Confused about keyword research: search engine results, and pages with high PR

lapis lazuli · 08-30-2009, 10:32 PM

I'm fairly new to MMO -- I just started at the end of June. I've been trying to read everything I can get my hands on, but the more I read, the more questions I have.

Let's say I want to go after a low competition keyword phrase with a decent CPC. While there are keywords with high search volume that are low competition, let's just assume for the time being that I would need to focus on keyword phrases with a search volume below 1000 or so. I'm not saying this is the best way to go about things, it's just for the sake of example.

In any case, let's say I find the keyword "best credit card balance transfer". It has a CPC of about $16 and a search volume of 480, so it seems like it might be an okay choice.

If I search for this keyword in Google, none of the top 10 results have this keyword phrase -- unbroken -- in their title, URL, content, H1 tags, et cetera. But the top pages are a PR 6, 5, and 4 in that order. The result shows 1,120,000 pages containing this term.

If I put this keyword phrase in quotations, PR 3s are at the top, and there are 9,060 results for this keyword.

So here are my questions:

1. Does it matter if the top sites have high PR if they do not optimize for that specific keyword phrase? In other words, if I were to create website using that exact keyword phrase in the title, URL, relevant content, et cetera, could I rank above that high PR site with few -- or even no -- backlinks?

2. Which results matter the most: 1,120,000 or 9,060? In other words, should I be more concerned about the number of results that are returned for my keyword phrase with quotations, or without? Or should I be concerned about both?

3. Is a keyword phrase considered low competition primarily if the top 5 sites are PR0s or PR1s? Or can a keyword phrase be considered low-competition if PR4+ results appear in the top 5, but they have not optimized for that keyword phrase?

If anyone can shine some light on these issues, it would be highly appreciated.

dburk · 08-31-2009, 02:11 AM

Hi lapis,

You are focusing way too much on PR. PageRank has very little influence on search engine rankings.

The only thing you need to do is optimize and promote your web pages better than those on the first page or two of SERP.

The first rule of SEO is the search engines don't rank websites, they rank pages.

08-30-2009, 10:32 PM	#1
lapis lazuli Warrior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Confused about keyword research: search engine results, and pages with high PR I'm fairly new to MMO -- I just started at the end of June. I've been trying to read everything I can get my hands on, but the more I read, the more questions I have. Let's say I want to go after a low competition keyword phrase with a decent CPC. While there are keywords with high search volume that are low competition, let's just assume for the time being that I would need to focus on keyword phrases with a search volume below 1000 or so. I'm not saying this is the best way to go about things, it's just for the sake of example. In any case, let's say I find the keyword "best credit card balance transfer". It has a CPC of about $16 and a search volume of 480, so it seems like it might be an okay choice. If I search for this keyword in Google, none of the top 10 results have this keyword phrase -- unbroken -- in their title, URL, content, H1 tags, et cetera. But the top pages are a PR 6, 5, and 4 in that order. The result shows 1,120,000 pages containing this term. If I put this keyword phrase in quotations, PR 3s are at the top, and there are 9,060 results for this keyword. So here are my questions: 1. Does it matter if the top sites have high PR if they do not optimize for that specific keyword phrase? In other words, if I were to create website using that exact keyword phrase in the title, URL, relevant content, et cetera, could I rank above that high PR site with few -- or even no -- backlinks? 2. Which results matter the most: 1,120,000 or 9,060? In other words, should I be more concerned about the number of results that are returned for my keyword phrase with quotations, or without? Or should I be concerned about both? 3. Is a keyword phrase considered low competition primarily if the top 5 sites are PR0s or PR1s? Or can a keyword phrase be considered low-competition if PR4+ results appear in the top 5, but they have not optimized for that keyword phrase? If anyone can shine some light on these issues, it would be highly appreciated.

08-31-2009, 02:11 AM	#2
dburk Senior Warrior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Tampa, Florida Posts: 2,238 Thanks: 20 Thanked 184 Times in 167 Posts	Re: Confused about keyword research: search engine results, and pages with high PR Hi lapis, You are focusing way too much on PR. PageRank has very little influence on search engine rankings. The only thing you need to do is optimize and promote your web pages better than those on the first page or two of SERP. The first rule of SEO is the search engines don't rank websites, they rank pages.
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