Broad match Vs Exact match

[Yozzer]

This may sound a little basic, but i'm going to ask anyway.

On Googles keyword tool Ive always used broad match, knowing that they are never 100% accurate, and obviously inflated by other SEO's searching for their keywords, but used it all the same to get an idea of global monthly searches and potential targeted traffic.

I have seen recently, on SEOmoz, and a post fromJill Whalen not long back, that unless you change the match to "Exact" your data is useless?

Could somebody explain why this is the case?

My initial thoughts were,  a search for SEO on broad shows 6,120,000 per month

Yet a search for the same keyword in exact match shows 673,000 per month.

I had presumed that the broad match would include "learn SEO"  "What is SEO" etc etc, where as 673,000 just search exactly for SEO. Is this correct?

3 points go to Richard Q&A answering animal dude Getz if he gets this first!

Thanks in advance

[Getz.pro]

LMAO!!

http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6100

This shows that your thinking was correct, so points to you also : )

[Yozzer]

Nice one Richard Take care Sean

[Dan-Petrovic]

For me using exact match is useful when managing expectations (yours and your clients') for that particular keyword / phrase only. On a broader research stage I may use phrase or broad. It's all useful in its own way.

[UPform5]

here you go: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=138311&nid=120085