Niche Research: Broad Match V.S. Exact Match

[DerekP]

Hey SeoMozzers,

Do you guys use broad match or exact match to gauge whether or not there's enough volume to be worth your time?

Take the freelancing niche for example. These are the results for broad match:

<a class="aw-ti-resultsPanel-details">how to be a freelance writer [2,740,000]</a> how to freelance [165,000]

In exact match however:

<a class="aw-ti-resultsPanel-details">how to become a freelance writer [1,000]</a> how to freelance [480]

In this niche in particular, there's not really any keyword that gets more than 20,000 exact match searches a month. However, the broad level keywords have more than 2 million searches.

Here's my thinking: Instead of targeting highly specific terms to optimize for, I'm just going to optimize for broad terms and aim to capture the long tail. It seems there's a lot of people searching for things, but they're all spread out across different keywords.

So my instinct is to go with the broad match results, assume there's enough traffic to support a profitable website and ignore the low exact match results.

Your thoughts ... ?

[JamesNorquay]

My advice for keyword research is too not just factor on exact match and broad match, you need to factor in other forms of research to supplement your data.

You need to remember this data is only a guide from Google Exact match data is in no way an accurate determination of what traffic the specific keyword gets.

MY advice it the following -

Split up excel into the following:

1. line Exact 1. line Broad 1. line other research 1. line competitive analysis for the term.

You need to pull information from various sources, do not rely only on Google.

Kind Regards,

James Norquay.

[evolvingSEO]

Hey Derek

First, check this out to be sure of your understanding of broad, phrase and exact match: google documentation

I almost always use exact match to gauge search volume.  A search for "how to be a freelance" counts as a broad match.  Even "freelance" or "writer" counts as a broad match.  These aren't relevant at all, so thus a very bad assessment of search volume.

Even phrase match is misleading. "Hire a freelance writer" could count as a phrase search, totally not relevant and therefore shouldn't count.

It is therefore, I ONLY want to know how many people are searching, exactly for "how to become a freelance writer".  Its guarenteed to be that exact search, which guarentees relevance.

If you optimize and rank for "how to become a freelance writer" you may also rank for similar or related phrases, like "how to be a freelance writer" or "be a freelance writer".

Exact match is your best bet when judging search volume, because phrase and broad are way too unpredictable, as to whether the search variations are going to at all relevant.

So choose a good phrase with a decent amount of exact search volume, optimize for that, and you may also naturally rank for related long-tail more specific phrases as well - like "how to become a freelance writer from home", etc.

-Dan

[DerekP]

I guess I meant something different by long tail. I'm not talking about targeting specific longtail keywords, but just aiming to get the broad phrase ranked and taking the incidental search results.

In my experience, a ton of traffic doesn't necessarily come from the keywords you're targeting, but for these weird incidental searches.

The #1 search result for "freelance writing" has just 68 linking root domains. The #1 and #2 results for "how to freelance" don't have enough data in OSE, but #3 has 250 linking root domains.

A lot of the competition is using pretty weak link strategies as well. Do I think I can get on Page 1 - Yeah, I do, I think the content that's up there right now is pretty weak, as is the backlinking.

My question isn't so much about the competition - But whether or not there's volume. I'm seeing two DRASTICALLY different numbers between broad and exact. I'm thinking of just going for the main keyword, and the other searches (I'm guessing) will come from incidental long tail searches that I'm not necessarily aiming for.

[RyanKent]

Derek,

The key component you didn't mention is competitiveness. My decisions in this area are based primarily on competition for the term.

Using your example, if I can earn rank #1 for the longtail phrase "how to become a freelance writer" then I would expect on average 440 visits to my page. This figure is based on the stats 44% of searches choose the top search results. I also know I can improve upon the CTR with a solid page title and meta description so lets call it 500 visits.

If you go for the broad match, where will you rank? Can you even make page 1?

This particular example isn't ideal. The entire idea of long tail is you are focusing attention on a less competitive version of a keyword phrase, but in this case there are sites focusing this exact phrase. The overall point is you need to determine how much traffic your site will likely receive by using each method, along with how qualified that traffic is for your web page. Long tail search results are more focused and I would expect the bounce rate to be substantially lower then broad searches.

[TheARKlady]

Interesting, I am fairly new to the nuances of seo, although I have been doing seo writing for almost six years. I mostly work with small businesses and so look for seo competition and the current status of the optimization of those competing for the term and variations of it. My assessment is focused on lower numbers of traffic but targeted specific to the business and its offerings.

Long tail is what I work with almost exclusively. So, I look at the broad to phrase match results (percentages) and the existing competition first and toss quite a few terms in the process. Usually the exact numbers tend to be low but if you find the sweet spot, it helps a lot with organic.

I'd be interested in what some of the veteran seos have to share as I am currently pondering the same question for a new site that wants to go national.