BASIC Keyword Research Criteria -- Your Opinions Please

[Steven Fullman]

Hi folks,



I am looking for a basic answer to what factors YOU GUYS/GALS use to decide whether a keyword is:

1) potentially easy to rank for
2) too difficult to rank for
3) somewhere in between

...(I'm talking Google ranking here)...

In other words:

What are the 'basic' criteria you use to decide whether a keyword is worth taking the effort to rank for?

Is it:

* broad/phrase/exact match results...if so, how many?

* intitle/allintitle results...if so, how many?

* inurl/allinurl resluts...if so, how many?

* other stuff...if so, how many?

YES -- I realise there are MANY more factors to look at when doing keyword research (strength of competition etc), BUT...

...I'm only interested in what makes you decide *at a glance* that a keyword is a go/no go.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

[swords]

I guess I'll give you my go around:


* broad/phrase/exact match results...if so, how many?

Depends on my website really. If it's a micro niche site, I'm not going to try and rank for something with 5,000+.

However, I ALWAYS use exact match (I think that's pretty common sense SEO)

* intitle/allintitle results...if so, how many?
I don't do the 'numbers' game that people play. I use what we humans call a 'brain'. I begin by looking at the top 20 websites. If a MAJORITY (ingenuity here - again, there are other advanced techniques that come after these first tests) of the sites do not have the keyword in the EXACT ORDER as my phrase, then I go further - otherwise trash it.

* inurl/allinurl resluts...if so, how many?
Same as above. However, this one is even more dangerous to tango with. If in the top 20 you have keyword.com, keyword.net, and key-word.com... there's a good chance that those websites are also SEOed for titles and it's not worth your effort on smaller niches.

* other stuff...if so, how many?
One thing, that I'm sure I'll get bashed on for, that will help your venture in a keyword tool (I'm assuming) that I use is finding web2.0's, videos, etc, on the top 10 pages. If I see a Squidoo or an EzineArticle (or even worse - a lesser article directory than Ezine), I'm feeling pretty dang good about that keyword. All it takes for me is to get an EMD and just get equivalent on-page SEO (Title/text), and some backlinks and I know I'm going to surpass that article in rankings in time.

[Bob Voges]

Is it:

* broad/phrase/exact match results...if so, how many?

No, the number of searches doesn't make a difference in how easy or hard a keyword is to rank for. It makes a BIG difference in whether it's worth bothering, though.

Put a different way, if you had two keywords - call them A and B - and all your keyword research showed them to have identical numbers across the board on every single thing you can measure except: A had 10,000 search results/month and B had 20 search results/month, then they're equally hard/easy to rank for, but you wouldn't bother trying to rank for B.

* intitle/allintitle results...if so, how many?

* inurl/allinurl resluts...if so, how many?

* other stuff...if so, how many?

In determining how easy or hard a keyword is to rank for, you're basically trying to gauge how strong the competition is for the keyword. There are a number of factors that measure this: intitle/allintitle and inurl/allinurl are just a couple of them.

But there are really two different kinds of measures of competition we can look at.

1. Measures that take into consideration the sheer number of potentially competing webpages.

Basically, any measure that's expressed in numbers of pages is like this. The number of pages Google reports when you search, either with no quotes (broad match), with quotes ("phrase match") or with brackets ([exact match]), inurl/allinurl, intitle/allintitle - all these are examples of this type of measure.

2. Measures that look at how well the webpages that rank on the first page of the search results are optimized for the keyword.

Here we aren't looking at the sheer number of pages that in some way appear to be "about" the keyword we're interested in; rather, we're looking at how well the pages that are on page one (where we would like our page to appear) are optimized for the keyword.

You also need to consider on-page vs off-page competition. On-page is stuff like whether the keyword is in the title tag, the url, whether it's in the page content and how often, whether it appears in heading tags or emphasis tags, and so on. Off page is basically incoming links.

Then there's page rank. Page rank is a google measure of the popularity and trustworthiness of a page. It's harder to get on page one if all of the other pages that are already on page one have high page rank.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying there's no hard and fast rule, but just looking at title/allintitle and inurl/allinurl is not enough. Backlinks are hugely important, and they are thought to be a major influence on page rank, which is also considered by many to be very important.

It's theoretically possible that there could be a keyword for which Google only finds 10 pages. 10 total results. 10 allintitle, 10 intitle, etc. But if each of those 10 pages had high page rank, great on-page optimization, and tens of thousands of backlinks, it'd be pretty damn hard to get your site onto page one.

It's also possible that there could be a keword for which Google finds, say, half a billion pages, but not one of those half a billion pages has page rank, good optimization, or more than a handful of incoming links. In that case, it should be easy to get a site on page one.

Confused yet?

Sorry, I know you asked for a "basic answer".

Here you go: if a keyword has fewer than 50,000 phrase match results, it's usually pretty easy to rank for. From 50,000+ to 250,000 phrase match results, moderately hard. From 250,000 to 500,000, hard but still doable. Over 500,000, really really hard. As with anything else, there are always exceptions.

Bob Voges
Keyword Bonanza

Originally Posted by Steven Fullman

Hi folks,



I am looking for a basic answer to what factors YOU GUYS/GALS use to decide whether a keyword is:

1) potentially easy to rank for
2) too difficult to rank for
3) somewhere in between

...(I'm talking Google ranking here)...

In other words:

What are the 'basic' criteria you use to decide whether a keyword is worth taking the effort to rank for?

Is it:

* broad/phrase/exact match results...if so, how many?

* intitle/allintitle results...if so, how many?

* inurl/allinurl resluts...if so, how many?

* other stuff...if so, how many?

YES -- I realise there are MANY more factors to look at when doing keyword research (strength of competition etc), BUT...

...I'm only interested in what makes you decide *at a glance* that a keyword is a go/no go.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

[NavalGogia]

Thanks for share it helps a lot..

[outwest]

Originally Posted by bvoges

No, the number of searches doesn't make a difference in how easy or hard a keyword is to rank for. It makes a BIG difference in whether it's worth bothering, though.

Put a different way, if you had two keywords - call them A and B - and all your keyword research showed them to have identical numbers across the board on every single thing you can measure except: A had 10,000 search results/month and B had 20 search results/month, then they're equally hard/easy to rank for, but you wouldn't bother trying to rank for B.



In determining how easy or hard a keyword is to rank for, you're basically trying to gauge how strong the competition is for the keyword. There are a number of factors that measure this: intitle/allintitle and inurl/allinurl are just a couple of them.

But there are really two different kinds of measures of competition we can look at.

1. Measures that take into consideration the sheer number of potentially competing webpages.

Basically, any measure that's expressed in numbers of pages is like this. The number of pages Google reports when you search, either with no quotes (broad match), with quotes ("phrase match") or with brackets ([exact match]), inurl/allinurl, intitle/allintitle - all these are examples of this type of measure.

2. Measures that look at how well the webpages that rank on the first page of the search results are optimized for the keyword.

Here we aren't looking at the sheer number of pages that in some way appear to be "about" the keyword we're interested in; rather, we're looking at how well the pages that are on page one (where we would like our page to appear) are optimized for the keyword.

You also need to consider on-page vs off-page competition. On-page is stuff like whether the keyword is in the title tag, the url, whether it's in the page content and how often, whether it appears in heading tags or emphasis tags, and so on. Off page is basically incoming links.

Then there's page rank. Page rank is a google measure of the popularity and trustworthiness of a page. It's harder to get on page one if all of the other pages that are already on page one have high page rank.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying there's no hard and fast rule, but just looking at title/allintitle and inurl/allinurl is not enough. Backlinks are hugely important, and they are thought to be a major influence on page rank, which is also considered by many to be very important.

It's theoretically possible that there could be a keyword for which Google only finds 10 pages. 10 total results. 10 allintitle, 10 intitle, etc. But if each of those 10 pages had high page rank, great on-page optimization, and tens of thousands of backlinks, it'd be pretty damn hard to get your site onto page one.

It's also possible that there could be a keword for which Google finds, say, half a billion pages, but not one of those half a billion pages has page rank, good optimization, or more than a handful of incoming links. In that case, it should be easy to get a site on page one.

Confused yet?

Sorry, I know you asked for a "basic answer".

Here you go: if a keyword has fewer than 50,000 phrase match results, it's usually pretty easy to rank for. From 50,000+ to 250,000 phrase match results, moderately hard. From 250,000 to 500,000, hard but still doable. Over 500,000, really really hard. As with anything else, there are always exceptions.

Bob Voges
Keyword Bonanza

what you are saying MAY be true in general however
You are letting that number of matches dictate your kw choices? how about the competition on google top 10?

Its ludicrous to say, ok if this kw has 50k exact matches its easy to rank for?

What if the top 10 on google each have 10k backlinks to the page? that isnt relevant?
\
IMO this is the kind of misinformation that keeps newbies confused

The ONLY thing that matters is competition on google top 10
the number of competing sites that comes up is COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT

I dont care if Google says 10 million sites, All I care about is Top 10 competition that is who I am competing against

[thedog]

I'm concentrating on amazon... so I don't need as much traffic as adsense to make a buck.

so...


* broad/phrase/exact match results...if so, how many?
Only care about exact match, 1,000+... my main buying keywords are usually a bit more, around 2 - 3k... but I wouldn't shy away from 1k if the comp is easy to top.


* intitle/allintitle results...if so, how many?
Not worth a $htie imo, all you need to worry about is the top 10.

allinanchor is much better... open 2 browsers side by side, search, without quotes in one, and in the other, run, allinanchor, in quotes... and see how well the results match up... this tells you if those on page 1 are busy building anchor text backlinks for your keyword.

If there's no EMD .com, .org or .net... this could be a deal breaker.

I use market samurai to check quickly if the competition is not too off the hook.

If there's big authority sites in the top spots, such as cnet, I walk away.

[outwest]

Originally Posted by thedog

I'm concentrating on amazon... so I don't need as much traffic as adsense to make a buck.

so...


* broad/phrase/exact match results...if so, how many?
Only care about exact match, 1,000+... my main buying keywords are usually a bit more, around 2 - 3k... but I wouldn't shy away from 1k if the comp is easy to top.


* intitle/allintitle results...if so, how many?
Not worth a imo, all you need to worry about is the top 10.

allinanchor is much better... open 2 browsers side by side, search, without quotes in one, and in the other, run, allinanchor, in quotes... and see how well the results match up... this tells you if those on page 1 are busy building anchor text backlinks for your keyword.

If there's no EMD .com, .org or .net... this could be a deal breaker.

I use market samurai to check quickly if the competition is not too off the hook.

If there's big authority sites in the top spots, such as cnet, I walk away.

If there is no EMD available thats a deal breaker?
Most of the EMD hogs are domain squatters anyways, and EMD offers minimal SERPs boosts

you are passing up a lot of good kws if that is your search method

[swords]

Originally Posted by outwest

what you are saying MAY be true in general however
You are letting that number of matches dictate your kw choices? how about the competition on google top 10?

Its ludicrous to say, ok if this kw has 50k exact matches its easy to rank for?

What if the top 10 on google each have 10k backlinks to the page? that isnt relevant?

IMO this is the kind of misinformation that keeps newbies confused

The ONLY thing that matters is competition on google top 10
the number of competing sites that comes up is COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT

I dont care if Google says 10 million sites, All I care about is Top 10 competition that is who I am competing against

I will defer. My theory, which seems to be very logical, of why sites with 10k backlinks with no on-page SEO are ranking on the top 10 spots is because Google had no on-page to go back on, so it went to the next best thing - # of backlinks.

Think about it... Google wants to provide the most relevant searches. If you are trying to rank for "pretty doggy collars":

Site A:
- Title: Pretty Doggy Collars - Find the BEST Pretty Doggy Collars On The Market

- Description: We have reviewed the best pretty doggy collars in 2011. Our compilation of this information is from consumer reviews from various websites. Pretty doggy collars are sometimes hard to distinguish from each other, but they are all very different!

Backlinks total: 10


Site B:
- Title: Dog Collars - Buy your Dog Collar now

- Description: We have listed the best dog collars. You will find an assortment of them on our website for the cheapest price imaginable. Get your dog collar today!

Backlinks: 10000




Now, if Site B's backlinks do not target "pretty doggy collar", I will put my money down on Site A any day of the year. The only reason Site B is ranking higher (assuming that Site A is hypothetical and isn't an actual website *yet*) is because Google couldn't find any sites that talked about "pretty doggy collars" - at least not enough to demonstrate that that site IS in fact about pretty doggy collars. Now, work your content around that keyword, and you'll outrank Site B with ease. Which is why On-Page SEO is the FIRST step in any SEO efforts, then after off-page.

Originally Posted by outwest

If there is no EMD available thats a deal breaker?
Most of the EMD hogs are domain squatters anyways, and EMD offers minimal SERPs boosts

you are passing up a lot of good kws if that is your search method

For me, not a deal breaker, but it definitely de-ranks that keyword in my head. That's just one extra on-page SEO that Google can read. If you see my example above, imagine that Site A's URL is: prettydoggycollar.com and Site B is: allaboutdogs.com. Just another on-page SEO effort to give you that extra little boost against high backlinked pages

[John Moore]

After years of studying formula's and ratio's I now just look at page 1 for the KW, straight away you can tell whether it's reachable or not, ideally you don't want to be competing against aged, established authority sites.

[Steven Fullman]

Thanks as always guys.

God speed, etc!

You're all awesome...especially 'bvoges'.

Cheers,
Steve