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 to get started I’ll access the Keyword Research module and click the ‘Generate Keywords’ button.
Analyze Keywords
Now to explore these keywords in more detail, I’ll come down and click the ‘Analyze Keywords’ button.
SEOT Value
You’ll notice that the SEO Traffic value listed here for the phrase ‘trout fishing’ is currently 6213. Just to recap, this is the maximum clicks that the #1 ranked site in Google could potentially receive on a daily basis.
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 6,213.
Phrase Match
However, if I change the match type to ‘Phrase match’ the SEO traffic value drops to 4156.
Exact Match
And if I change the match type to ‘Exact match’ the SEO traffic value drops again to 456.
Now clearly there is a big difference between 6213 potential visitors a day and 456 potential visitors per day, 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 that 456 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 4156 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 6213 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 of 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
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?
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.