Broad Vs. Exact Match
-
My question seems basic in nature but some recent keyword research has caused me to re-think broad vs. exact match.
I was taught to focus on exact match for the short term and broad match for the long term prospects of a keyword. Today I was researching a niche of keyword phrases where the local search volume (broad) was, for example 33,000. The local search volume (exact) was only 500. What I know about broad vs. exact doesn't help me to determine if this keyword is worth going after. The keyword difficulty score by the way was 35%
Yes, I do know that I will probably go after this keyword anyway but to refine my question, how do I get an idea of how "big" this keyword is? Is it more on the broad or more on the exact match of things? How do I determine the various derivatives of the phrase that occur under the broad match?
-
If you're doing on-page SEO, you can't focus on broad match, you can only optimize for the exact keyword phrases you use on your site in H1 tags, titles, and all the rest.
You could try to find all the broad match synonyms and stuff them into your title and H1 etc etc but then you're diluting the SEO value for any given page by doing so. Best to focus on 1 or 2 keywords per page and optimize for that.
My suggestion is to take the large volume you get from broad matching, and find the exact phrasing that takes the lion share of that volume and go with that.
As Dan mentions you must be careful though... within a set of related keywords that broadly match a phrase, some keywords are at the beginning of the buyers funnel and others are at the end. Make sure your site is optimized to take people along that funnel. Don't only optimize for the biggest search phrases that only people not actually buying use.
-
Phrase search is when the keyword is surrounded by quotes "keyword example". The two keywords must be together such as "big keyword example" or "keyword example number two". But it can't be "keyword bad example".
-
Very attractive if:
Your site and what you offer is aligned with the intention and desires of the searcher.
It gets good CTR and converts.
I wouldn't worry about the low number - 500 well converting visits is way better than 50,000 poorly converting visits.
-Dan
BTW, what's phrase search volume?
-
I'm coming from the keyword research perspective. If a keyword has a search volume (exact) of say 20,000 and the search volume for broad match is only 500 is that keyword still as attractive (purely from an seo traffic perspective). Which do you focus on the broad or exact match?
-
I assume you're talking about PPC because broad vs exact match doesn't really make sense from an SEO perspective: you can only optimize a site for the exact phrasing you use on the site and hope SE's match it with broader phrases.
Whats striking is the large difference here between the broad and exact volume of searches.
- 33,000 for broad phrase is somewhere in the middle of the curve. Its not highly trafficked, but its nothing to sneeze at either.
- 500 for exact phrase match is very low.
The difference means that the exact phrase you chose isn't what most people are searching for, even though the topic is mid-sized volume wise. You'll want to try using keyword research tools to find the phrases people are using for this topic.
In terms of getting an idea of how big the keyword is, compare it to others that you've had success with. Its all very relative because some companies will have an easy time capturing large popular keywords that a company with a smaller budget couldn't touch,
There was a trick in the Geddes adwords book that talked about finding related keywords and I can't for the life of me remember his tactic. It had to do with using operators in regular searches. Anyone remember that?
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
-
Webmaster Rankings vs. Moz Rankings
Hello all. For quite some time, both Moz & Ahrefs have indicated to me that I am in first position for several keywords. However, when I go into my Google Webmaster Tools, it says that I am in 7th or 8th position. Any idea why there is such a discrepancy?
Keyword Research | | smithcorona0 -
Can using an exact sentence from your content as meta description hurt?
Hi Mozzers! I'm uploading some press releases and the first sentence makes a perfect meta description. Would using the exact same wording ever hurt my rankings? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | Travis-W0 -
Keyword Research Local vs Organic
I am curious what tact people take when doing KWR for a local business where regional keywords are important, for example 'Dallas Family Dentist' vs just 'Family Dentist'? It can be challenging to consistently create content for these regional keywords without looking spammy or akward in the wording of titles and copy. Any advice on how you approach SEO research or content creation when these regional words are important?
Keyword Research | | AESEO0 -
What's the difference between broad and exact match in Google's keyword research tool?
The exact match option shows you much smaller numbers. And Google's explanation of each isn't comprehensive. Can someone explain the difference between the two with examples? Also, which one is it better to target while doing SEO research?
Keyword Research | | davhad0 -
Plural vs singular keyword usage - on-page optimization
The on-page report card appears to include both plural and singular versions of keywords in reporting the keywords within the body, which results in a keyword stuffing warning. My question is, is it truly keyword spamming to use over 15 instances of a keyword that is spread across plural and singular versions of the keyword? If keywords are lumped together this way by Google's algorithms, why do pages rank differently for singular and plural versions of the same keyword?
Keyword Research | | nathan_lg0 -
Thoughts on exact match domains to keywords? If your domain isn't an exact match, do you recommend buying another domain and getting a 301 redirect?
Thoughts on exact match domains to keywords? If your domain isn't an exact match, do you recommend buying another domain and getting a 301 redirect?
Keyword Research | | Kflo0 -
How to target very broad, umbrella keywords on the homepage
Hey there SEO Mozzers, I'm new to the SEO Moz community and would genuinely appreicate any advice/input on this topic. I'm part of the online marketing team for a UK-based site called Tendea.co.uk. We operate an introductory platform for enabling the connection between parents and families seeking care services (childcare, pet care, senior care, home & garden care, etc.) and individuals providing care services (babysitters, nannies, pet sitters, housekeepers, etc.). To take a US site for comparison, the services are very similar to those offered by Care.com I'm currently having a bit of difficulty as to what very broad, umbrella keywords we should be targeting for the homepage, primarily in the meta title/description. We've started with keywords such as "care, family services, care services, and family care", but I think these terms are almost too generic and aren't necessarily terms we really want to be ranking for. I suggested to our in-house SEO team that we just target some of our strongest keywords from each of the individual care categories for the homepage (babysitter, pet sitter, housekeeper, caregiver, etc.). They were against this idea, though, as we have separate subfolders that target the individual care categories and their specific keywords (tendea.co.uk/childcare, /pet-care, /elderly-care, etc.) Essentially the argeument is that we don't want to be targeting these terms on the homepage and on a separate subfolder page, as then the two pages would be competing for each other's keywords. Instead we're being encouraged to find some sort of umbrella terms to target for the home page that can encompass all of the care categories. For comparison's sake, I took a look at Care.com's meta data and it targets all their specific keywords for the various care categories "Babysitters, nannies, Child Care & Senior Home care - Care.com". Is this the right kind of strategy to take, or do you guys have any suggestions for much broader, umbrella keywords to target on our homepage? Thanks in advance for your input! -Mike
Keyword Research | | Tendea0