What are Exact-Match Keywords? Learn SEO

Updated by Chima Mmeje — November 21, 2024.

In SEO, exact-match keywords, or, perfect-match keywords, refer to search results or content that perfectly match all of the keywords in the search query, exactly as entered into the SERP. Historically, exact match keywords are important for both organic and paid search and are a frequent topic of SEO debates. Implementing effective exact match keyword strategies can significantly boost click-through rates and reduce campaign costs.

Exact-match keywords originated from the Google AdWords keyword match type that allows you to advertise on a specific exact-match search.

Google defines exact-match keywords in terms of paid search:

“A keyword match type that allows you to show your ads on searches that have the same meaning or same intent as your keyword. Exact match gives you the most control over who sees your ad, but reaches fewer searches than both phrase and broad match.”

Google also now states that exact-match keywords allow you to “reach users who make the same searches as your keywords”, including:

• Misspellings
• Singular or plural forms
• Stemmings (for example, floor and flooring)
• Abbreviations
• Accents

Keyword matching has seen significant evolution over the years, with Google continuously refining its algorithms to enhance the relevance and accuracy of search results. One of the pivotal changes came in 2017 with the introduction of close variants. This update allowed exact match keywords to match with similar search queries, including common misspellings, singular and plural forms, and different word endings. This meant that even if a user made a slight error in their search query, they could still find relevant results.

In 2018, Google took this a step further by expanding the definition of close variants to include semantically similar search queries. This change allowed exact match keywords to match with search queries that have the same meaning but use different words. For instance, an exact match keyword like “running shoes” could now match with queries like “jogging sneakers” or “athletic footwear.” These updates have made exact match keywords more flexible and effective, ensuring that users find what they are looking for, even if their search terms vary slightly.

Keyword matching plays a crucial role in Google Ads, determining which ads are shown to users and how relevant they are to their search queries. By selecting the appropriate keyword match type, advertisers can significantly enhance the visibility of their ads, improve click-through rates, and drive more conversions. Exact match keywords, in particular, offer precise targeting, allowing advertisers to reach users who are searching for specific products or services.

Using exact match keywords can improve the efficiency of ad spend by reducing wasted clicks and increasing the return on investment. When ads are shown to users with a high intent to purchase, the likelihood of conversion is much higher. This precise targeting ensures that the ad budget is spent on reaching the most relevant audience, ultimately leading to better campaign performance and higher profitability.

Partial-match keywords or phrases are often mentioned in the same breath as exact-match. They simply refer to search results that match some part of the keywords in the search query, but not all of it (or in a different order).

An exact match keyword indicates that your target keyword exactly matches a search query, anchor text in a link, or. A partial match means that your keyword is included amongst other words in those elements. Exact and partial match keywords are often used in SEO, link building, and PPC, and while one type is not better or worse than the other, generally speaking, you’ll want to make sure you use the right match type to avoid Google penalties and astronomical AdWords costs. While organic and paid search strategies can assist each other, they are actually widely different. It’s important that you conduct the appropriate keyword research for each strategy, because your keywords will, and should differ. Understanding the various keyword matching options is crucial for optimizing your ad visibility and targeting the right audience.

Learn about how to choose the right keywords for your business and your organic SEO efforts with the Moz Keyword Research Certification.

Google Ads offers several keyword match types, each with its own set of advantages and limitations. Broad match keywords provide the widest reach, allowing ads to appear for a variety of user searches, even those that don’t contain the exact keyword. This match type is useful for capturing a large audience but can sometimes lead to irrelevant clicks.

Phrase match keywords offer more control, ensuring that ads are shown on searches that include the exact phrase or close variants. This type allows advertisers to target more specific queries while still reaching a broader audience than exact match.

Exact match keywords offer the highest level of control, displaying ads only for searches that exactly match the specified keyword. This match type is ideal for targeting highly specific queries and ensuring that ads are shown to users with a clear intent to find a particular product or service.

Negative keywords are another essential tool, allowing advertisers to exclude their ads from showing on searches that are not relevant to their business. By using negative keywords, advertisers can refine their targeting and avoid wasting ad spend on irrelevant clicks.

Finding relevant keywords is a critical step in creating effective Google Ads campaigns. Advertisers can leverage tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and SEMrush to identify high-converting keywords and phrases. Conducting thorough keyword research involves analyzing search volume, competition, and relevance to pinpoint the most effective keywords for the campaign.

In addition to identifying positive keywords, it’s essential to use negative keywords to exclude irrelevant searches. This practice helps improve the targeting of ads, ensuring they are shown to users who are more likely to convert. By refining the keyword list and focusing on the most relevant terms, advertisers can enhance the performance of their Google Ads campaigns and achieve better results.

A common mistake for beginners is not targeting the right match type. If you’ve chosen the wrong match type, your paid Google ad may be displayed to the wrong audience. When this happens, you could end up paying through the nose for traffic that won’t convert.

The phrase “exact match” is commonly used when targeting your ad to types of searches with Google AdWords. Exact match in AdWords means that you only want your ad to show up for a specific word or phrase, unlike a broad match keyword which can trigger your ad for a wider range of related terms. As mentioned previously, AdWords has updated how they treat keywords so that word order and “functional words” within a sentence—i.e. “and,” “or,” “but,” “then,” etc. — don’t matter. Also, the same keywords that are in a different sequence, with or without functional words, may still represent an “exact match.”

Other types of Google AdWords match types include broad match, which means your ad might show up for similar terms that Google considers relevant, which can include searches that don’t contain the keyword term. Broad match is the default match type that all your keywords are assigned to in Google AdWords. As well as phrase match, which means that you may show up for searches with your target keyword nestled inside a longer phrase. Phrase match allows you to show your ads on searches that include the meaning of your keyword, rather than an exact match of it. When you use phrase match, your ads get to the right users without the creation of an extensive list of keywords and phrases.

This type of fine-tuned control over how your content is dished up in AdWords doesn’t exist for SEOs who are targeting organic search results. Organic rankings are determined solely by Google’s algorithm and its ever-growing understanding of natural language and intent.

Using Google search functionalities, you can force exact match results by using quotation marks around your search query. If you want to understand more about how exact and partial match work in the wild, you can force Google to give you exact match organic results by using the quotation marks search operator.

In the below example, searching “how to change a bicycle chain”, with quotation marks, ensures that all results that show contain that exact phrase, including a YouTube video, as well as step-by-step instructions.

If the quotation marks are taken away, you end up with an array of results, mainly videos showing exactly how to replace a bicycle chain.

By performing some of these searches yourself, you can get a feel for how advanced Google’s algorithm is and just how well it understands user intent and synonyms to deliver results that fulfill the needs of the searcher.

Because of the various different ways people search, and Google’s ability to understand intent, your content can still rank well even if it only partially matches the exact query that was searched.

The best thing you can do to help your content rank for your keywords is to use your target keyword in your URL, title tags, meta descriptions, and other relevant places and create content that delves into the topic using synonyms, examples, and whatever else you need until you’re satisfied that you have the best content on the block.

Optimizing website content is crucial for improving the relevance and quality of Google Ads campaigns. Advertisers should ensure that their website content aligns with their target keywords, providing a clear and straightforward path to conversion. This alignment helps improve the user experience, increase conversion rates, and drive more sales.

In addition to keyword alignment, it’s essential to ensure that the website is mobile-friendly, fast, and secure. Mobile-friendliness ensures that users can easily navigate the site on their devices, while fast loading times reduce bounce rates and keep users engaged. Security is also vital, as it builds trust with users and can positively impact the performance of Google Ads campaigns. By optimizing website content and addressing these factors, advertisers can create a more effective and efficient advertising strategy.

"Exact match" can also refer to domain names. If the searcher types in "vegan supermarket" and you own vegansupermarket.co.uk, that is an exact match domain.

Your domain name is your brand—it's who you are when you're online. If you're thinking "should I have an exact match domain name?", think about whether this is the right brand for you and your business. If it just so happens that "vegan supermarket" encapsulates everything you want to be about, then go for it. If not, it may be worth investigating other domain name options.

Whether your exact match domain will help push you up in the rankings for that search query is questionable, but it certainly isn't as powerful a ranking signal as it once was. In fact, an exact match domain may even be penalized by Google! An update to their algorithm in 2012 was aimed at weeding out exact match domains from spammy websites from their search results. While there are still good examples of exact match domains that rank well, using an exact match domain can be a bit of a risky bet if done with the intention of stuffing in as many keywords as possible. For example, a company named "Bob's Furniture" would certainly want to own the bobsfurniture.com domain, but probably shouldn't be buying buycheapfurnituregoodfurniture.com. While both domains are technically an exact match, only one would be treated well by search engine algorithms. In conclusion, it seems that Google is ok with exact match domains, as long as your intention is true and you are not just trying to stuff your keywords in anywhere you can.

If a website page's target keyword is "vegan supermarket" and an external domain links to that page using "vegan supermarket" as the clickable text, the external site has linked using exact match anchor text. If they link to the same page with "check out this online vegan store" "order vegan food," or anything other than "vegan supermarket," it's considered partial match anchor text.

As you work hard to inform Google of how relevant your content is to your topic, it might be tempting to request other sites link to you with your target keyword in the anchor text. And in fact, in days gone by, exact match keywords in anchor text was one way to make that page appear more relevant to search engines.

However, overuse of this tactic was one factor that led to the Google Penguin algorithm update. These days, having a machine-like exact match anchor text profile can result in penalties to your site. While partial match anchor text may be less targeted, it can actually contribute more to whether a page ranks well because it sounds more natural and is a better representation of how humans actually speak (and search).

It's not uncommon for SEOs to check the backlink profile of a website to see if there are a lot of links with exact match anchor text that could be perceived to be gaming the results by Google and other search engines. You can check your anchor text in Moz's Link Explorer. If you've traditionally focused on exact match keywords and anchor text, there's no time like the present to consider partial matches instead. They could be to your advantage!

• The SEO Keyword Research Master Guide - Become a master with our guide to all things keyword research.

• Moz Academy’s Keyword Research Certification - Understand the fundamentals, gain a plethora of new knowledge, and level up your skills with this Moz certified coursework.

• What is Keyword Research?

• What Are Keywords?

Learn on the Moz Blog:

• Metrics for Better Keyword Research - Whiteboard Friday
• Diving for Pearls: A Guide to Long Tail Keywords - This is a super helpful resource for taking a deep dive into those long tail keywords that account for most of the traffic to a site.
• Long Tail SEO: When & How to Target Low-Volume Keywords - Learn why targeting keywords with a lower search volume is definitely well worth your time.
• Daily SEO Fix: Competitive Keyword Research - Understand how to get ahead of your competition in keyword research.
• Map Your Keywords to the Buyer's Journey and User Intent - Whiteboard Friday