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What Is The Logic Behind Using Phrase Matching vs. Broad Matching When Picking Keywords

by chucknnita
14 replies
Question:
What "match type" do you guys use when you are selecting keywords, and how does the match type you use during kw selection matter?

The reason I ask is that I usually use phrase matching, basically because thats what I have always been told to do. But since most people don't search with a phrase match, and the SE results can be completely different when you search with a broad match vs. a phrase match - I have begun to question the logic behind using phrase matching to find keywords.

Maybe someone who really has a good grasp of this subject can enlighten me.

I don't care about adwords. I am interested strictly from an SEO perspective.

Thanks to all!

Cheers,
Chuck
#broad #keywords #logic #matching #phrase #picking
  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Moser
    Aloha,

    I think you're confusing the terms a bit with PPC. SEO is a little different when searching for keywords you either have the regular search or exact search. Regular with no quotes and exact "with quotes". In PPC it's done with brackets... No brackets mean broad match and [with brackets] means exact phrase match.

    The reason for using quotes when searching for keywords is so you can see the number of results that show up in Google for that exact phrase. This is important to know so that you can guage the competition.

    For example if I want to rank high for "Dog Training Book" then I would search Google for the phrase in quotes. Usually if there's less than 100k results for that phrase it's a good keyword because I know I can rank for that with a little effort. Now if the phrase had over 100k results then that would take more effort and time to get ranked for because of the competition.

    Does that help?
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    • Profile picture of the author chucknnita
      Aloha Aaron:
      Thanks for the reply. Here is my confusion. And don't get me wrong, I have a few sites up and they all are making some money - so I think I get it a little. To me a broad match is search without any qualifiers, a phrase match uses quotes and an exact match uses square brackets [].

      If I do a broad search in google - which is the way virtually everybody searches - the SERPS give me a list of sites and pages. But if I then put that same phrase in quotes and do the search, I may or may not get the same pages. I can use the "allintitle:" qualifier to narrow the results down even more, but all that really matters is what comes up when people do a broad search, because thats the way people search.

      I don't know, maybe your right and I'm just completely confused,lol,,wouldn't be the first time. I get the technical aspects, I'm just trying to get a grasp of the concept. Sorry for being so obsessive compulsive.

      A hui hou
      Chuck
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      • Profile picture of the author Aaron Moser
        Originally Posted by chucknnita View Post

        Aloha Aaron:
        Thanks for the reply. Here is my confusion. And don't get me wrong, I have a few sites up and they all are making some money - so I think I get it a little. To me a broad match is search without any qualifiers, a phrase match uses quotes and an exact match uses square brackets [].

        If I do a broad search in google - which is the way virtually everybody searches - the SERPS give me a list of sites and pages. But if I then put that same phrase in quotes and do the search, I may or may not get the same pages. I can use the "allintitle:" qualifier to narrow the results down even more, but all that really matters is what comes up when people do a broad search, because thats the way people search.

        I don't know, maybe your right and I'm just completely confused,lol,,wouldn't be the first time. I get the technical aspects, I'm just trying to get a grasp of the concept. Sorry for being so obsessive compulsive.

        A hui hou
        Chuck
        Chuck,

        I stand corrected you're right about the phrase match being in "quotes" and the [exact match] being in brackets.

        But for SEO the only thing that matters is finding the results for your competition within "quotes".

        The question you're asking is one of the hardest things to explain when it comes to SEO. I didn't get it forever myself. So instead of trying to explain it I'll just show you what I do. And hopefully you can understand how it works.

        When I want to rank high for a keyword I always search for the phrase in "quotes". So lets' take Dog Training Book again.

        When I search in google for "Dog Training Book" in quotes I get 71k results. Since this is less than 100k results I know I can start ranking on page 1-2 within 2-3 months (maybe less) if I do link building with my anchor text of Dog Training Book.

        The reason it works like this is because Google will always return the closest match to your broad search first depending on which sites has the most quality links pointing to it.

        The key here is the amount of PR and the quality of backlinks your site has.

        So if you do a broad search for Dog Traning Book with no quotes and it returns a bunch of random phrases with the keywords somewhere on the page but not in exact match then that's a good indication that you can rank well for those keywords granted you have enough quality back links with the exact anchor text of "Dog Training Book".

        Now some sites you'll never beat because they are authority sites with massive backlinks and PR. Even if the the site doesn't contain an exact match for your broad phrase search.

        That's probably the best way I can explain it...
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      • Profile picture of the author chucknnita
        Never mind - I think I just had an "aha" moment.
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        • Profile picture of the author 212th Degree
          chucknnita,

          Great question that will help others. i know you had an ah-hah! moment.

          But I do want to clarify for others. the explanation above was incorrect.

          The Broad search that you did showed the results in ANY configuration of the words. So let's take "how to lose weight"

          A broad search will show you how many time those 4 words are typed in googles search field in ANY POSSIBLE WAY. backwards, forwards with other words in the middle like "how to best lose weight" , "weight lose to how", etc. any possible search term entered by someone that contains those 4 words.

          Exact or with the [ ] brakets around the term, means that google is showing you how many times [how to lose weight] is entered exactly like that. this number will be obviously much less than the broad serach because it eliminates all variations of the 4 words.

          The Phrase search shows you how many times the phrase "how to lose weight" is entered as itself AND with other words before or after it. So, "show me how to lose weight" this includes the phrase "how to lose weight" so it will be included in the count. This count will be between exact and broad.

          What does this mean for SEO? It means that exact match and phrase match show you how many times people type in the keywords "how to lose weight" either exactly like that or as part of a phrase. The broad match will show you how many time people are entering the 4 words in ANY confuguration possible.

          So you want to look at what strategy you are using to determine what each means for you.

          I like to use phrase because i want people who type the specific phrase in one form or another. If there are too few matches, then I know I will be wasting my time with that. the Broad Match might show 1 million matches in a month and the Phrase Match shows 1K mathces in a month. I would not build a campaign around this campaign.

          But because the Braod Match would have been misleading.

          Exact phrase usually provides such few results and most of what I build my campaigns around will not require someone to type in my keyword EXACTLY.

          lets take HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT. I don't need to know how many people types this EXACTLY. What I do need to know is how many people typed this phrase or used this phrase in the total entry like "show me how to lose weight" I want those matches as well.

          I hope this helps.
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          • Profile picture of the author Ricter
            I don't get this.

            When I search with:
            dog training book

            I see 4.17 million results.

            When I search with:
            "dog training book"

            I see 70,900 results.

            When I search with:
            [dog training book]

            I see 4.17 million results again.
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            • Profile picture of the author Aaron Moser
              Originally Posted by Ricter View Post

              I don't get this.

              When I search with:
              dog training book

              I see 4.17 million results.

              When I search with:
              "dog training book"

              I see 70,900 results.

              When I search with:
              [dog training book]

              I see 4.17 million results again.
              Results 1 - 10 of about 618,000 for [dog training book]
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              • Profile picture of the author Ricter
                Originally Posted by Aaron Moser View Post

                Results 1 - 10 of about 618,000 for [dog training book]
                Well, I am using google.ca, that might be it. Still, I just did it again, and the results are the same for dog training book and [dog training book]. Shouldn't they differ, if the filtering is different?
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                • Profile picture of the author Aaron Moser
                  Originally Posted by Ricter View Post

                  Well, I am using google.ca, that might be it. Still, I just did it again, and the results are the same for dog training book and [dog training book]. Shouldn't they differ, if the filtering is different?
                  I think I may know where the confusion came from. If the OP was asking how to choose keywords using the Google Keyword tool for SEO purposes then the broad search with no quotes or brackets is what you want to find out how many searches are made.
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                • Profile picture of the author chucknnita
                  The way my "aha" moment, lol, grasped the concept is that EVENTUALLY, when all is said and done, the pages with the exact phrase will be more relevant and rise the the top because of link building.

                  The anchor text will contain the phrase "dog training book" and G will find it more relevant to have anchor text containing "dog training book" pointing to a page that contains the phrase "dog training book" than it will to have that same anchor text pointing to a page that doesn't contain that exact phrase (even if the words are in another order). So the link pointing to the exact phrase on the page is what pushes it to the top of the SERPS.

                  1. A page containing some text like "I love my dog but he is in desperate need of training, so i think I will go get a book" does contain all of the words, so could be included in the broad match results. But even if I had an anchor text link that said "dog training book" pointing to that page, it wouldn't be very relevant.

                  2. If I put up a page with the title "This Dog Training Book Is Something You Need" - and have anchor text containing "dog training book" pointing to that page - it moves to the top because G's algo sees it as more relevant - both link and page contain the same text.

                  Maybe I'm just being overly analytical. But what I was trying to get at was that the top 10 spots are different for each of those search types. And since people don't search for the phrase or exact match (at least most don't) - and we are actually competing with PAGES that rank well, not with other web sites - shouldn't the SEO effort be directed at the pages that rank in the broad match.

                  I'm hoping my "aha moment" answered this question.

                  Now, clearly the phrase match concept works, I use it and I do rank well for a number of terms (obviously by accident, lol). You guys gave some great explanations.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Moser
                    Originally Posted by chucknnita View Post


                    2. If I put up a page with the title "This Dog Training Book Is Something You Need" - and have anchor text containing "dog training book" pointing to that page - it moves to the top because G's algo sees it as more relevant - both link and page contain the same text.
                    Yep, that's how it works! You explained it better than I did.
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            • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
              Originally Posted by Ricter View Post

              I don't get this.

              When I search with:
              dog training book

              I see 4.17 million results.

              When I search with:
              "dog training book"

              I see 70,900 results.

              When I search with:
              [dog training book]

              I see 4.17 million results again.
              because you can't search with brackets like that - those are just used when setting up ppc ads. google is ignoring them. Don't confuse ppc matching with what you can use when searching - they are totaly different things.

              For SEO purposes, your true competition for that KW phrase is the 70,900.
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              -Jason

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          • Profile picture of the author Aaron Moser
            Originally Posted by 212th Degree View Post

            chucknnita,

            Great question that will help others. i know you had an ah-hah! moment.

            But I do want to clarify for others. the explanation above was incorrect.

            The Broad search that you did showed the results in ANY configuration of the words. So let's take "how to lose weight"

            A broad search will show you how many time those 4 words are typed in googles search field in ANY POSSIBLE WAY. backwards, forwards with other words in the middle like "how to best lose weight" , "weight lose to how", etc. any possible search term entered by someone that contains those 4 words.

            Exact or with the [ ] brakets around the term, means that google is showing you how many times [how to lose weight] is entered exactly like that. this number will be obviously much less than the broad serach because it eliminates all variations of the 4 words.

            The Phrase search shows you how many times the phrase "how to lose weight" is entered as itself AND with other words before or after it. So, "show me how to lose weight" this includes the phrase "how to lose weight" so it will be included in the count. This count will be between exact and broad.

            What does this mean for SEO? It means that exact match and phrase match show you how many times people type in the keywords "how to lose weight" either exactly like that or as part of a phrase. The broad match will show you how many time people are entering the 4 words in ANY confuguration possible.

            So you want to look at what strategy you are using to determine what each means for you.

            I like to use phrase because i want people who type the specific phrase in one form or another. If there are too few matches, then I know I will be wasting my time with that. the Broad Match might show 1 million matches in a month and the Phrase Match shows 1K mathces in a month. I would not build a campaign around this campaign.

            But because the Braod Match would have been misleading.

            Exact phrase usually provides such few results and most of what I build my campaigns around will not require someone to type in my keyword EXACTLY.

            lets take HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT. I don't need to know how many people types this EXACTLY. What I do need to know is how many people typed this phrase or used this phrase in the total entry like "show me how to lose weight" I want those matches as well.

            I hope this helps.
            You're talking about PPC and the Google Keyword Tool. I'm talking about SEO and ranking for keywords.



            The OP was talking about SEO!
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  • Profile picture of the author kevinw1
    There are THREE things people are talking about here, and confusing with each other.

    1. Setting up keyword matching within PPC ad groups using broad match, "phrase match" and [exact match]. Since the op said he wasn't talking about adwords, this is not what he's asking about.

    2. Looking for search volumes using the Google "External keyword tool". The default volumes it gives you are for broad match, but you can set phrase match or exact match instead using a dropdown menu, and you'll see different numbers of searches. This is what 212th degree's excellent explanation above is talking about.

    3. Checking for competing sites by searching using the phrase "in quotes". Here you use quotes so that you see the sites which are competing directly for *that specific phrase*, and which you have to beat in order to rank.

    I hope that clarifies things a bit for some people at least.

    Kevin
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