Google Keyword Tool Difference between Broad and [Exact]

For example
[Dog Collars]
and
Dog Collars

Which one are people searching for when they search dog collars in google? Does anyone have a detailed explanation for this and an exact match domain if you were to have dogcollars.com.

Broad is:
blue dog collars
dog collars in texas
small dog collars
big dog collars
etc
etc

Exact is
Dog collars

that's it. Never use broad.

[dog collars] is considered the exact search. these are the results for someone who only types in:
dog collars

dog collars (without brackets) is called the broad search. The number of searches for this includes:
dog collars
dog collars that are blue
dog collars made of leathers
etc.

the exact search # is usually more accurate to use to estimate trafficc because your site might not always target all the longtail versions of the result that are included in the broad search results.

There is no reason to use broad. Broad just means that the phrase is part of a longer tail keyword.

The broad match type is being used for PPC (pay per click) advertising through Google Adwords and other platforms. Adwords provides the option to target Exact keywords, Phrase, Broad (and Modified Broad). As a PPC account manager, you sometimes don't want to target just the Exact keyword, because targeting other variations of the KW (synanoms, plural, singular, mispelling, long tails etc) you did not think of, can generate more impressions for you, more clicks, and hopefuly more revenue. Of course, Broad match has it's downside: Google loves money, and many times your PPC ads are shown for Broad matches which are less relevant to your keywords... and can increase costs, while not always bringing the desired ROI.
So, when doing a KW research not for running Adwords campaigns, you shuld probably only look on the Exact match. Remmeber that Google Keyword Tool was built mostly for Adwords advertisers and this is why you can see the Broad match and Phrase match as well, although they are pretty much useless for you.

They're right. But I'd just add on that for especially for long tails, ESPECIALLY I say again, haha, always use exact no matter what. Only this way its more accurate how many people are ezactly searching for the long tail keyword you're ranking for. If you're aimingfor like one keyword or two, and if you are very good at seo, broad is okay cuz most probably if you can rank for the one keyword term, you will also rank for a lot more other long tails. Still, it's still not advisable, so best to stick to ecact, or use phrase for the one two words keywords if you want to know your maximum traffic potential from the keyword

Been wondering the same thing, so now I guess I'll be using exact searches from now on! I thought I found a 100,000+ searches/month keyword but nvm lol

I found this out the hard way when i first started when researching keywords. Those monthly global searches sure dropped like a stone lol.

k4fk4f said:

The broad match type is being used for PPC (pay per click) advertising through Google Adwords and other platforms. Adwords provides the option to target Exact keywords, Phrase, Broad (and Modified Broad). As a PPC account manager, you sometimes don't want to target just the Exact keyword, because targeting other variations of the KW (synanoms, plural, singular, mispelling, long tails etc) you did not think of, can generate more impressions for you, more clicks, and hopefuly more revenue. Of course, Broad match has it's downside: Google loves money, and many times your PPC ads are shown for Broad matches which are less relevant to your keywords... and can increase costs, while not always bringing the desired ROI.
So, when doing a KW research not for running Adwords campaigns, you shuld probably only look on the Exact match. Remmeber that Google Keyword Tool was built mostly for Adwords advertisers and this is why you can see the Broad match and Phrase match as well, although they are pretty much useless for you.

Click to expand...

Are you saying that checking the phrase box when using the keyword tool is useless? If so why would it be useless? Not trying to be a smartass just alittle confused.

To clear some confusion:

1. Exact match tells you how many users are searching for that exact keyterm, this is what matters for SEO, sometimes is good to look at broad too, if broad has a lot of searches, even if exact as few, usually by targeting just the exact match you will benefit for other correlated keyterms, abstract example

exact []

car wash - local monthly (always use local) 10,000
[car wash] - local monthly - 600

by SEOing your way to the top with car wash, you propbably gonnar rank also for stuff like car wash in bikini, thats because the difference btw broad and exact is very broad, when the difference between broad and exact is slim, you probably looking at a long tail kw, you ain't gonna rank for much more then the specific keyword you seod

regarding monetizing, use both CPC values to get a sense of it.... lost will to explain more...

bottom line: use exact search local, use broad to look at CPC value. 1st place on google for exact search means around 50% unique visits. 2nd drops to 15%, 2nd page top is 1.5%.

Best Regards