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
-
Publish an article for blog before the Keyword research
Hi, my first time in the community. my web site is pretty new and I'm focusing now on the Onsite SEO. I am using an outsourcing company that writing me content, and I want to start my blog and publish it. but, I didn't finish yet my Keyword research, is it useless from google perspective to publish it without any keywords? it can hurt my site if ill publish it without any keywords inside of the article? or it still can be good for my site ranking/power? thanks !!!
Keyword Research | | TalPard10 -
Google trends quota's limit?
Hi Mozers, I've a problem with Google trends tool : after 5 searches, I reach the "quota limit". Have you the same issue? Do you use other tools "similar" to Google trends? SEMrush,...? Thank you for answers Regards, Jonathan
Keyword Research | | JonathanLeplang0 -
Plural of exact domain name
Hello, I have the opportunity to buy the plural of an exact domain name in a niche I am interested. I would like to know if it helps to rank on the singular version of the keyword. To illustrate, is the domain cars.com good to rank for the word car? Or online datings for online dating? Thanks a lot.
Keyword Research | | EndeR-0 -
Where to start with keyword research for a telecom company?
Hey, I'm a brand's person with no SEO experience, yet I'm in a position where I have to carry out an SEO audit of our telecom company's website. Though our website is up and running for some years now, nobody bothered to undertake keyword research. From the little I've read over months on SEOmoz, I've just done the following: took out keywords bringing organic traffic on to our website and checked our rankings for those keywords on major search engines. My observation is that most of these words are long-tail keywords. Since we only have product/service information related to our offerings, most of the head terms we've used for packages/offers/services pages are branded keywords. My understanding is that we need to rank top for our branded keywords (a must) and try to rank as high as possible for long tail. In addition, we can use those keywords in our copy so that the right page ranks top for the respective keyword. Am I missing anything here? What else do I need to do?
Keyword Research | | HasanPK0 -
What came first the content or the keyword research?
So I've been searching high and low to try and answer this. I just cant seem to get this part down and i know its the most important part. I always run into the issue where i am building a e commerce or some other site and i have it all set up but no content. So i start doing keyword research. In which the market niche that i am working on now is really broad, so its really hard to research. I then end up getting frustrated because the competition for the words are really high. But back on track, i get frustrated and then kaboom! i don't get the results i want and i am back to square one and no content is made or nothing. So my webpage gets nothing. So i took a step back and wondered, should i make all the content first and then the keyword research and then go back and "revise" my website content with all my keywords that i a trying to target? Sounds like a dumb question but i just wanted feedback and input on how people do this and go forth with everything.
Keyword Research | | Dante130 -
What do you consider a good Global Exact Match for a key word?
The following article implies that 2,400 isn’t bad……Quote from second to last paragraph of #2: “The real problem comes when you choose to target a keyword like 'ladies leather handbags' which has a broad match search volume of 2,400 but an exact match search volume of only 260” http://www.seomoz.org/blog/6-keyword-research-mistakes-you-might-be-making I like to keep mine under 50% competitive. For one site which is in high competition market (as far I can see) has SEO irrelevant brand name domain, a primary key word at 51% with 2900 Global EM for page name with a secondary keyword at 44% and 590 GEM. Another site with primary domain and keyword at 50% and 1000 GEM with other keywords between 40% and 50% and GEM’s of 1300 (also a page title), 1900 (also page title), 1000 (also a page title), 2400, 5400, 14800 (niche I might work on later), 1000, 1900, 4400, 3600, 5400, 1600, 3600 (also a page title), 1300, 1000, 2900, 1300. SEO won’t be my only approach but within my competitive capability I think that’s the best I can get. So, wondering what your thoughts where on a good Global Exact Match?
Keyword Research | | Zoolander0 -
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