Why do people put "quotation marks" around keywords? Can some1 look at my example here?

16 years ago

It depends what you want. "fastest way to lose weight" looks for that exact phrase. It won't pull up pages that might contain

The fastest bunny in the race was in the way and the first to lose. His wieght may have been the problem.

Dumb example, but you get the idea.

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sylviad

16 years ago

I asked this same question from one of the keyword gurus. Here it is:

When you use quotes, it brings up your most prominent competition. In other words, people who are actually trying to score for those keywords. So they'd have it in their meta tags, their URL and elsewhere.

This just tells you who you are competing against.

When people type in without quotes, they will get any site that uses your keyword in their articles, etc. Plus, without quotes the keyword won't necessarily be the 'exact' keyword. It could be broken up. So if your keyword is "fastest way to lose weight", Google will pick up sites that might include "fastest" and "lose weight", but not necessarily in that order or even grouped together. That's why you get more returns without quotes.

Using "" is just to give you an edge on your competition - how to beat them to get to the top of the SEs.

Sylvia

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Jeremy Kelsall 16 years ago

Be careful with these kind of keywords though. Not that they are not worth a shot, but what do all of us do when doing keyword research?

You got it....put the keyword in quotation marks to gauge competition. Chances are good that a large portion of those searches are by people just like you and me
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- Allen Graves 16 years ago
  
  <edit>
  My response is mainly for articles and website content/choosing a niche AFTER you already chose your KWs...not choosing KWs for PPC.
  </edit>
  
  You should still look at the results WITHOUT the quotes as well. After all, that's how your prospects are going to be searching...without quotes.
  
  This will also give you a little different angle on the "every day" competition that you're up against.
  
  LSI is starting to make its mark in the SERPs...
  
  If you type it with quotes, you'll get exact matches, but what if, without the quotes, you see sites like about.com, noaa.gov, news.google.com, universityoftexas.edu, etc...filling up the first page. You won't have a chance in hell.
  
  I'll always take a look at "both ways" but I usually make my final decision after checking without the quotes.
  
  Just my way of looking at things.
  
  AL
  
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cloudchaser22

16 years ago

Originally Posted by sylviad

I asked this same question from one of the keyword gurus. Here it is:

When you use quotes, it brings up your most prominent competition. In other words, people who are actually trying to score for those keywords. So they'd have it in their meta tags, their URL and elsewhere.

This just tells you who you are competing against.

When people type in without quotes, they will get any site that uses your keyword in their articles, etc. Plus, without quotes the keyword won't necessarily be the 'exact' keyword. It could be broken up. So if your keyword is "fastest way to lose weight", Google will pick up sites that might include "fastest" and "lose weight", but not necessarily in that order or even grouped together. That's why you get more returns without quotes.

Using "" is just to give you an edge on your competition - how to beat them to get to the top of the SEs.

Sylvia

Thanks for this post! So to understand, it doesn't matter if the average person behind the screen is typing it without quotes:

fastest way to lose weight

it matters about what article marketers are trying to see what specific keyword competition is out there, thus:

"fastest way to lose weight"

would be a better choice to see the 'correct competition'. why does SEO have to be so confusing!?

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sylviad 16 years ago

You got it! It took me awhile to grasp it, too.

So this is helpful information when you use PPC. Make sure you use the "" and without so that you catch both types of searchers. People hwo know to use "" for the most appropriate results will do so. Those are the people you want to nab because they're the ones who are most likely to buy.

Sylvia
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NewbiesDiary

16 years ago

Originally Posted by cloudchaser22

Thanks for this post! So to understand, it doesn't matter if the average person behind the screen is typing it without quotes:

fastest way to lose weight

it matters about what article marketers are trying to see what specific keyword competition is out there, thus:

"fastest way to lose weight"

would be a better choice to see the 'correct competition'. why does SEO have to be so confusing!?

Yup - you got it!

SEO is confusing, but if you do exactly what you are doing - one step at a time & ask questions as you go, you'll find it all makes more sense.

I find that I learn the most when I'm searching for an answer to something I'm actually doing at the time, rather than reading, reading, reading, with no specific purpose in mind.

so keep going

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cloudchaser22

16 years ago

Haha ic, nice example, so would the keyword with quotation marks be more accurate in finding the correct amount of competition when typed in Google then?

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DC1005

16 years ago

I'm no expert and I'm sure others here could explain this much better, but here goes:

When you do a search without the quotes, you get results that contain the words in any combination.

When you search with the quotes, you get results that only include pages that contain that exact phrase.

It's true most people never use quotes when they are doing a search for something but this will give you an idea how many pages you are competing with for your keywords.

(Example only- not real numbers!) Say you looked at "lose weight for daughter's wedding" and it had results of 15,000 without quotes and 1,000 with quotes. You may want to consider using that as a key phrase because using the exact term you are only competing with 1,000 pages not 15,000.

Another thing to look at is if there are any paid ads for that key phrase when you look it up. If there are, that's good. It indicates people are willing to pay money for that key phrase.

I hope this helps.

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DC1005

16 years ago

Originally Posted by DC1005

I'm no expert and I'm sure others here could explain this much better, but here goes:

When you do a search without the quotes, you get results that contain the words in any combination.

When you search with the quotes, you get results that only include pages that contain that exact phrase.

It's true most people never use quotes when they are doing a search for something but this will give you an idea how many pages you are competing with for your keywords.

(Example only- not real numbers!) Say you looked at "lose weight for daughter's wedding" and it had results of 15,000 without quotes and 1,000 with quotes. You may want to consider using that as a key phrase because using the exact term you are only competing with 1,000 pages not 15,000.

Another thing to look at is if there are any paid ads for that key phrase when you look it up. If there are, that's good. It indicates people are willing to pay money for that key phrase.

I hope this helps.

It's funny, I did a search this morning on Google for the phrase I posted here yesterday - "lose weight for daughter's wedding".

The results showed about 218,000 without quotes and only 2 with quotes (both searches had paid advertising). And guess what was in the number 1 spot with quotes????

MY POST HERE FROM YESTERDAY!

Funny!

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Mission0ps 14 years ago

I have posted about that very same question a while back on my Affiliate Buddy blog.

I hope that you can see the light now Why do keyword research in quotes?
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I suppose you could call it the honest john of review sites!
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takita787

16 years ago

Because their lying about the weight loss.

Haha, really though i have the same question.

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cloudchaser22 16 years ago

Originally Posted by takita787

Because their lying about the weight loss.

Haha, really though i have the same question.

?

Allen, and others, this is all making more sense now, thanks!

Use BOTH quotes and without quotes to see FULL competition.

I might just get the 2 numbers and take the average of the two
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takita787

16 years ago

Oh and I use quotes on google only when looking for the exact word/phrase in the results... not used too often.

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Allen Graves

16 years ago

I understand where you're coming from, but in the end, wouldn't you rather know how many pages you're competing with for what people will actually be typing into the search boxes?

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John M Kane

16 years ago

Remember you can Bracket [ ] search as well to return the keyword only with nothing else added.

"keyword" returns: keyword, or: something something +keyword or even:
something something +keyword+something something
where [keyword] returns only: keyword

broad=words
phrase= " "
exact= [ ]

Does it then follow that exact match would return higher conversions on clicks?

Thanks

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Why do people put "quotation marks" around keywords? Can some1 look at my example here?

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