Exact Match & Phrase Match

Hi,

I have 2 keyword queries hope someone can answer

1. What i have seen here in the forum is that the normal practice is to consider EXACT match searches. What if the EXACT match searches are low and at the same time PHRASE match searches for the same keyword are too high. Is it worth going for?

e.g.

KW "red shirts" EXACT searches = 400
KW "red shirts" PHRASE searches = 4000


2. If there are 2 keywords "red shirts" & "cheap red shirts" if i do anchor text backlinking for "cheap red shirts" will i be able to rank better for the keyword "red shirts" as keyword "cheap red shirts" also contain "red shirts" in it?

Many Thanks

1. Couldn't say as I don't really do my KW research like that.

2. Yes if you do it correctly. Use both the phrase "red shirts" by itself and also coupled with "cheap" for "cheap red shirts" in your content as well as using the longer "cheap red shirts" in your URL/title; I would then, again, use both "red shirts" by itself and "cheap red shirts" in your meta description. And, as you said, use both the anchor texts alternating when building backlinks and you should be able to rank for both of the terms that way without really having to do any/much extra work.

Can you share your kw research method?

Thanks