# How keywords and matching work

> A keyword is the word a person types to start your automation. “Contains keyword” finds it inside a sentence, “Exact match” needs the whole message to be the keyword, and “Any keyword” answers everything.

- Topic: Automations
- Plans: Free: included · Pro: included · Scale: included
- In the app: Open Automations — https://app.stage.mydmflow.com/automations
- Last checked: 2026-10-29
- Web page: https://stage.mydmflow.com/help/keywords-and-matching

## Add your keywords

In **Set up keywords**, type a word and press Enter. To add several at once, separate them with commas, like “recipe, recipes, menu”. Each one becomes its own keyword. You can add up to 30.

Capital letters do not matter. “RECIPE”, “Recipe” and “recipe” all match.

## Choose a match type

| Option | What it does | Example for the keyword “price” |
|---|---|---|
| **Contains keyword** | Fires when the keyword is anywhere in the message. It matches whole words only. | “What is the price?” matches. “pricey” does not. |
| **Exact match** | The whole message must equal the keyword. | Only “price” matches. |
| **Any keyword** | Answers every comment or message. No keyword is needed. | Everything matches. |

**Contains keyword** is the best choice for most people, because people rarely type only one word.

## Catch common typos

Turn on **Catch common typos** and a small spelling mistake still matches. For example, “webiner” finds “webinar”. It is off until you turn it on, for each automation.

The rules are strict on purpose:

- It works only on a keyword that is one word of 5 letters or more.
- It accepts one wrong letter, and the first letter must be right.
- Two letters swapped around do not match.
- Short words like “link”, and keywords with more than one word, are always matched exactly.

If your keyword is too short, the builder tells you.

## Answer by topic

For the DM and story reply triggers, you also see **Or answer by what they mean**. Pick a topic, and Replavia answers it however the person asks. “how much?”, “what’s the cost” and “your rates?” all match **Asking the price**.

The topics are **Asking the price**, **Ready to buy**, **Is it available**, **Shipping and delivery**, **Booking a time**, **Brand or collab enquiry** and **Needs help**. Your own keywords always come first.

Topics are not offered for comments. A comment automation sends a DM the person did not ask for, so a loose match could message the wrong people.

## Keywords that are not allowed

Some keywords cannot be saved. These are words about child safety, adult or sexual content, weapons or violence, illegal drugs and gambling. This protects your Instagram account, and it cannot be turned off. Choose a different word.

## When two automations want the same comment

Instagram allows only one automated DM per comment. So only one automation answers each comment:

- A keyword automation always goes before an **Any keyword** automation. **Any keyword** works as a default reply for everything else.
- If two keyword automations match the same comment, only one of them answers. Give each one different keywords or different posts.

When you pick posts, Replavia marks the posts another live automation already uses. See [How to create an automation](https://stage.mydmflow.com/help/create-an-automation).

## Good to know

- Keywords match as plain text. Characters like `( ) [ ] * |` are matched exactly.
- Each person gets one reply per post for comments, and one a day for DMs. So if you test twice from the same account, only the first test gets a reply.