Is Most Keyword Research Advice BS? Here's What I've Found...

[vtotheyouknow]

Most people will tell you to target keywords that get at least 1000 global monthly searches and have a CPC of at least $1.00 (for adsense).

But isn't competition VOLUME irrelevant? I mean, there could be a million competing sites but the only ones you need to beat are the top 5 or so in Google.

Since on Google:

#1 = ~50% of clicks
#2 = ~13% of clicks
#3= ~9% of clicks

etc.,

Then there's really no point being below number 3, even with a high search volume keyword.

So the only thing to worry about is the STRENGTH of #1, 2, & 3.

Likewise, if search volume is super low for a given keyword, but the top 3 spots are occupied by high PR, established domains with many pages of content and lots of backlinks, competing with them to get to #4 is doable but you won't break to the top 3 without an exorbitant amount of backlinking.

These are my thoughts. Am I missing something? What do other warriors think?

Best,
Vic

[oneplusone]

Originally Posted by vtotheyouknow

These are my thoughts. Am I missing something? What do other warriors think?

My thoughts are that you've posted this in the wrong section of the forum

It should be in the SEO section.

[Linda_C]

Originally Posted by vtotheyouknow

But isn't competition VOLUME irrelevant? I mean, there could be a million competing sites but the only ones you need to beat are the top 5 or so in Google.

Bingo! Yes, you are correct. Strength of the competition (on page 1) is all that matters, not volume.

Just because "everyone" says something, does not make it so. Once upon a time, everyone thought the world was flat, too. lol

[eric w]

Well, if you're doing amazon sites, which is very popular right now, then cpc is also not that important...cpc is for adsense

Originally Posted by vtotheyouknow

and have a CPC of at least $1.00 (for adsense).


Vic

[hashbury]

Competition does matter to a point. Finding the competition in a niche lets you know that there is a weakness in the market that you can takeadantage of.

If you find a keyword that has very low competition there could be a chance that google is placing a not so relavent page from an authority site in the top spot.

I use competition as a weakness finder. Once I find a weakness in a keyword I will manually examine the top 5 results. I examine the actual backlinks and anchor text linking back to the site.

[TyErickson]

Good post. I think the root of a lot of marketers failure is looking up their keyword in Google in quotes and assuming if that number is below some arbitrary figure then they can compete.

You are right that you need to carefully analyze the competition on the front page before moving on although I wouldn't discount the number of competing pages totally as it is a factor.

[clever7]

Thank you for enlightening me! I never saw it this way.

[mikeroosa]

I actually have always said the top 10 are all that matter, but you are right. If you are outside the top 3, you aren't getting enough traffic to make it worthwhile.

[chenkev]

Completely agree. Personally I take this one step further and make sure that spot number 1 is at least somewhat attainable for my main keywords, as the difference between the top two ranks can make or break your profit margin.