Understanding Match Type Data
Video Transcript
In this lesson we’ll be exploring the concepts of 'exact match', 'phrase match', and 'broad match' data in Market Samurai.
Specifically we’ll be looking at:
- The difference between exact, phrase and broad match data
- Why we use broad match data as a default for SEO traffic
- How to use the match type settings in Market Samurai as a crystal ball to look into your business future
Setting Up an Example
Let’s begin by taking a look at Market Samurai so that you know exactly what I’m going to be talking about.
I’ll just set up a quick example using the term ‘trout fishing’...
Access Keyword Research Module
...and to get started I’ll access the Keyword Research module
Generate Keywords
...and click the ‘Generate Keywords’ button.
In just a few minutes, I'll have a list of keyword suggestions.
Analyze Keywords
Now to explore these keywords in more detail, I’ll come down and click the ‘Analyze Keywords’ button.
Keyword Analysis screen
I can already see the information we'll be focusing on here, so for this demonstration I won't need to click the 'Analyze Keywords' button to collect additional data.
SEOT Value
You’ll notice that the SEO Traffic value listed here (1) for the phrase ‘trout fishing’. Just to recap, this is the maximum clicks that the #1 ranked site in Google could potentially receive over the period you've selected in the dropdown here (2)
Match Type Dropdown
The focus of this lesson is this dropdown box over here which specifies ‘Match Type’.
Match Type Options
You’ll notice that the drop down box contains three different options:
(1) Broad match
(2) Phrase match
(3) Exact match
The default option is broad match, so with broad match selected, the SEO traffic value associated with the phrase ‘trout fishing’ is the one we're seeing now.
Phrase Match
However, if I change the match type to ‘Phrase match’ (1) the SEO traffic value drops (2).
Exact Match
And if I change the match type to ‘Exact match’ the SEO traffic value drops again.
Now clearly there is a big difference between these three values, so lets take a look at what these numbers actually mean.
Exact Match Definition
Let's start with the exact match type.
With the match type set to ‘exact match’, the SEO traffic figure relates to how many people are typing in the exact term ‘trout fishing’ into Google and then clicking through to visit the number one ranked site in the search results.
Exact Match in Market Samurai
In this example with my match type set to ‘exact’, I can see how many people per day are typing the exact phrase ‘trout fishing’ into Google and then choosing to visit the top ranked website.
Phrase Match Definition
Now let’s consider what happens when we set the match type to ‘Phrase Match’
When we set the match type to ‘phrase match’, the SEO traffic figure now relates to how many people are searching for a phrase containing the words ‘trout' and 'fishing’ is this specific word order. For example this would include people searching for phrases such as:
trout fishing OR
trout fishing tips OR
rods for trout fishing OR
New Zealand trout fishing vacations
and many other variations.
Phrase Match in Market Samurai
So in this example when I set my match type to ‘phrase match’ I can see that considerably more people per day are searching for a phrase that contains the words ‘trout fishing’ in that order along with some other keywords.
Broad Match Definition
And finally let’s take a look at the broad match type.
This time the SEO traffic figure relates to how many people are searching for a phrase containing the words ‘trout’ and ‘fishing’ in any word order along with additional words. This would include phrases such as:
trout fishing OR
trout fishing tips OR
fly fishing for trout OR
fishing for trout from a boat
and many other variations.
This time, the two words ‘trout’ and ‘fishing’ do not have to be in the right order.
Broad Match in Market Samurai
So with match type set to ‘broad’, I can see that quite a few people per day are searching for a phrase that contains the words trout and fishing in any order along with other keywords.
Understanding the Development of Ranking
Now you may be wondering why Market Samurai uses the broad match value as a default.
In order to understand this we need to take a quick look at how Google rankings develop over time.
When you first create a website and let Google know about it, Google sends out an automated bot called a Google bot or spider to examine your website.
Google Bot Ranking
The Google bot examines the content on your page and the number and type of links that point to your site and then ranks your site for particular keyword phrases that it sees as relevant.
Ranking Updates
Let’s imagine that you continue to add good quality content to your website and manage to obtain links from a few websites.
The next time the Google bot visits your site, it will repeat its analysis and give you a new rank for particular keyword phrases.
Rankings Evolve Over Time
The important thing to understand here is that you achieve different rankings over time as your site grows and develops more authority.
You usually start with exact match rankings.Then as you add content and obtain links you obtain phrase match rankings. And finally as your site develops more authority you obtain broad match rankings.
Market Samurai as a Crystal Ball
Coming back to Market Samurai, what this means is that the match type provides us with a way to look into the future almost as though we had a crystal ball.
For example, if I set the match type to exact, I get an estimate of the traffic I would receive if I obtained a top ranking for the specific keyword ‘trout fishing’.
I can then look further into the future by setting the match type to phrase match. This gives me an estimate of the traffic I could receive if my site develops sufficient authority to obtain rankings for phrases related to trout fishing.
And finally I can set the match type to broad match to obtain an insight into the amount of traffic I might obtain in the long term if I was able to obtain a top ranking in the broad match search results for this keyword.
Interpreting Match Type Data
So another way to think of the different match types is that:
exact match = short term traffic potential
phrase match = medium term traffic potential
broad match = long term traffic potential
The reason that we use broad match as a default is because most people use this information to assess the feasibility of creating a business in a particular niche.
When you are trying to decide whether or not a particular niche is worth targeting, the most relevant traffic factor is the long term traffic potential of the keywords you are exploring.
By assessing the long term traffic potential in conjunction with other factors such as commerciality, you can then decide whether or not it is worth putting in the time and effort necessary to move forward with your business idea.
Summary
So let’s just quickly recap what we’ve covered in this video:
We’ve seen that exact match data relates to how many people are searching for a specific keyword phrase such as ‘trout fishing’.
Phrase match data on the other hand relates to how many people are searching for a keyword phrase in a specific order that may be included with other keywords. Some examples were ‘trout fishing’ or ‘trout fishing tips’.
Also we saw that broad match data relates to how many people are searching for keywords in any order that may be included with other keywords, such as ‘trout fishing’, ‘trout fishing tips’, ‘rods for trout fishing’, ‘fishing lures for trout’, ‘fly fishing for trout’ and many others.
We then saw that we can use the different match types much like a crystal ball to look into our business future and assess the short term, medium term and long term traffic potential of our keywords.
And finally we saw that Market Samurai uses broad match data as a default when calculating SEO traffic values because this gives us the most useful information for assessing the long term viability of an online business.
Search
More Keyword Research Lessons
- Introduction to Keyword Research
- Golden Rule #1: How to Find Relevant Keywords
- Golden Rule #2: How to Find High Traffic Keywords
- Golden Rule #3: How to Assess Market Competition
- Golden Rule #4: How to Assess Commerciality
- Golden Rules Case Study
- Finding Long Tail Keywords
- Understanding Match Type Data
- How to Avoid Targeting the Wrong Keywords
- How to add your Google Adwords account details into Market Samurai
- How to Signup for a Google Adwords Account
- How to Use Preset Filters
Thank you thank you thank you.
This is the only thing on the whole wide internet that explains the difference between exact, phrase, and broad clearly and more importantly WHY we should care.
I've been racking my brain around this for months and the good doctor cured me of my headache.
Thanks.
Hi, are your products working for sites in german? Does something work with special databases which only provide english words? I had this problems with some other products, so I am curios about that.
Regards, Pete
Thank You! I think I'm finally getting it.
DUDE!! I think I love you! Like Kathy said...
I'm finally getting the "Pay Attention" and "Read Between The Lines" kind of stuff that turns out to be VITAL, but what most new marketers (namely me) still miss!
And like Tim said... "Thank you Thank you Thank you"!!
Gary.
Dear Dr. F.
I am positive that I\'m not alone when I say that you have the best bedside manner when it comes to explaining search criteria. I was an early adopter of MS, and was extremely pleased with my small investment. NOW I\'m over-the-top satisfied with all the modules AND training that comes with this software. Thank You for the clarity you bring.
I have to agree with everyone else. Also an early adopter, and just 'did it' ie. SEOT more than 80 etc but kept having this nagging feeling that I need to know WHY!
Market Samurai & 30DC said Trust Me and we did, but this is so good.
After each of your sessions I just feel 'I get it'. I really get it.
Thank you :)
Really clear Anthony.
It's amazing how jargon gets spread around without any real understanding by the general public on what's being said.
The best part for me was the WHY to care about exact, phrase and broad.
http://www.onesherpa.com
wow,
thanks for that clear- crystal clear explanation of the difference between these 3 search types..
finally understood it..
Eureka!!! Finally I've got the best answer. Thanks doctor, this is sure recip for newbie.
I never fully understood the differences but the method you used to explain it, made me finally understand the concept. I am now in a better position to better utilize MS. Thank you once again - please, keep them coming.
Hi Anthony,
thanks for this lesson. Like always great to watch and easy to understand. It is the first time the mystery about match type data has been lifted for me.
http://tattoomeguide.com
Hi guys,
Thanks for clearning this up, it makes a huge difference in understanding exactly what the difference is and the reason why MS is set at broad match.
Thanks again
Jeff
p.s great meeting some of you guys in Manchester
About broad match. Do you mean that as our site grows more then in the end it will get ranked for broad match and phrase match?
Informative I had no idea. Thank you for the help. I have so much to learn.
I'm with Tim on his comment .. al the way .. and if you really DO want to go trout fishing in New Zealand, come on down we could use the money!!
Thanks again for another informative explanation - now I know the relevance of phrase matching in Market Samurai to gain an advantage. Keep them coming!
@Pete
RE: Keyword Research in German
Keyword Research module and SEO Competition module currently work well in German provided you set the project language to German.
We are currently working on improving the other modules for languages other than English.
Thanks Anthony. Your clarity is great!
Thanks again for the information on match type data. Now I am getting better off in understanding keywords. Keep more coming:-)
As an ex-teacher, I must say that it is a pleasure to "attend" your lessons. You have such a knack for teaching and bringinging the concepts to an understandable granularity. You construct your lessons from the general to specific, from known to unknown. I can only say that we, your audience, will only be better IMs because of you. You are awesome! Thank you.
Oh my goodness! Lights switching on. Thanks so much.
WHY did everyone else assume I understood all this before? And thanks everyone else here for letting me know I'm not the only one who was puzzled by this!
I echo Boris's question, 'will traffic "get better" over time, so don't be too discouraged in the early days?' (I don't suppose anyone would like to suggest a time frame..... please?)
Thanks again for these videos, they're helping me so much.
So that would mean that for market research you would use broad match but for actual SEO we should focus on exact match. Right?
So that would mean that for market research you would use broad match but for actual SEO we should focus on exact match. Right?
I've just watched every video training you posted and I echo what the other comments are saying. Your clarity and explanations using metaphor are exactly what I have been looking for. Lightbulbs switching on and details becoming clearer as I type.
Dennis
http://www.youtube.com/videotipsmarketing
Very nicely put together - actually the quality of the dojo was the deciding factor in my purchase of Market Samurai!
just a thought - is it possible to determine, as a site ages & gains authority, which 'google-phase' its actually in, as there seems to be an ideal natural progression from 'exact' thru 'phrase' to 'broad' matches as time passes. This would be an excellent measure of progress. Could this be determined from google analytics for example?
Another great video! Buying Market Samurai is one of the best decisions of my life. I love the tutorials that come with it as well. You guys are really good at explaining things. Thank you so much. :)
Great explanation of the different match types!
It was great to learn how to forecast whether I should go into a particular niche or not and how development may progress as I move forward. Also I now understand more exactly what people may be searching for on the search engines.
Finally, after almost a year of struggling with keywords, etc... someone is taking the time to explain it carefully and precisely. I am a newbie to Market Samurai but with this tool I will soon be ahead of the game. Thanks.
Thank you for making this video. There are so many things you can do with market samurai and for a newbie it can be very overwhelming. Watching this video along with all of the other ones has cleared up a lot of fog and I look forward to being more efficient with my use of this software.
I see more and more how invaluble Market Samurai is.
So to add to this article. You want to include semantic (related) phrases on your SERP pages. This is the true way you will have access to the broad search numbers when your site gains good PR.
An easy way to do this is use the google keywords tool and check the related phrases under your original seed word and then try and include some of those words on your page. Or just think of other words people might be searching for that use your seed word. It may take longer to write the articles but in the end it will be worth it becasue you will get the broad traffic once your get the links and PR.
Knew about this concept, but again the simple and clear way you explain makes it easy for anyone to understand and better apply.
thanks for clearing this up, I was really wondering about this recently since some had big differences between exact and broad and I was wondering why MS would put broad as default...!
Alright, so the match types. 1st note, this is all pulled from the google adwords tool. The creation of the broad match type has nothing to do with seo what so ever. The creation of the algorithm for the broad match type was built elusively for ppc for the adwords program. All do respect to market samurai, but the concept of pulling the overall traffic for a broad match on any keyword will not happen by simply targeting the one single keyword. The reason why is because although your broad match ad placement in ppc might be placed for mixed variations, singular, plural, opposite, and other mix arrangement of the original keyword. However the search engine will display different results for singular or plural keywords, and if you are not targeting both in terms of the keyword density and anchor text to the links on your site you will not rank. Theoretically a large broad match keyword could contain the overall traffic to thousands of longer tail keyword variations, and each variation Google will interpret differently. In short, for SEO you dont need the phrase match or the broad, just pay attention to the exact match traffic values. If you want to get shady and sell SEO off of phrase traffic and broad traffic it certainly makes it easier, but i am only posting this so you know the difference. Broad, Phrase, and Exact match in market samurai are pulled from a PPC Adwords keyword tool created by Google and Broad and Phrase are exclusively for the research of PPC words because the placement of the ads are dependent on those algorithm.. anyone knows in SEO that each keyword is interpreted and ranked individually and as long as this is the case the only traffic stat you should be looking at is exact.
These are the most amazing, detailed, understandable trainings I have ever seen. What an amazing organized brain you have! Thank you a million times.
I have noticed how many internet marketers compare the latest producsts to market samurai, you have set the standards in both training and tools
I wish we could replace our government with you guys. I have been trying to decide whether I should focus on broad, phrase or exact match, I should have come to your site first.
Keep up the good work.
Great video. I have been wondering what the difference between exact match, Phrase Match and Broad Match. You explained it very well.
Thanks!
Thanks so much for this series. I'm completing rethinking my approach to keyword research. Your explanation of match types is the best I've ever read. I had no idea why this concept is so important until now.
I agree and disagree on this......
Exact Match is the closest match to all estimated traffic on the sites I rank #1 for and I think potentially with a very large authority site you could get to phrase match numbers ora % of them, but there is very little likelyhood in my opinion that you could rank for all the broad match derivatives. Its like saying you are going to rank for all those terms one day when thats simply not possible. There are thousands of other sites that will outrank you and you cannot optimize for all derivatives.
Ive tried them all and the only relevant one is Exact - If you get more than the exact estimate thats a bonus but make your business plan around Exact or you will be dissapointed....
Manny
very well done, your videos are the clearest I've ever seen, your method of giving information is fantastic and the software is brilliant.
your a real noble,
thank you sir.
Thank you very much Paul ! your comment was very helpful
Hello . Dealing with the Affiliate marketing using Google Adwords platform what is a best way to apply match type from perspective of "Market Samurai"and what exactly match type should I be applying if on Google Adwords I primarily using an "exact match" keywords to get most targeted traffic to my website ? Should I use "exact Match" in MS as well ? Thank you
I just recently came across Market Samurai and have downloaded the free trial and started watching the tutorials. They are so clear and really easy to understand. Just wanted to say thanks for putting in so much effort to really clarify all the features in the software! Great effort!
This was a very informative video--finally, match type starts to make some sense!
Thank you. I have been trying to learn about marketing online and keyword research from other coaches, but so far you are the best in layman's terms in providing excellent tuition not only on how to use Market Samurai but in general.
I am setting up an affiliate website so hopefully now I can try a different approach. I look forward to view your next lesson.
Hi Anthony & the MS crew,
Over the years I have always followed your tutorials (on the whole they are excellent! THANK YOU!) and as I remember it was likely this one above that gave me my first full understanding of the difference between broad, phrase and exact match keywords/phrases.
However, I recently noticed your discription of BROAD MATCH could be more than a little misleading, especially when bearing in mind the data in Market Samurai is pulled from the adwords keyword tool.
This is the official line from Google:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6100
So from that I am now led to believe that broad match actually includes a far wider variety of phrases than those you initially state in the tutorial above, and in turn that would mean all broad match search volume figures in Market Samurai reasearch module are over inflated compared to what we have been led to believe from the tutorial above.
Am I correct or have I missed something?
According to Google, a broad match doesn't even have to include all the words of the entered phrase, it would appear just one is enough..
For example, in your Trout Fishing broad match example above you state:
"This time the SEO traffic figure relates to how many people are searching for a phrase containing the words ‘trout’ and ‘fishing’ in any word order along with additional words."
and you go on to give examples of terms that have to contain both words, when in reality according to Google a match would also be found when just a single one of them is used..
..meaning phrases such as "Trout swimming in the water" or "i love trout" would also give a broad match simply for the word "trout"
Personally I generally rely on Exact Match search volume for most applications, so its no big deal to me, but it would certainly be great to get some clarification on the issue.
Regards,
Graham - a long time Market Samurai user.
Great, should have watched this video earlier, I\'ve just built 2 sites with broad match search terms, only now i check the exact and my terms get next to no traffic at all.
So now I\'m going to scrap the projects and start again as there is no way i can rank for broad terms when the site is brand new is there!!!
thanks! I finally understand the three matchs.The point of short term traffic potential
phrase match = medium term traffic potential
broad match = long term traffic potential are very wonderful.
Awesome info, so glad I found The Challenge, so I'm not wasting my time starting up my business. Thanks for all the great info here!