Discrepancy in G search competition numbers (broad v exact match?)

AndrewHansen · 08-04-2009, 01:41 PM

Hey Guys,

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this recently when searching competition numbers in Google (apologies if it's already been discussed).

The weirdness is that on certain searches, the EXACT match is showing MORE pages indexed, than the BROAD match...

ie, "some keyword here"

is showing MORE results pages than: some keyword here

And it seems to go on and off. Like searching now on a couple of long tail terms I don't seem to see it, but in the past couple weeks I've seen it multiple times.

Anyone? Is it just me? :S Is there some search policy change I missed?

Someone confirm that I'm not losing my mind

Andrew

Tom Brite · 08-04-2009, 08:27 PM

Never noticed that myself im afraid.

But then just putting the keyphrase in quotes is no real test to see how many competiting sites there are at all.

Heck there could be millions but if no one is optimizing themselves for the keyphrase at all and just happens to have it a few times in their site or even if they are optimized for that keyphrase yet have no backlinks with that anchor text then there is no competition at all.

The above is how many seo products trick people into thinking 'wow thats amazing 1million competitors and your sites number one using your system'. Yet really there is no hard competition and a monkey could do the same given the chance.

Tom Brite

Jason Fulton · 08-04-2009, 10:18 PM

I haven't noticed this either. Could this be a region issue as I do most of my searches through .com.au ?

Jason

08-04-2009, 01:41 PM	#1
AndrewHansen Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: London UK Posts: 1,711 Thanks: 11 Thanked 413 Times in 59 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Discrepancy in G search competition numbers (broad v exact match?) Hey Guys, Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this recently when searching competition numbers in Google (apologies if it's already been discussed). The weirdness is that on certain searches, the EXACT match is showing MORE pages indexed, than the BROAD match... ie, "some keyword here" is showing MORE results pages than: some keyword here And it seems to go on and off. Like searching now on a couple of long tail terms I don't seem to see it, but in the past couple weeks I've seen it multiple times. Anyone? Is it just me? :S Is there some search policy change I missed? Someone confirm that I'm not losing my mind Andrew
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08-04-2009, 08:27 PM	#2
Tom Brite Banned War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: UK and France Posts: 1,103 Thanks: 261 Thanked 188 Times in 100 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Discrepancy in G search competition numbers (broad v exact match?) Never noticed that myself im afraid. But then just putting the keyphrase in quotes is no real test to see how many competiting sites there are at all. Heck there could be millions but if no one is optimizing themselves for the keyphrase at all and just happens to have it a few times in their site or even if they are optimized for that keyphrase yet have no backlinks with that anchor text then there is no competition at all. The above is how many seo products trick people into thinking 'wow thats amazing 1million competitors and your sites number one using your system'. Yet really there is no hard competition and a monkey could do the same given the chance. Tom Brite

08-04-2009, 10:18 PM	#3
Jason Fulton Banned War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Sydney , Australia. Posts: 539 Thanks: 28 Thanked 31 Times in 27 Posts	Re: Discrepancy in G search competition numbers (broad v exact match?) I haven't noticed this either. Could this be a region issue as I do most of my searches through .com.au ? Jason