Search Terms WITH QUOTES versus WITHOUT QUOTES

[bryan muehlberger]

This is driving me crazy. Why does Google's search results vary so much between a search term with quotes versus one without quotes? For example, I am trying to optimize for the term "online fitness videos". If I search google for that keyword with the quotes, my site (www.demandsports.com) is ranked Top 11. If I leave the quotes off, I am not even in the Top 1000. If I search on "online fitness classes" with the quotes, I am ranked Top 7!! However, again, if I leave the quotes off, I don't even rank in the Top 1000. Why is this? Do most people search with or without quotes??

[evilgreenmonkey]

When putting a search term in quotes, you're searching for that exact phrase on a site. Removing the quotes gives weight to pages with the exact phrase, but also includes other pages where the words appear somewhere in the content.

You're ranking #11 for ["online fitness videos"] because not so many sites have this exact phrase on their pages, yours happens to be one of the best linked/optimised out of the few sites competing for the term. The term [online fitness videos] is a lot more competitive, and strong trusted sites which simply include the 3 words somewhere on their pages will often rank above weaker pages which have the exact term.

[rainborick]

(I deleted my original post because I need to check to see if my information is still correct)