signs, carets, parentheses, square brackets inside the text, semicolons, tildes, backticks, angle brackets, question marks, backslashes and pipes. Periods and plus signs are accepted but ignored, so they do nothing. Ampersands, accents and asterisks are fine. The wrapper strips the rejected characters for you and flags anything left over, which saves the round trip of a failed upload.
How do I add keywords in bulk to Google Ads Editor?
Two ways, and mixing them is the thing that breaks.
Option one: paste wrapped keywords and let Editor read the symbols
Editor recognises square brackets as exact, quotes as phrase and a leading dash as negative. Paste a wrapped list and the match types come across automatically. If a phrase keyword contains special characters, wrap it in triple quotes. Anything without a symbol imports as broad, which is the default, and negatives without a symbol import as negative broad.
Option two: use a match type column, which is what tab two builds
Go to Keywords, then Make multiple changes, choose the destination, paste your block, press Process, then map the column headings and review before you keep the changes. The columns Editor expects:
| Column | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign | Yes | Also accepted as Campaign name. Must match the campaign in the account. |
| Ad group | Yes | Also accepted as Ad group name. |
| Keyword | Yes | Also accepted as Keyword text. Unwrapped, with no symbols, when you use a match type column. |
| Match type | No, but you want it | Also accepted as Type, Criterion type or Keyword type. Values: broad, phrase, exact, negative broad, negative phrase, negative exact. |
| Max CPC | No | Leave blank to inherit the ad group bid. |
| Final URL | No | Only needed if the keyword should override the ad destination. |
| Status | No | Enabled or paused. |
Three things that catch people out. Headers must be in English even if the interface is in another language, though capitalisation and spacing do not matter. A blank field means no change rather than an empty value, and two empty square brackets erase an existing value. And if you leave the match type column out entirely, everything imports as broad, which is how a carefully planned exact match structure turns into a budget problem overnight.
Why do I get errors when I use both symbols and a match type column?
Because Editor is being given two instructions at once. A keyword written as [red shoes] with exact in the match type column is ambiguous, and Editor refuses it. Pick one convention. Tab two uses the column and deliberately leaves the keywords unwrapped, which is the safer of the two because it survives a copy into a spreadsheet.
Does this work for Microsoft Advertising?
The match type notation is the same: quotes for phrase, brackets for exact, a leading minus for negatives. The import columns differ between Google Ads Editor and Microsoft Advertising Editor, so use the wrapped output from tab one for Microsoft rather than the Editor block from tab two.
Which match type should I actually use?
There is no universal answer, but there is a reliable sequence.
- Start new campaigns on phrase match. It gives Smart Bidding enough query variety to learn from without the reach of broad, and the search terms report stays readable.
- Promote winners to exact. Any search term that converts more than once deserves its own exact match keyword so it gets its own bid and its own data. Tab four does this in bulk.
- Mine the search terms report weekly, not monthly. Close variants mean the gap between what you bid on and what you show for is permanently open, and a week of drift is cheaper to fix than a month of it.
- Treat broad as a research or scale lever, not a default. It works with strong conversion tracking, a healthy budget and tight negatives. In a high cost per click account with thin conversion data it is the fastest way to spend a month of budget on the wrong queries.
- Build the negative list as you go. A negative added the day you see the term is worth more than a cleanup sprint in six weeks.
What about AI Max for Search and keywordless matching?
Google has been moving toward matching that behaves more like broad regardless of the match type you set, and AI Max for Search, launched in May 2025, leans further that way. That does not make match types pointless. It makes negatives and the search terms report the two controls that still do what you tell them, which is an argument for building the negative list deliberately rather than reactively.
What are the best free keyword wrapper tools for PPC?
Free keyword wrapper tools that still load include AdWords Wrapper, the Keyword Match Type Tool, QuickSEO’s Keyword Wrapper, Searchbloom’s PPC Keyword Wrapper and the wrapper on this page. All of them add brackets and quotes for you. They differ on negative keyword support, export format and whether they still output the retired plus sign format.
The table is unranked and listed alphabetically. Features are taken from each tool’s own page in October 2026. Google Ads Editor is included because it is the free place most wrapped lists end up.
| Tool | Price | Match types | Negatives | Export | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AdWords Wrapper | Free | Broad, phrase, exact, plus legacy +modifier lists | Yes, through a separate negative keywords wrapper | Copy and paste | Long pasted lists. The page suggests up to 4,000 to 5,000 lines, removes duplicates and says keywords are not stored. |
| Google Ads Editor (Make multiple changes) | Free download | Broad, phrase, exact, set in a Keyword match type column | Yes: negative broad, negative phrase and negative exact in the same column | Not a wrapper. It imports pasted spreadsheet columns straight into your campaigns. | Adding a finished list to many ad groups at once, with bids and final URLs. |
| Hustle Marketers Keyword Wrapper (this page) | Free | Broad, phrase, exact | Yes: negative broad, negative phrase and negative exact | Google Ads Editor import with a match type column | Going straight into Editor. It runs in your browser, removes duplicates and lowercases keywords. |
| Keyword Match Type Tool (keywordwrappertool.com) | Free, no registration | Broad, phrase, exact, plus legacy +modifier | No separate option. The page suggests using the phrase or exact output for negative lists. | Copy to clipboard or CSV | Combining several word lists into keywords, then exporting a CSV. |
| QuickSEO Keyword Wrapper | Free | Broad, phrase, exact (no +modifier) | Yes: negative broad, negative phrase and negative exact | Copy per match type, or Copy All | Adding the same prefix or suffix to every keyword before wrapping. |
| Ralf van Veen Keyword Wrapper Tool | Free | Broad, phrase, exact, plus legacy +modifier | Not mentioned | Results shown on the page to paste | Quick cleanup, with options to lowercase and remove numbers and symbols. |
| Sam Frost Keyword Match Type Generator | Free | Broad, phrase, exact, plus legacy +modifier | Not mentioned | Copy List button for each match type | Short comma-separated lists. |
| Searchbloom Keyword Mixer | Free, no sign-up | Broad, phrase, exact | Not mentioned | Copy, or CSV for the long list | Mixing up to three columns (services, cities, modifiers) into every combination. |
| Searchbloom PPC Keyword Wrapper Tool | Free, no sign-up | Broad, phrase, exact, plus legacy +modifier | Mentioned in the page copy, but no separate negative output | Copy Output button | One-per-line lists, with optional lowercase, symbol and duplicate removal. |
How to choose a keyword wrapper tool
Most wrappers do the same basic job. These four checks separate the ones that save time from the ones that create cleanup work.
- Editor-ready export. Google Ads Editor accepts a Keyword match type column with the values broad, phrase, exact, negative broad, negative phrase and negative exact, according to Google’s Editor help page. A tool that builds that column saves you from cleaning symbols by hand before import.
- Negative syntax. Check that the tool outputs negative broad, phrase and exact as separate lists. Google says negative keywords do not match close variants, so you need to add plurals and synonyms yourself.
- Close variants in 2026. Brackets do not mean a literal match. Google states that all keyword match types can match close variants, such as plurals, misspellings and same-intent searches, and there is no opt out. Also skip any +modifier output: Google stopped accepting new keywords in the legacy broad match modifier notation in July 2021.
- Privacy and browser-only processing. Look for a plain statement on how pasted keywords are handled. AdWords Wrapper says it does not store them, and the wrapper on this page runs in your browser. Most other tools in the table do not say either way.
When a keyword wrapper is not enough
A wrapper formats keywords. It does not tell you which keywords deserve budget, which searches are wasting money or how to group terms into ad groups.
For the first question, start with our guide to Google Ads keyword research. For wasted searches, use our Google Ads negative keywords guide and build the list in phrase and exact before you open up to broad match. More free utilities sit on our free PPC tools page.
If you would rather have the account structure, keyword list and negatives built and managed for you, see our PPC management service.
Keyword wrapper FAQs
What is a keyword wrapper tool?
It takes a plain list of keywords and adds the match type notation Google Ads uses: quotes for phrase, square brackets for exact, a leading minus for negatives. It saves doing it by hand in a spreadsheet, and a good one also strips the characters Google rejects and removes duplicates.
Can you recommend some free keyword wrapper tools?
Free options that still load include AdWords Wrapper, the Keyword Match Type Tool at keywordwrappertool.com, QuickSEO’s Keyword Wrapper, Searchbloom’s PPC Keyword Wrapper and Keyword Mixer, and the Hustle Marketers Keyword Wrapper on this page. Choose one that outputs negative broad, phrase and exact lists, and ignore any plus sign output, because Google stopped accepting new broad match modifier keywords in 2021.
What is the best keyword wrapper tool for PPC campaigns?
No single tool is best for every job. For Google Ads Editor imports, use a wrapper that builds a match type column, like the one on this page. For combining service and city lists, Searchbloom’s Keyword Mixer or keywordwrappertool.com fit well. For long pasted lists with negatives, AdWords Wrapper works. Google Ads Editor itself is free for the final bulk upload.
How many keyword match types are there in Google Ads?
Three: broad, phrase and exact. Broad match modifier was a fourth until 2021, when it merged into phrase match. Negatives come in the same three shapes, so tools often say six, which is accurate if you count negative broad, negative phrase and negative exact separately.
How do I make a keyword exact match?
Put it in square brackets, like [red shoes]. In Google Ads Editor you can paste it wrapped and the match type comes across automatically, or leave it unwrapped and use exact in a match type column. Do not do both, because Editor treats that as a conflict.
Does Google still support the plus sign for broad match modifier?
No. New keywords cannot be added with the plus notation. Existing modifier keywords still serve but convert to phrase notation when edited. Any tool still offering a plus sign in 2026 is generating keywords Google will not accept, which is why this one does not.
Can I turn off close variants?
No. Every match type is eligible for close variants and Google states there is no way to opt out. The practical response is a strong negative keyword list and a weekly look at the search terms report.
Do negative keywords block plurals and misspellings?
Misspellings yes, since a 2024 update. Plurals and singulars no, and synonyms no. A negative for plumber job will not block plumber jobs. Tick the plural option in tab one, or use tab four which adds both forms automatically.
What is the difference between negative broad, negative phrase and negative exact?
Negative broad blocks any search containing all your terms in any order. Negative phrase blocks those terms in that order, with other words allowed around them. Negative exact blocks only that search with nothing added. Negative phrase is usually the right default because negative broad tends to block more than intended.
What columns does a Google Ads Editor keyword import need?
Campaign, Ad group and Keyword are required. Match type, Max CPC, Final URL and Status are optional. Headers must be in English, capitalisation and spacing do not matter, and leaving out the match type column means everything imports as broad.
Which characters are not allowed in a Google Ads keyword?
Commas, exclamation marks, at signs, percent signs, carets, parentheses, brackets inside the text, semicolons, tildes, backticks, angle brackets, question marks, backslashes and pipes. Periods and plus signs are accepted but ignored. Ampersands, accents and asterisks are allowed.
Can I use this for Microsoft Advertising or Bing Ads?
Yes for the wrapping. Quotes, brackets and the minus sign work the same way. The Editor export on tab two is built for Google Ads Editor specifically, so use the wrapped output from tab one for Microsoft.
Does the tool remove duplicates and lowercase my keywords?
Both, and both are on by default. Deduplication is case insensitive, so Emergency Plumber and emergency plumber count as one. Google treats keywords as case insensitive anyway, so lowercasing costs you nothing and makes the list far easier to read.
Are my keywords stored anywhere?
No. Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you paste is uploaded, stored or logged, and the CSV is generated locally. Close the tab and it is gone.
Want the keyword structure built properly rather than wrapped?
Send us the account or a keyword list and we will come back with the campaign and ad group structure, the match type plan, the starting negative list and the search terms routine to keep it clean. Same build process we use on every account we take over.
No obligation. If the structure is already right, we will say so.Related free tools and guides
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