What type of matching does the text match (keyword list) tool use? Is this the same functionality as the category or brand safety targeting through the contextual engine?

The text match (keyword list) is based on exact phrase matching. While it leverages the same crawler to determine page content, it does not utilize the contextual engine.

Accordingly text match is best used when you want to include or exclude specific words or character strings, and can be especially useful for excluding proper nouns or exact expressions, or when a client is looking to target their brand online (or conquest a competitor's).

Excluding a segment can also be used to ensure a brand doesn't end up on pages where there may be disparaging content about that brand.

Note: Specific custom categories using the contextual engine can be built for clients at an additional cost.