The Exact Match Paradox

I get asked this question at least once a day:

"Why do you put so much emphasis on Exact Match numbers? Wouldn't real world results dictate broad phrase match? The average person searching online wouldn't use quotes around their search."

Answer:

Consider the following paragraph...

"I was walking to the bus stop yesterday and a big black dog was following me. So I took off my shoes and threw them at him to scare him away. "

With broad match that paragrah would show up in a search for:
black walking shoes Even though it has nothing to do with black walking shoes.

Now consider a website that has this paragraph:

"We have many different styles of black walking shoes."

That matches the broad match of keywords black and walking and shoes but it also matches the exact phrase of black walking shoes.

Everything else being equal Google will rank the page with the exact match to be more relevant for that particular search and therefore it will be higher in the results list WITHOUT the searcher enclosing the phrase in quotes.

You probably already know how obsessed Google is with showing relevant results? (And it should be! That's what keeps searchers coming back to Google for their search needs) Knowing that which of the following is more relevant to a search for: black walking shoes (no quotes)

1) I was walking to the bus stop yesterday and a big black dog was following me. So I took off my shoes and threw them at him to scare him away.

2) We have many different styles of black walking shoes.

Obviously #2 is more relevant and will get higher priority in the search engine ranking (all else being equal).

Showing Exact Match Counts in Micro Niche Finder is simply an easy way to show how much REAL competition there is for a specific term. It has nothing to do with the searcher using quotes around the phrase.


James