Keyword Research & Implementation 101

[danmorton]

That's the way I started, too - in way over my head.

It's taken a year just to get my feet firmly planted on the ground.

The key is to choose a business model and stick to it - all the way.

Dan

[Jeremy123]

Dan I read in another post you said the google keyword tool is not good for seo,
mnf also uses this too.

am I missing something?

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by Jeremy123

Dan I read in another post you said the google keyword tool is not good for seo,
mnf also uses this too.

am I missing something?

Hey Jeremy,

I used to believe that for a few reasons.

The Google Keyword Tool is one month behind, the results are based on the previous calendar month. Nevertheless it's remarkably accurate.

The other types of tools, such as the SEO Book and Wordtracker, are up to date, but the results are based of the meta crawlers.

Therefore both have some pros and cons.

However, a keywords that is not being consistently searched for is probably not worth targeting in the long run. So the Google Keyword Tool is in fact quite good.

Hope that helps,

Dan

[striding cloud]

what an awesome post.. tq

[hamburglar]

Do you have to pay Overture to use their keyword tool?

[SurviveUnemployment]

Nice advice! Thanks a million (I hope)

[steviemac]

When you're doing keyword research with Adwords, do you use Broad or Phrase search or both ?

[Beverly le Roux]

Thanks for this great info. I love the detail you always include!

[warfore]

I am so glad that found this post. It explains alot of gray areas that I was having trouble. Again, thanks for a great post.

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by steviemac

When you're doing keyword research with Adwords, do you use Broad or Phrase search or both ?

You have to use Exact, broad also works if you're going to target all the long tail keywords within that niche.

I never use phrase, the possible combinations are just way too many to count.

[easmsw]

I'm just starting out and I can't afford Micro Niche Finder yet. Is there any other way to determine the Strength of Competition? It seems like that is the most important thing to know.

Elizabeth

[Spark]

Hi easmsw,

Hope you won't mind me saying..if you think that the software does give you advantages..you should just get it instead of mentioning you can't afford it. I was in your shoes a few months ago..instead of can't afford it.. i think of ways how to can i cut cost on my daily expense and save those cash to purchase great software like this.

Trust me, if you have this mindset. your learning curve will be much faster and easier. Hope this help. Cheers!

[WG Concepts]

When i do a search in Google Adwords Keyword Tool, do i do a broad match ? i have been using broad match to understand the number of searches for the terms that come up. Is that precise? or do i have to use Phrase, Exact or Negative??

[Spark]

I am also looking for answer for this but however manage to find out.
From the information that i get. You should use Board match for number of searches.

Hope this help.

[Jenie0109]

Originally Posted by steviemac

When you're doing keyword research with Adwords, do you use Broad or Phrase search or both ?

broad is the usual..But you can do both

[teamind]

Hi Dan,

Helpful post, indeed - and great resources, too!

One pressing question - You mentioned in your Article Marketing 101 to locate 100 keywords and create articles for each individual keyword. And, in your Make Your Articles Rank #1, you suggest Angela's (30 backlinks/mo) and Paul's (50 backlinks/mo) (very inexpensive!) services for Authority Backlinks - as a strategy for ranking HIGH, and ranking QUICKLY.

My question is this, how much time should one reasonably expect to invest to sign up for each of the sites offering the backlinks? I'm guessing it takes some time to manually sign up for backlinks at 80 different sites. And, if I have to repeat that for 100 articles, that's 8,000 backlink registrations. Is it really that tedious to do this, or am I completely missing the boat/point?

Thanks much!!
Kelly

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by teamind

Hi Dan,

Helpful post, indeed - and great resources, too!

One pressing question - You mentioned in your Article Marketing 101 to locate 100 keywords and create articles for each individual keyword. And, in your Make Your Articles Rank #1, you suggest Angela's (30 backlinks/mo) and Paul's (50 backlinks/mo) (very inexpensive!) services for Authority Backlinks - as a strategy for ranking HIGH, and ranking QUICKLY.

My question is this, how much time should one reasonably expect to invest to sign up for each of the sites offering the backlinks? I'm guessing it takes some time to manually sign up for backlinks at 80 different sites. And, if I have to repeat that for 100 articles, that's 8,000 backlink registrations. Is it really that tedious to do this, or am I completely missing the boat/point?

Thanks much!!
Kelly

Hi Kelly,

Yes, it is that "tedious".

But once you see the results of 10 or so articles ranking top 5 in the search engines for their respective keywords, you will be rushing to do all of them.

In fact, this method works so well that now a days I don't spend a single minute doing backlinks myself.

The thousands of backlinks I do per month are all outsourced, but I did have to scale it up to that point by starting from scratch and doing everything myself.

Hope that helps,

Dan

[yourtd]

Many, many thanks Daniel. After fussing around and reading way too much stuff for a year, it is incredible that someone finally just put it out there in straight language without any fluff.

Greatly appreciate it,
yourtd

[InternetMarketingIQ]

Putting a keyword phrase in quotes merely tells you the occurrences in that order. Not exactly the level of competition. If you are using short phrases the results returned my not be your competition at all. This is why you use other tests like allinanchor and allintitle. Then ultimately actually looking at who is ranking for the phrase and if they are selling or just providing information on the phrase.

Keyword research has a lot of "art" to the science.

[teamind]

Daniel,

A million thanks for the ultra fast response and for setting me straight. It's better to know this upfront than to get into the tedium and think I must be doing something wrong. Outsourcing over the long run (as I get to that point) is the future for that.

Cheers,
Kelly

[OCG]

Hey Daniel, great thread and info. I have MNF and have also been using the Google Adwords Keytool. Can you clear this up for me thanks. Why are the search results different when searching a particular LTK. I can understand a small difference however more often than not the difference is many many 000's.

Cheers
Darren

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by OCG

Hey Daniel, great thread and info. I have MNF and have also been using the Google Adwords Keytool. Can you clear this up for me thanks. Why are the search results different when searching a particular LTK. I can understand a small difference however more often than not the difference is many many 000's.

Cheers
Darren

It's because the Google Keyword Tool's default search value is "broad", and MNF's default search value is "exact".

Set the Google tool to "exact" and you will see exactly the same results.

If that doesn't work, update MNF to the latest version and do the same.

[OCG]

Cheers Daniel, thx mate.

[teamind]

Hi Daniel,

I'm about to jump in and begin implementing your strategy here. Love the simplicity!

Another pressing question I have (actually three questions):

1) Will I need to make backlink submissions (using the two backlink resources you suggested) for EACH article EACH month? Or do I just need to do this ONCE for EACH article? - In other words, each service will be sending me 80 fresh backlink sources each month. Do I need to keep every single article I write UPDATED MONTHLY with these new sources?

2) I want to do this manual backlinking process myself a few times just to get a feel for it, and to see how long it takes. However, I know I will want to outsource it quickly. Any suggestions on providers who can handle this for me? (and if you have an affiliate link for a VERY TRUSTED provider, I'm happy to use it)

3) To keep it simple in the beginning, I thought I'd just begin my articles with a domain pointed to an affiliate link (in the Resource Box). However, I am guessing its better to have the link in my article pointed to my own Wordpress mini niche site (blog) (which I need to learn/setup), and have my affliate products/links there (and much later an email capture function). Would you comment on your success rates with just using a domain to point at your affiliate links? (Or, do you exclusively have your article links pointed at your own niche websites?)

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are really keeping this simple for me/us!!

Cheers,
Kelly

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by teamind

Hi Daniel,

I'm about to jump in and begin implementing your strategy here. Love the simplicity!

Another pressing question I have (actually three questions):

1) Will I need to make backlink submissions (using the two backlink resources you suggested) for EACH article EACH month? Or do I just need to do this ONCE for EACH article? - In other words, each service will be sending me 80 fresh backlink sources each month. Do I need to keep every single article I write UPDATED MONTHLY with these new sources?

Just once per article.

2) I want to do this manual backlinking process myself a few times just to get a feel for it, and to see how long it takes. However, I know I will want to outsource it quickly. Any suggestions on providers who can handle this for me? (and if you have an affiliate link for a VERY TRUSTED provider, I'm happy to use it).

Send me a Private Message.

3) To keep it simple in the beginning, I thought I'd just begin my articles with a domain pointed to an affiliate link (in the Resource Box). However, I am guessing its better to have the link in my article pointed to my own Wordpress mini niche site (blog) (which I need to learn/setup), and have my affliate products/links there (and much later an email capture function). Would you comment on your success rates with just using a domain to point at your affiliate links? (Or, do you exclusively have your article links pointed at your own niche websites?)

I've use both methods Kelly, direct linking is better for short term fast cash.

Landing page linking is better in the long run because you get to build a list and push the sale, and also because it means the growth of your very own Virtual Real Estate.

[runner]

Originally Posted by Daniel Molano

Since I started doing information marketing about 12 months ago I came to notice that there is a big problem within the community.

There are many great marketers (including gurus) who are willing to help and provide valuable information to beginners, intermediates etc...

Nevertheless I also saw a common pattern, they go straight into the methods, regardless of the level of understanding of their audiece. So hundreds of doubts and questions always come about (especially from beginners).

The reason is quite simple, they give for granted that their audience already understands the basics and what the hell they are talking about. But in several situations that is not the case, in fact, in most situations that is not the case.

Now that my insight has been covered, I'll go straight to the point. One of the most frequently asked questions regarding internet marketing is "What the hell is keyword research, how does it work?" and other variations of the same question.

I'm here to explain it thoroughly.

Keyword Research & Implementation 101

The Theory

We as internet marketers have some very valuable tools at our disposal.

One of which allows us to figure out exactly what terms or phrases are being used by people from all over the world to find information about specific subjects in the search engines and also how many people are using those specific terms everyday.

With the power of keyword research tools we can find that out and with almost precise numbers.

From my understanding there are two types of keyword research tools.

1. The ones that pull the information directly from the databases of the search engines (Such as Google External Keyword Tool and Yahoo Overture).These are usually quite accurate (at least in respect of the search engine database they pulled the data from) but are usually based on a previous month or previous data, so they are somewhat out of date.
2. The ones that pull the information from the metacrawlers and are not as accurate, but they are up to date. Such as Wordtracker and SEO Book Tool.

As you can see, not 1 tool is entirely accurate, so I suggest you use them in cross reference.

There are also powerful software programs out there that leverage these tools. Good examples are Micro Niche Finder and Market Samurai.

All these tools and software allow us to do several things such as measuring demand, market research, but most importantly allow us to use them so that we can intercept that traffic in the search engines.

Anyway, that was a brief description and definition of keyword research and the tools. Now time for their practical use.

The Practice

Keyword research is a lot easier than some people might think. Basically what I do is research a subject or niche I wish to work on, once I get a hold of the terms that are being used within the niche, I start doing the keyword research.

For example, let's say I'm researching the dating niche. I find out there are several niche terms, such as:

dating ; pick up ; seduction ; filirting ; rapport ; kissing ; attraction (and many more)

I grab those terms and insert them into the keyword tools, then a long list of keywords related to the term are displayed. You want to go for the long tail keywords/phrases (3 words or more). Why? Because those have way less competition than the other ones.

The keyword tool will also tell you how many daily or monthly searches are being done for the specific terms on the list. Those numbers mean how many people are using the keyword to do a search in the respective search engine.

Now, that can be used as one measurement of demand in a niche. But most importantly you want them so that you get your work to be displayed in the search engines for those specific keywords! Be it your blog, article, site, bookmark, magazine, whatever.

The next step is measuring the competition, usually that is done by doing a search for the long tail keyword/phrase in the search engines (like Google) under quotation marks. For example: "how to seduce women"

A number of search results will be displayed in the search engine and that number is the true competition for that keyword.

Why are the results extremely different (and higher) for the keyword when it's not used in quotation marks?

Simple, because when it is not used in quotation marks, the sites that use related terms, synonyms etc... also display (that is the fake competition).

However, the number of competition is not all there is to it. There is also something called the "strength of competition" which is actually MUCH more important than the number of competition.

The SoC includes several variables, mainly: Page rank (not site rank), page reputation, authority, incoming links, page rank of incoming links, relevance of content and many others.

If the SoC is low, even if there is a lot of competing sites, the keyword will be easy to rank for. There are tools like Micro Niche Finder which measure the SoC to an extent.

You can also use this free tool to detect if a keyword has commercial value or not: Detecting Online Commercial Intention: Audience Intelligence: adCenter Labs

The Criteria

Now, the personal criteria I use to pick keywords is if they have at least 300 monthly search results, less than 300,000 competing sites and less than 30 incoming links. That works fine for me.

With this criteria and 100 keywords (there are thousands of thousands for every niche I can assure you) that's a potential of 1,000 daily unique visitors.

But by all means don't consider my criteria as the only one, other people use different parameters. Use what works for you.

The Implementation

Well, now you know what keyword research is all about and now you know how to do it, once you have selected a niche and you have digged several useful long tail keywords/phrases you can move on to actually putting them to good use.

There are several ways to do this, you can implement them in article marketing, search engine optimization, pay per click or even sell them in bulk (although that is by far the least profitable use they have in the long run).

For more information about implementing keywords in different areas of internet marketing you can visit some of my other threads:

Implementation in Article Marketing: Article Marketing 101 - Everything You Need To Know About Article Marketing In One Place!

Implementation in Search Engine Optimization using sites: This Is How You Rank #1 Position Across All Search Engines

Implementation in Search Engine Optimization using blogs: I'm In Love With SEO

And as a bonus (also related to keyword research and implementation), one of the reasons why original and unique content is so powerful: Autobloggers I love you!

There you go, keyword research + implementation clearly explained and 3 threads with methods you can start taking action on in order to start generating some money right away.

Enjoy! Best of luck,

Dan Molano

Daniel,

it seems that you prefer small demand, long tail keywords.
So do I.

They bring very targeted traffic, because those people really know,
what they are looking for.

Another fact is that the long tail search term keeps the SERP better
than the high competed one, so you save lots of work.

With these 300 seaches a month keywords it takes some time,
before you get enough traffic but it`s worth that.

Thanks again, very useful thread.

Juhani

[kumkum]

Great Post.. and Very complete and detail...

thanks a lot

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by runner

Daniel,

it seems that you prefer small demand, long tail keywords.
So do I.

They bring very targeted traffic, because those people really know,
what they are looking for.

Another fact is that the long tail search term keeps the SERP better
than the high competed one, so you save lots of work.

With these 300 seaches a month keywords it takes some time,
before you get enough traffic but it`s worth that.

Thanks again, very useful thread.

Juhani

I don't prefer them Juhani, they're just easy.

My favourite are obviously extreme high demand phrases.

Such as my "business consulting" ranking.

But most people would believe they are impossible to achieve and that they would take years (which they're right if they don't have my model).

[teamind]

THANK YOU!!!

Daniel, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to make a WF "Thanks posting" for you. So, I'll just post here.

I greatly appreciate all the time and advice you shared with me the other day. Your insights, coupled with all your other generous advice here on this forum, are invaluable.

Thank you,
Kelly

[deadastronaut0]

"at least 300 monthly search results, less than 300,000 competing sites and less than 30 incoming links"

Why just 300 monthly searches?
What do u mean by 30 incoming links?
Do you mean 300k competition with quotes on google?

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by deadastronaut0

"at least 300 monthly search results, less than 300,000 competing sites and less than 30 incoming links"

Why just 300 monthly searches?
What do u mean by 30 incoming links?
Do you mean 300k competition with quotes on google?

300 monthly searches is just the minimum you should go for, obviously the more the better.

As for 30 incoming links, I refer to the backlinks the competition has.

And yes, I mean 300,000 competition when under quotes in Google.

[Wealth Plus]

Thanks a lot Daniel, you've just cleared up a lot of the things that's been driving me nuts.

[teamind]

Hey Daniel,

What is your preferred method for determining "incoming links" on competing sites?

Am I missing this feature in Micro Niche Finder? Or do you use SEOBook toolbar? Or different?

Cheers,
Kelly

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by teamind

Hey Daniel,

What is your preferred method for determining "incoming links" on competing sites?

Am I missing this feature in Micro Niche Finder? Or do you use SEOBook toolbar? Or different?

Cheers,
Kelly

Hey Kelly,

The SoC measures that, if it's green it's a go, if it's yellow it's a go with heavy backlinking.

- Dan

[Mary42]

This is great information just check out this

Advanced Keyword Research is the process of determining the actual search terms (words and phrases) that people use in Search Engines when conducting a search and then compiling them into a list for use on web pages
Keyword research is done to find out keyword popularity for relevant keywords with the intent of targeting for better Search Engine rankings.

[TheDebtEliminator]

Hello Daniel,

Great information and thanks for sharing

Best Regards

[Ray Erdmann]

Daniel,

In doing some additional research in this area, I've stumbled upon a predicament that I can't quite figure out how to best move forward and would like your guidance if all possible.

The issue is that the keywords I'm finding meet the following requirements:

1. Have between 1,000 & 3,000 monthly search volume
2. Have less then 300,000 competing pages
3. The top 10 pages in the SE's all have more then 300 back-links pointing to them
4. Most of the top spots are all pointing to top level domains and NOT individual pages.

HOWEVER...

Using a nifty little program (Traffic Travis), I see that all top 20 pages are NOT SEO'd properly...meaning the keywords I'm wanting to use are NOT in the 'title', 'description', or even the "H" tags.

THUS

Based on this information, would it make sense to move forward in hopes of out-performing the top spots based NOT ON the # of back-links, but by better SEO techniques?


Thanks,


Ray

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by Ray Erdmann

Daniel,

In doing some additional research in this area, I've stumbled upon a predicament that I can't quite figure out how to best move forward and would like your guidance if all possible.

The issue is that the keywords I'm finding meet the following requirements:

1. Have between 1,000 & 3,000 monthly search volume
2. Have less then 300,000 competing pages
3. The top 10 pages in the SE's all have more then 300 back-links pointing to them
4. Most of the top spots are all pointing to top level domains and NOT individual pages.

HOWEVER...

Using a nifty little program (Traffic Travis), I see that all top 20 pages are NOT SEO'd properly...meaning the keywords I'm wanting to use are NOT in the 'title', 'description', or even the "H" tags.

THUS

Based on this information, would it make sense to move forward in hopes of out-performing the top spots based NOT ON the # of back-links, but by better SEO techniques?


Thanks,


Ray

Yes, go for it.

With proper on site optimization and enough quality backlinks of high authority you will outrank them.

- Dan

[LookItsMeTerryG]

Originally Posted by Ray Erdmann

Daniel,

In doing some additional research in this area, I've stumbled upon a predicament that I can't quite figure out how to best move forward and would like your guidance if all possible.

The issue is that the keywords I'm finding meet the following requirements:

1. Have between 1,000 & 3,000 monthly search volume
2. Have less then 300,000 competing pages
3. The top 10 pages in the SE's all have more then 300 back-links pointing to them
4. Most of the top spots are all pointing to top level domains and NOT individual pages.

HOWEVER...

Using a nifty little program (Traffic Travis), I see that all top 20 pages are NOT SEO'd properly...meaning the keywords I'm wanting to use are NOT in the 'title', 'description', or even the "H" tags.

THUS

Based on this information, would it make sense to move forward in hopes of out-performing the top spots based NOT ON the # of back-links, but by better SEO techniques?


Thanks,


Ray

I agree with Daniel. It's all about getting high quality, trusted, authority sites to link to you. Since Trust and Authority are calculated on a domain-wide basis, any links gained will (or should) blanket the entire site with trust... meaning:

* All of your pages move up a bit
* Your site is more responsive to backlinks (even lower quality ones)
* Your new pages without backlinks will rank better.

The problem most of the time is being able to actually get these links. There are a few that are easy, like the Y! directory, LII and DMOZ (easy if you know a mod).. but the rest entail emailing or providing content, payment for links.

[wiley1]

Originally Posted by Sonni

I agree it's a problem with people assuming newbies know what to do so there are a lot of steps left out then when you go to do it you can't because you can't figure it out. They tell you what, but not how that seems to be the problem.

Then tons of time is wasted fooling with it trying to get it not knowing pieces are missing, so of course you won't be able to do it.

The other thing is not having the tech skills to do it. They tell you it's easy no tech skills required then you get it and ask yourself "How do you do that?"

Then the next thing you know you're asking for a refund because you can't use it. It's worthless if you can't implement it.
Sonni

Hi Sonni,

I agree wth you 100%. I have spent so much time gathering information to try to get the complete picture of how something is done from start to finish. I wish there was an "Internet School" where all the information pertaining to a particular technique could all be found in one place.

Louise

[Buhry]

How accurate is the SOC in MNF exactly? If MNF gives you a green light - then supposedly it will be easy to rank. But just how accurate is this?

[warrior123]

Originally Posted by Buhry

How accurate is the SOC in MNF exactly? If MNF gives you a green light - then supposedly it will be easy to rank. But just how accurate is this?

The SOC is just determined by:

allinanchor:
allintitle:
allinurl:

If you get a green light, this is just your first step in determining whether you can rank easily for the term. You still need to dig deeper by manually checking the top 10 results on the page for their page PR and domain age. If they are all PR4+ just move on to the next keyword.

[Buhry]

I usually also check in market samurai, nichewatch and yahoo site explorer. I'm just wondering if the green light/yellow light actually is a reliable indicator of how easy it will be to rank or not.