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"Broad match" vs "exact match"

by mkpoway
15 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Can any precisely define what is covered by "Broad match" vs "Exact match" when using the Google Keyword tool? Which one should I use when trying to determine the popularity of a keyword?

Google's documentation on this is not very good, btw...
#broad match #exact match
  • Profile picture of the author Tom Goodwin
    Originally Posted by mkpoway View Post

    Can any precisely define what is covered by "Broad match" vs "Exact match" when using the Google Keyword tool? Which one should I use when trying to determine the popularity of a keyword?

    Google's documentation on this is not very good, btw...
    Exact: The number of searches for that exact keyword. If your keyword is lose weight, then the exact would be the number who search only for: lose weight.


    Broad: the number of searches where people search and the word "lose" and the word "weight" are included in any part of the search phrase, in any order. So, a listing in the keyword tool for: lose weight, would include a search for: lose weight in 3 weeks.

    If you want to figure out how much actual traffic you are likely to get, use the exact.
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  • Profile picture of the author tragictrip
    Keyword: lose weight

    Possible search terms for broad match:
    How to lose alot of weight in a week
    How to lose weight
    Lose weight

    Possible search terms for phrase match:
    How to lose weight
    Lose weight

    Possible search terms for exact match:
    Lose weight
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  • Profile picture of the author Anup Mahajan
    I think this guy explains it pretty well..

    Match Types Explained

    Not my site BTW

    Anup
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    • Profile picture of the author Dumkist
      Originally Posted by anup.mahajan View Post

      I think this guy explains it pretty well..



      Not my site BTW

      Anup
      Thank you...that was some great Info
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  • Profile picture of the author mkpoway
    Excellent responses, thanks guys.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    This question is asked so often, I decided to store my answer and just paste it each time:


    If you search without quotes, the engines will return results with pages containing, either keyword...For example, a search for DOG HOUSE may contain pages that have "dog" on them or "house" on them, or both. And, for both, the words don't have to appear together.

    However, if you search for "dog house" using quotes the page must contain the exact phrase.

    This is why it's a more accurate measure of true competition to use the quotes when researching, as you want to find sites that focus on "dog house", not just "dog" or "house".

    Here's a Google hack to give you even more accurate results...Use the three "in" attributes when researching:

    intitle:"dog house" inanchor:"dog house" intext:"dog house"
    (paste the above into google search)

    What this does is find pages that must contain "dog house" in all of the the following:
    In the page title
    In the body text
    In a link anchor text

    These are the three basics of SEO and will give you a good estimate of the competing pages that have done basic SEO, which after all, is really what you are researching. It isn't perfect, but it is probably the most accurate EASY measure of your true competition.

    Do the 3 following searches and see the difference in number of pages returned, as well as the results themselves:
    dog house
    "dog house"
    intitle:"dog house" inanchor:"dog house" intext:"dog house"
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    • Profile picture of the author Superior Content Creation
      Kurt,
      Thanks a lot for that explanation. I've seen this type of strategy before, but I'm curious to what figure would be good to see when searching for competition using intitle:"dog house" inanchor:"dog house" intext:"dog house"?

      Would about 4-5K be a pretty low competition keyword string?

      Thanks,
      James

      Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

      This question is asked so often, I decided to store my answer and just paste it each time:


      If you search without quotes, the engines will return results with pages containing, either keyword...For example, a search for DOG HOUSE may contain pages that have "dog" on them or "house" on them, or both. And, for both, the words don't have to appear together.

      However, if you search for "dog house" using quotes the page must contain the exact phrase.

      This is why it's a more accurate measure of true competition to use the quotes when researching, as you want to find sites that focus on "dog house", not just "dog" or "house".

      Here's a Google hack to give you even more accurate results...Use the three "in" attributes when researching:

      intitle:"dog house" inanchor:"dog house" intext:"dog house"
      (paste the above into google search)

      What this does is find pages that must contain "dog house" in all of the the following:
      In the page title
      In the body text
      In a link anchor text

      These are the three basics of SEO and will give you a good estimate of the competing pages that have done basic SEO, which after all, is really what you are researching. It isn't perfect, but it is probably the most accurate EASY measure of your true competition.

      Do the 3 following searches and see the difference in number of pages returned, as well as the results themselves:
      dog house
      "dog house"
      intitle:"dog house" inanchor:"dog house" intext:"dog house"
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      • Profile picture of the author Kurt
        Originally Posted by dru-man View Post

        Kurt,
        Thanks a lot for that explanation. I've seen this type of strategy before, but I'm curious to what figure would be good to see when searching for competition using intitle:"dog house" inanchor:"dog house" intext:"dog house"?

        Would about 4-5K be a pretty low competition keyword string?

        Thanks,
        James
        Hi James,

        Actually, you do your research and pick the best numbers.

        IMO, competition is the least important of the 3 factors: Traffic/searches and value being more important.

        What I suggest is looking at keywords that meet your traffic and value criteria, THEN run them through a competition analysis and pick the best keywords.

        But, I've found keywords with zero competitors and in general, it isn't all that hard to find decent keywords with fewer than 100 competitors in all 3 categories.

        Some will argue that you are only competing against the top 10 sites for a particular keyword. However, I don't think this is accurate, considering local searches, personalized searches, etc. Because of this, there really isn't one top ten results to study and instead I prefer more of an over-all indicator for the keywords than for any specific Top 10.

        The three "ins" does have its own weaknesses, but for simplicity and ease, I feel it's the best way to calculate competition for a bunch of keywords.

        The biggest problem now with using the 3 ins is that Google seems to detect this as a seo expert's query and now requires captchas and other "stuff" after just a few "in" queries.
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

          Some will argue that you are only competing against the top 10 sites for a particular keyword. However, I don't think this is accurate, considering local searches, personalized searches, etc. Because of this, there really isn't one top ten results to study and instead I prefer more of an over-all indicator for the keywords than for any specific Top 10.

          The three "ins" does have its own weaknesses, but for simplicity and ease, I feel it's the best way to calculate competition for a bunch of keywords.

          The biggest problem now with using the 3 ins is that Google seems to detect this as a seo expert's query and now requires captchas and other "stuff" after just a few "in" queries.
          Kurt, first off, thanks for my first 'doh' moment of the day. I've used all three 'in' searches, but somehow it never occurred to me to put them in a single query.

          Normally, I would be one of those people telling you that the real competition is the top ten results. Actually, I believe people really seeking information will go a few pages deep more than some stat that measures everything says they do, so I usually say the top 20 or 30.

          But your point about personalized and local searches etc. makes good sense. On any given search result, you may be competing with the other results on the first page or so, but there's no real way to tell which top ten your searcher will get.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Goodwin
    Anyone notice how the OP asked a pretty simple question as to the difference between broad and exact search for determining search volumes, yet somehow the thread turned into "how to determine how competitive a keyword is", which is a completely different question.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kurt
      Originally Posted by Tom Goodwin View Post

      Anyone notice how the OP asked a pretty simple question as to the difference between broad and exact search for determining search volumes, yet somehow the thread turned into "how to determine how competitive a keyword is", which is a completely different question.

      I did answer the OP's question directly:

      If you search without quotes, the engines will return results with pages containing, either keyword...For example, a search for DOG HOUSE may contain pages that have "dog" on them or "house" on them, or both. And, for both, the words don't have to appear together.

      However, if you search for "dog house" using quotes the page must contain the exact phrase.
      Instead of being condescending, why not add something that's actually helpful or interesting?

      But good job of diverting an informative thread into a discussion of what should be posted, instead of actually posting anything useful.
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      • Profile picture of the author Tom Goodwin
        Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

        I did answer the OP's question directly:



        Instead of being condescending, why not add something that's actually helpful or interesting?

        But good job of diverting an informative thread into a discussion of what should be posted, instead of actually posting anything useful.
        Yep, I guess I must be losing my mind because I thought the #2 post in the thread answered the OP's question. Perhaps I should have gone off and started discussing whether or not the Yankees have a chance at coming back or something else off-topic.
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        • Profile picture of the author Kurt
          Originally Posted by Tom Goodwin View Post

          Yep, I guess I must be losing my mind because I thought the #2 post in the thread answered the OP's question. Perhaps I should have gone off and started discussing whether or not the Yankees have a chance at coming back or something else off-topic.
          Or, we could comment about other comments.

          And this last comment of yours only makes my point stronger. The OP's question was answered TWICE. If you have a problem with more info added after that, that's your problem.

          However, being off topic while complaining about being off topic not only makes you wrong, it makes you a hipocrite.

          Just what forums need, is more members discouraging adding helpful info...Good job.

          And instead of a weak attempt at a red herring (a classic flaw in logical argument):

          Perhaps I should have gone off and started discussing whether or not the Yankees have a chance at coming back or something else off-topic.

          ...What you "should have" done is either shut up, or add something constructive.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
        Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

        Instead of being condescending, why not add something that's actually helpful or interesting?
        I don't even understand how the two are not related as Tom alleged. Who does keyword research and then doesn't care about how competitive a term is? They ARE related and its not a completely different question at all. In fact competition is the ENTIRE basis of keyword research.

        The issue of broad or exact is precisely so that you can see how much traffic a term gets AND whether the pages that rank for the exact term are good competition.

        I only have one thing different I would add to this discussion. I believe the advice to always go with exact is a bit short sighted. In a sufficiently long tail keyword (above two words definitely over three) using exact can actually turn you off of traffic that is there and can be ranked for. VERY often in several search results if you place well for a three word exact match you are in position to rank for many of the longer phrases as well. You might see 5,000 for an exact match and phrase at 12,000 but the 12,000 might be closer to reality if you can rank for the long tail exact.

        exact means that exact phrase. right now I am working on a site that I wouldn't work on if I went by exact but the three word phrase is entered in to searches in several different orders and with variations that give me three times the traffic than the exact. As i link build I can see the site moving into position to rank for several of those additional phrases.
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