Keyword Research Question

[penpoint]

I'm checking the competition manually for keywords. When I do a search on the keyword, should I search with the keyword in quotes or without quotes?

Thanks

[sureshtechendeavour]

Try with quotes and without quotes and list out the sites coming above your site.

[KentChow]

Searching with quote would tell you how many pages are intended to target that "keyword".. for example:

> About 1,210,000 results

Without quote, most of end users would search in that way. You need to check what the PRs are on the first page - top 10 search result. They are your primary competitors.

[Clarkjackson]

Do it without quote for checking real competition, with quote Google shows only exact keyword phrase pages

[lancejeffersons]

Without quotes then list the websites on top of your website, then research where do they get their backlinks..And then apply these tips SEO Strategies to Outrank Established Competitors | Premium SEO Solutions Blog

[packerfan]

If you're talking about competing pages, then it doesn't matter. That has nothing to do with competition.

If you're talking about evaluating the top 10 sites (or top 3) then do the search without quotes because that's how most people search.

Download the free version of traffic travis and it does a good job of evaluating the top 10 results for your keyword. No charge, good tool.

[eaglesflamenco]

no need to do it with quotes,for long term perspective,it doent benefit from that

[inflexi]

You should use quotes.The quotes allow you to ascertain your competition. When you use quotes, it brings up your most prominent competition.

[packerfan]

Originally Posted by inflexi

You should use quotes.The quotes allow you to ascertain your competition. When you use quotes, it brings up your most prominent competition.

No it doesn't. People don't search with quotes in general. So all the OP should care about is the top 3 sites for his keyword. Searching in quotes doesn't give him that.

[uumair]

Keywords without quotes will give me rank.
I never checked with quotes

[samual james]

search with quotes : it shows you how many sites are using exact keyword.

[penpoint]

Thanks for the input, all. The research is for new niche sites, not an existing one. Based on what I'm hearing here searching without quotes is the best option. Thanks again.

[showkatahmad]

quotes will help you finding the real situation which is you basically want

[C Rebecca]

Keywords without quotes will give you a Broad match (includes keywords plus additional words)
I’ll prefer you go for exact match (keywords in square brackets) which will give you accurate results.
Manual search will take an eternity. I prefer keyword country to check the competitiveness of my keywords.

[lportho]

try to search with quotas Google will show real competition

[egrovesys]

As i checked in G, i have found out these result.

Keyword - t shirts india

Without quote
1,310,000 results
three sponsored listings in PPC

Without quote
115,000,000 results
One sponsored lists in PPC

i think that while searching keywords we have to add quotes to get exact results.

[hamburglar]

Originally Posted by penpoint

I'm checking the competition manually for keywords. When I do a search on the keyword, should I search with the keyword in quotes or without quotes?

Thanks

Since when has this become a measurement of the competition?

In my 5 years of learning SEO and ranking websites, this has never been a concern.

Analyize the top 10 results, more importantly top 3. If you ain't there then you ain't gettin no traffic.

[Barry Unruh]

Originally Posted by penpoint

I'm checking the competition manually for keywords. When I do a search on the keyword, should I search with the keyword in quotes or without quotes?

Thanks

How are your readers going to search for it? Do the same...

Those are the results you have to beat if you want to get those readers to your site.

[outwest]

searching with quotes?
outdated totally irrelevant

who searches with quotes? surfers I mean

[yukon]

Originally Posted by penpoint

I'm checking the competition manually for keywords. When I do a search on the keyword, should I search with the keyword in quotes or without quotes?

Thanks

You search without quotes only because that's the way your competitions traffic will be searching when the find his site in Google SERPs, very few people outside of IM use quotes.