Number 1 in google....10k searches...I get 5!

[Barry Walls]

I dont get it....Im top of the pile with 10k monthly searches according to googles own keyword tool and I only get 5 visitors a month?

Is this common?

[jan roos]

Same thing has happened to me before thats why I dont trust the keyword tools at all. a guy named Jon on this forum wrote a ebook that shows how to really do accurate keyword research by ourselves and I found that to work best. I posted about his ebook in my blog here.

Keyword ResearchExposed - Perfect Network Marketing - Network Marketing Tips

HtH

[blase40]

I would expect more than this. The keyword tool is known to be a little crazy, but I would expect more visitors than 5 a month.

Does your page title contain the keyword phrase in a relevant manner? Basically, when someone types in the kewyord, does the big, blue, bold page title jump out and say "click me" in the search results?

[RevenueRabbi]

play with your meta tags.

are the people searching with quotes? is your site #1 when no quotes are used?

[jan roos]

The keyword term I found had 1300 searches per day according to word tracker with very little competition. I quickly bought the domain build the blog and got it ranked in the number one position and I havent even received one visitor from that keyword to date.

It's ridicilous to say the least.

[Barry Walls]

Thanks guys...

Its number one without quotes and number 3 with quotes. i also have 2 other entries on the front page pointing back from web 2.0 sites for both keywords.

Im stumped on this one.

[Barry Walls]

Originally Posted by blase40

I would expect more than this. The keyword tool is known to be a little crazy, but I would expect more visitors than 5 a month.

Does your page title contain the keyword phrase in a relevant manner? Basically, when someone types in the kewyord, does the big, blue, bold page title jump out and say "click me" in the search results?

Yip, all on page factors sre perfect and meta, H1s and titles are totally optomised

[Razvan Rovinaru]

Yeah, unfortunately this can happen as keyword tools aren't 100% effective. That is why it's usually best to build your site around more than one keyword.

Make a list with at least 5 potentially profitable keywords and try optimizing your site for all of them.

[melanied]

Unfortunately, that can happen sometimes. Keyword tools are a guide, not the end all be all. Wordtracker, in particular, I take with a grain of salt.

[Devan Koshal]

Make sure you meta title tells the humans what they want to see but is seo for the spiders.

[Barry Walls]

How depressing!

Even if you have find great keyword, manage to buy buy the exact domain, check with various tools and all looks great, the keyword can be off by a factor of 400 (would expect 20% from top spot...so 2000 but only getting 5....yes?) once you reach the top of organic search?

In that case, WTF is the point of keyword tools if they are this far off? I mean...this is a LONG way off.

My day is officially ruined...and its only 9am.

Sigh.

[Captcha]

Make sure you set the 'exact match' on the keyword and not broad match, otherwise you'll get over inflated figures

[Barry Walls]

Originally Posted by Devan Koshal

Make sure you meta title tells the humans what they want to see but is seo for the spiders.

I basically lifted the title and descrpition from the one of the best adwords adverts for another model....according to spyfu....so its golden and tested.

[Barry Walls]

Originally Posted by Captcha

Make sure you set the 'exact match' on the keyword and not broad match, otherwise you'll get over inflated figures

Check...it is exact

[Devan Koshal]

Originally Posted by bigjock

I basically lifted the title and descrpition from the one of the best adwords adverts for another model....according to spyfu....so its golden and tested.

Got me stumped. What is your website?

[Barry Walls]

sorry...its phrase....maybe thats the issue?....exact is a lot less....1200...ahhhh.....but still...its low even for that.

[MaryT]

do you use a tracking tool??

have you checked your log files on the cpanel???

[Matt James]

Sometimes the only way to really know is to buy a PPC ad for your keyword, then you'll see the real amount of traffic it gets by the number of impressions.

[Frostfire Gifts]

the keyword tools are often pretty inccurate

[Barry Walls]

Excellent tip Matt....thanks!

What a freakin douche bag I am....2 main keywords have over 12,000 phrase matches and less than 100 exact matches....problem found and a big thanks to all you guys.

Now if I could just ask one more question....if a search term has 6000 average per month and then not enough data this month, should I disregard it? My instinct is NO...but then I havent been right much with google lately.

[Mark Brock]

Originally Posted by bigjock

I dont get it....Im top of the pile with 10k monthly searches according to googles own keyword tool and I only get 5 visitors a month?

Is this common?

I know 5 visitors per month from 10k searches isn't great but this 10k figure is a cumulative figure of all 12 months. Maybe the searches for the keyword you use fluctuates drastically month-by-month?

It might just be that in December that keyword only gets searched maybe 10 times but in other months it is searched upwards of 50,000 times (these figures are just as an example).

A good keyword is essential, but you should also be looking for one that doesn't fluctuate much in terms of month-by-month searches.

Is your market one that is likely to fluctuate throughout the year?

Take care buddy,

Mark

[milan]

Two quick ideas:

1. You haven't changed the settings from broad to 'exact' so you're not looking at the demand for that exact phrase.
Look at the screen shot I've made for you:
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/9383/ktoolkt9.gif

2. You can check the trend at Google, it might be seasonal: Google Trends

[Razvan Rovinaru]

Now if I could just ask one more question....if a search term has 6000 average per month and then not enough data this month, should I disregard it? My instinct is NO...but then I havent been right much with google lately.

Your instincts guide you well. If it shows 6000 per month for the exact match then that keyword definitely receives traffic, even though you can never know exactly how much until you test it with Google Adwords like Matt has so wisely suggested. Don't discard the keyword, just do some more research for it.

For example, if it shows 6000 searches and the main niche is pretty competitive, it should have at least a few sites that have been optimized for that keyword. If you find a keyword with that many searches in a fairly popular niche and it has almost no competition you should ask yourself the obvious question.... why?

That's usually because the searches aren't as high as keyword tools suggest it or the traffic is hard to monetize.

Like I said before, it's always good to develop a list with more than one potentially profitable keyword. This way, you are bound to find both winners and losers - which you will later discard.

Also, even for a small niche site, you should always look to research for more keywords. When your site grows in rankings for the first set of keywords, move on to the next and so on. You'll notice that it will be a lot easier to rank high for new keywords once your site is established.

[Glenn Leader]

When you look at your SERPs entry, does it entice surfers to click on your link?
You should consider your title as your headline, and the first paragraph and/or
your description metatag to be a classified Ad'. Combine a powerful headline,
and a good classified Ad' to get the best out of SERPs.

HTH

Glenn

[Eddie Scotten]

Originally Posted by bigjock

Excellent tip Matt....thanks!



Now if I could just ask one more question....if a search term has 6000 average per month and then not enough data this month, should I disregard it? My instinct is NO...but then I havent been right much with google lately.

One reason for this is that it could be a seasonal product

[Barry Walls]

Originally Posted by Eddie Scotten

One reason for this is that it could be a seasonal product

Its a television...so should be increasing this time of year...maybe google just hasnt cought in teh last month....up or the credit crunch has turned 6000 regular monthly searchers into Zero....doubtful.

Im betting on a glitch with google.

[wealthyaffiliate]

Eddie Just said it, you might be doing seasonal products, I was listed number one on a a great niche on "Adult plus size halloween costumes" then i used to get hundreds of searches a day but know i fairly make 4 searches a day.

That might be the case.

Just in case you would like to learn more on uncovering hot profitable niches, something that will last long. follow the link and enlighten yourself.

[Fendi Salim]

You mentioned you are on top on Google...

Have you checked all the websites below you?

What kind of quality are they?

Can competition determine a winning niche as well?

But it really is puzzling to have such a low CTR when
you are in that position for the popular keyword...

[Barry Walls]

thanks for all the help guys....I think we've sorted it

[Skribblez]

To be honest, most of the time, those tools are really unreliable. That's what I've found personally..

[Dave Ward]

Originally Posted by jan roos

The keyword term I found had 1300 searches per day according to word tracker with very little competition. I quickly bought the domain build the blog and got it ranked in the number one position and I havent even received one visitor from that keyword to date.

It's ridicilous to say the least.

Jan, I also have found wordtracker to be off on a number of occasions . Before building out the site and investing the time in SEO to get the word to rank , only then to see no traffic,you may want try this idea. I use this to determine if I will buy a domain name that matches the phrase or not.

1 take the word from wordtracker.

2 compare with exact search in google keyword tool for specific market . So for example USA for .com UK for co.uk.

3 Create a basic landing page for the term on a domain you own.

4 Create ad in google adwords with just the exact search term only , not broad match or phrase, just the exact match.

5 Switch on the add and look for number of times the add is displayed. I am not interested in the clicks, just how many impressions. zero impressions = zero search.

For fastest results You need to bid enough to get on the first page, but if you set a small budget, you will still have your answer . If there is no traffic, it won't cost you anything, if there is, then, yes you may get a few clicks, but you will know it is worth investing the time.

You just have to work out what it would cost you time wise to create the site only to find nothing is there.
This way I find out if it is worth trying to rank for the term or not. I have found this to give me the most accurate results.

[Steven Wagenheim]

Let me tell you something about being number 1 on Google...it don't mean
Jack.

I, in addition to being a marketer, am also a consumer. And sometimes I look
up stuff for myself. Well, the other day I looked up a keyword and the top
site's description looked so bad that I didn't bother clicking on it. I instead
went to the site below it which looked much better.

If the person seeing your listing doesn't think that it's going to provide them
with the info they're looking for, they're not going to click on that link, no
matter how high up the charts it is.

[tommygadget]

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

Let me tell you something about being number 1 on Google...it don't mean
Jack.

I, in addition to being a marketer, am also a consumer. And sometimes I look
up stuff for myself. Well, the other day I looked up a keyword and the top
site's description looked so bad that I didn't bother clicking on it. I instead
went to the site below it which looked much better.

If the person seeing your listing doesn't think that it's going to provide them
with the info they're looking for, they're not going to click on that link, no
matter how high up the charts it is.

Arghhh, I was just typing this answer also. You beat me to it again Steven. OK, here goes, ditto what Steven said.

TomG.

[freudianslip27]

Those keyword tools base their data from something like 1 percent of actual searches. It is an approximation at best, and sometimes can be flat out off its rocker.

Its the best we can do with what is available right now, but I am wondering if the search is something that doesn't look like something that would get lots of searches? Sometimes I find these "golden nuggets" with high searches and low competition, and something just tells me the data is inaccurate.

Unfortunately you don't know what you are up against till you get out there and start building your own results. That's why it is so important to look at your stats!

Matt

[Ross Kenny]

I don't click on the top result unless it stands out and is exactly what I want!!

I'll scroll down until I see what I want. A title that grabs me by the balls.

As with buying a domain with your main keyword. Go run a PPC add for a couple for a
few days and see how many people are searching that phrase via impressions.

This is the only true way of telling.

[MarcusXavier]

Originally Posted by ste25

Wordtracker is unreliable, if you want accurate
stats use Googles keyword tool.

totally agree. this goes for all the keyword research tools.
that's all they are is tools. don't expect them to be accurate.
the only way to be as accurate as possible is Google's keyword
tool. your getting the info directly from Google itself.

the only thing i use keyword tools like wordtracker for is to
find long-tail keywords. but I always check the volume of searches/competition
on Google. this works the best for me.

[JJOrana]

It is a common mistake bigjock but a painful one.

Watch my video as I explained what exactly the numbers in Google keyword tool.

Is Google Adwords Keyword Tool Accurate? | Taknique

- Jon Orana

[Barry Walls]

For people saying that number one in google doesnt mean Jack....I respectfully think you're wrong.

More people click on the top result than any other. Thats a fact and its born out by the numbers.

What you are saying is "have a good and relevant description".

I agree with that, but what you are blithly throwing around as a analysis will hurt some people who misunderstand what you are saying.

Being number one on google IS worth something....more than being number two, all other things being equal.

BJ

[Jeremy123]

The Google keyword tool is not accurate, not just because of the search partners

but also because of all the automated queries being done by everyone
using software and by people individually checking where they rank and by doing
competition research in quotes and without quotes so broad and exact match are
also not accurate.

[dburk]

Originally Posted by Jeremy123

The Google keyword tool is not accurate, not just because of the search partners

but also because of all the automated queries being done by everyone
using software and by people individually checking where they rank and by doing
competition research in quotes and without quotes so broad and exact match are
also not accurate.

Hi Jeremy123,

I disagree with your assertions, Google is reporting actual data. While they state it is approximate data they simply round the numbers to make them easier to read. The fact that they include the Search Network makes it even more accurate not less.

Even though plenty of folks check their own rankings they are doing it through keyword search queries on Google (or a member of their Search Network) and it would be unreasonable to expect this data to be filtered. It certainly doesn't make the data inaccurate or unusable.

[Jeremy123]

how does including the search network make it more accurate,
people want to know the search count for google.com

people check their rankings through google.com

keyword search queries on google? what does that mean?

people go to google.com and search, that's it.
people don't even know what their search network is, do you.

the fact that google does not filter the numbers, makes the numbers
inflated, granted they are useful as a general guide.

[dburk]

Originally Posted by Jeremy123

how does including the search network make it more accurate,
people want to know the search count for google.com

people check their rankings through google.com

keyword search queries on google? what does that mean?

people go to google.com and search, that's it.
people don't even know what their search network is, do you.

the fact that google does not filter the numbers, makes the numbers
inflated, granted they are useful as a general guide.

Hi Jeremy123,

The Search Network are Google's partner's that use Google's search engine technology to deliver SERPs. While these SERPs are displayed on other websites the users are performing keyword searches and clicking on the results in the same way they do on Google. Google isn't the only website that people do keyword searches and those other websites send you visitors just like Google does.

The larger your dataset the more accurate your projections are likely to be. Why would you want to ignore this additional data and what do you gain by doing so?

[Jeremy123]

most people search through google.com

and most people want traffic from the serp's in google.com

any data from elsewhere is not relevant,

just like most people do seo for google and not yahoo or msn,
getting data from yahoo, msn, their search count and competition
is not relevant since google has 80% of the search market

getting data from the search network will make you think you
should get more traffic

[dburk]

Originally Posted by Jeremy123

most people search through google.com

and most people want traffic from the serp's in google.com

any data from elsewhere is not relevant,

just like most people do seo for google and not yahoo or msn,
getting data from yahoo, msn, their search count and competition
is not relevant since google has 80% of the search market

getting data from the search network will make you think you
should get more traffic

So what are you saying, that traffic from the search network isn't real traffic, those visitors aren't real? That anyone who searches from any other website isn't relevant. If most searches come from Google then their data already reflects that in the exact proportion that it actually exists. Why is real data not relevant?

I'm sorry but what you are saying simply doesn't make any sense to me. A search on the Search network is just as real and relevant as any other search. As you indicated, it isn't nearly as much as on Google proper, but it is real data and incuding it make more sense then not including it.

Now if you block traffic from those other sites I could see why you might want to exclude the search network. Why in the world would anyone want to block traffic from those other searches, and if you are not, why would you want to exclude that data in your keyword research?

[Jeremy123]

because they are not searching in google.com
so if your site is ranked in google's serp they will
not see your site.

I just did a search in shopping.com part of google's
search network, the results brought up other
shopping.com listings not google serp's

I don't need to know how many people searched
for a phrase on shopping.com if they won't be able
to find my site

[dburk]

Originally Posted by Jeremy123

because they are not searching in google.com
so if your site is ranked in google's serp they will
not see your site.

I just did a search in shopping.com part of google's
search network, the results brought up other
shopping.com listings not google serp's

I don't need to know how many people searched
for a phrase on shopping.com if they won't be able
to find my site

I will concede that shopping.com doesn't list your page, but knowing how often your keyword is searched in the search network is a very good indicator of how often it is searched on sites like yahoo and bing.

The bulk of all data in the keyword tool is from searches on Google proper and there is not enough data coming from shopping.com to taint the overall results. No other data set gets as close and reliable as Google's. If you know of some other source that is more accurate please share.

Ignoring this tremendously useful data because it contains a little data from shopping.com is little like throwing away a gold bar because it's only 99.4% pure gold.

[Intrepreneur]

Originally Posted by jan roos

The keyword term I found had 1300 searches per day according to word tracker with very little competition. I quickly bought the domain build the blog and got it ranked in the number one position and I havent even received one visitor from that keyword to date.

It's ridicilous to say the least.

Wordtracker isn't a good way to find keywords. It's good for weeding out some very long tailed ones but not so good for finding uber traffic keywords.

[Jon Steel]

Is your meta-title and meta-description powerful enough to evoke anticipation to onlookers? I mean, sitting at the top of google is a large piece, but you've got to steal their attention from everyone else while you are there...

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