Niche Research: Broad Match V.S. Exact Match
-
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 ... ?
-
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.
-
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
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Amazon Keyword Research Tools - Suggestions Please
Hi guys, I'm in need of a reliable keyword research tool for Amazon and Walmart. Is anyone able to recommend a good tool? Free or Paid is welcomed. I've found KeywordTool.io/Amazon and MerchantWords but am struggling to find anything else to compare. I'd love to know your experience with these or any other tools you've used in the past. Thanks in advance 🙂
Keyword Research | | daniel-brooks2 -
Which is more important - exact match on two pages with slightly similar content or completely unique content but no exact match?
I want to rank for two terms - one is the abbreviation and one is the actual phrase (think UX and user experience). Is it better to create two separate pages to benefit from the exact match keyword (given that the content is 51% unique) or should I work both the acronym and the phrase into one page? If I made the two pages, I could get in a lot more longtail keywords, however it's my belief that I should make one really robust page to ensure all possible link equity and user signals aren't split. Is this a valid argument or does the power of exact match keywords override the need for user signals?
Keyword Research | | DigitalMarketingSEO0 -
Termexplorer good tool for keyword research or not?
Hi Mozzer, Did you have tested the "Term Explorer" tool for the keyword research? Is it a good tool? Can we trust the results? Thank you for your help. Regards, Jonathan
Keyword Research | | JonathanLeplang0 -
Question about Google Keyword "match type."
When using google keyword tool what type of match type do you find most helpful? broad, exact match, phrase? I know they all have their own benefits, but if you just want to test out which term gets more searches I'm not sure what the difference is between the exact match and phrase. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | NoahsDad0 -
How should i see exact search volume of keywords
One of the seo company provide me the 2 keywords which have a 5400 exact searches per month but when i see this on google adword tool i didn't find 5400. it is only showing around 500-1000 exact searches, so how they are calculating these exact searches.. Here i am posting my screenshot please check - http://i46.tinypic.com/ezs7b.jpg
Keyword Research | | xplodeguru0 -
Strong Keywords with Zero Returns in Google's Traffic Estimator
Hi: I have a dilemma and have not been able to find a good answer anywhere - and I have looked. 🙂 Gather up a bunch of keywords from Google's Keyword Tool that have tens of thousands of queries per month for local and global. When I plug the same keywords into Google's Traffic Estimator, even with a high bid (over $2) and a high daily budget ($50-100), I get all zeros returned from Traffic Estimator for columns Estimated Average CPC; Estimator Ad Position; Estimated Daily Budget, etc. Can someone please explain why this is the case? Is it because the keywords themselves, despite in some cases having hundreds of thousands of monthly searches, are low competition and therefore have no real value in Adwords? Thanks for your input and views, Phil
Keyword Research | | holdtheonion0 -
Keyword Research: Does Google view the word "and" as an "or" statement
I'm doing keyword research and one of the terms I have found that work for my website are "exercise and vitamins". One of my colleagues told me that Google views searches that contain the word "and" as an "or" statement (i.e., the searcher is looking for either "excercise" or "vitamins"). My understanding of the word "and" is that it is a stop word, which is ignored by Google. Which is correct?
Keyword Research | | EricVallee340