Are Broad keywords less effective than Phrase?

[chrishonda]

I am trying to build some sniper-type sites for affiliate sales and I'm using Market Samurai for part of the keyword research. I've heard and read from several people that a phrase match (as opposed to broad) is better suited for this type of search and will end up being more responsive, especially if I can build my domain around it.

So I'm trying to stick to that. But for whatever keywords I choose, the broad filter only yields one or two, while the phrase gives me at least 20. Would it really be detrimental to use a broad search keyword? What exactly is the difference in terms of organic SEO?

[Adam Roy]

Chirshonda, I made a thread about this very topic a while back, check it out.

The DIFFERENCE between broad, phrase and exact match keyword research

[chrishonda]

Thanks for that! Can you put it into context for me regarding domain names? How would the exact match (which is what you recommend) be a better choice?

So specifically in Market Samurai, why would most of the keywords not show up for a phrase match? What I'm assuming is that within the MS program, the phrase and exact match only "find" the first keyword in my list. So what about the others? Do I run MS for the rest of the data, then take it back to Google for a more accurate number of searches?

What is a reasonable number of monthly for these three different types?

[Fraggler]

Broad, phrase, and exact refer to search numbers, not SEO. Broad is basicaly the amount of times a set of words are searched for in any order with preceding and proceeding words. Phrase refers to a series of words in their exact order with a preceding and or proceeding words. Exact refers to the only the set of words searched for in that exact order.

If you base your page on the key words (widgets blue) because they have a broad result of 10,000/searches per month BUT only enough phrases to total 100/month, then you will be disappointed when the traffic isn't there. This is why you must look at atleast the phrase searches when planning a page.

Also, make sure you check the exact search count as well. Say you want to make an affiliate page for the $100 product (red widgets) because it has a phrase count of 10,000/month; you make the page and get a lot of traffic but no sales.

If you looked at the exact numbers for (red widgets) you may see that it only gets 100 exact searches/month. A bit more analysis reveals that (free red widgets) gets an exact match of 9,900/month! Yeah, the phrase did let you get a lot of traffic BUT because people were looking for something you weren't providing your page was still a dud.

Each metric has its uses. Broad is great for finding niches to build entire sites around. Phrase is great when looking at more general pages to get a better idea of traffic numbers. Exact is what you use to find the keywords with real commercial intent...buyer's keywords.

When building backlinks I like to start with the long tail 'exact' keywords and work backwards to the broader terms if the content of the page supports it. All of these backlinks will help your page climb the ranks for multiple keywords.

[Fraggler]

Originally Posted by chrishonda

So specifically in Market Samurai, why would most of the keywords not show up for a phrase match?

Check you aren't filtering them out. (Disable your filters).

If you want to try the popular exact match domain model then you want to look at the traffic for the exact keyword for the domain you want to buy.

[DeniseHageman]

Thanks for the detailed information. Great post.

[chrishonda]

Oh, so helpful, Frag! I have it set for "No Filters" and I still only get a couple of keywords with the phrase match (only one with exact) in Market Samurai. But it won't take me much time to move back to Google Keyword to check the phrase and exact from the MS broad search. It looks like I need that data before I buy another domain name...