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Competition Metrics

by cbondcarolina
6 replies
I've already posted this under a different title, but it didn't get any feedback. So here's another attempt with a bit of a spin.

I'm trying to figure out which products are worth promoting and which are a waste of time. I've borrowed certain competition metrics from different sources in order to weigh the benefits of promoting one product over another. Here is the outline that I follow: I check the number of unique monthly searches for my keyword phrase of interest. If that number falls within a satisfactory range, I check the number of competing pages for that keyword. If that number falls within a satisfactory range, I check to see if any money has been spent on advertising for that keyword. If all things check out, I pull the trigger on promoting the product.

All this seems incredibly simple, but the real challenge lies in trying to determine an optimal range for both of my keyword criteria. What ranges would you consider optimal with regards to the number of monthly searches and the number of competing pages for a product? I understand that every situation is different, but any suggestions could be helpful. Thank you in advance.

cbondcarolina
#competition #metrics
  • Profile picture of the author Derek_Thomas
    Originally Posted by cbondcarolina View Post

    I've already posted this under a different title, but it didn't get any feedback. So here's another attempt with a bit of a spin.

    I'm trying to figure out which products are worth promoting and which are a waste of time. I've borrowed certain competition metrics from different sources in order to weigh the benefits of promoting one product over another. Here is the outline that I follow: I check the number of unique monthly searches for my keyword phrase of interest. If that number falls within a satisfactory range, I check the number of competing pages for that keyword. If that number falls within a satisfactory range, I check to see if any money has been spent on advertising for that keyword. If all things check out, I pull the trigger on promoting the product.

    All this seems incredibly simple, but the real challenge lies in trying to determine an optimal range for both of my keyword criteria. What ranges would you consider optimal with regards to the number of monthly searches and the number of competing pages for a product? I understand that every situation is different, but any suggestions could be helpful. Thank you in advance.

    cbondcarolina

    As a starting point I recommend a target keyword to have at least 30 daily phrase match searches and no more than 50,000 competing sites.

    However, the number of competing sites alone does not tell the whole story. What really matters is the strength of that competition...their backlinks, domain age, on-page SEO, etc.

    So if possible, always check your competition using a tool like Market Samurai.

    Again though, 30 searches a day and no more than 50,000 competing is a general range I find acceptable.

    Hope this helps,
    Derek
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  • Profile picture of the author smcgriever
    I would say an optimal range is at least 1000 searches per month and less than 100 "intitle" keywords - meaning when you do a search for intitle:"keyword" in google, less than 100 results are yielded.
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    • Profile picture of the author cbondcarolina
      Hey guys,

      Both of you make very interesting points that I did not previously consider. SMC, by intitle, do you mean that you place your primary keyword phrase in quotations when checking site competition?

      Derek, you make a great point. It's not just the number of competitor's, but the quality of their sites. I still haven't used market samurai, but I'm going to have to see how powerful this tool really is.

      cbondcarolina
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      • Profile picture of the author adamcm
        Sorry to hijack a bit OP.

        Would it be best to use intitle with quotes, or intitle without quotes? I would think that without quotes would be a better representation, but am curious how others think.
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      • Profile picture of the author Derek_Thomas
        Originally Posted by cbondcarolina View Post

        Hey guys,

        Both of you make very interesting points that I did not previously consider. SMC, by intitle, do you mean that you place your primary keyword phrase in quotations when checking site competition?

        Derek, you make a great point. It's not just the number of competitor's, but the quality of their sites. I still haven't used market samurai, but I'm going to have to see how powerful this tool really is.

        cbondcarolina

        I do believe MS has a fully functional 12 day free trial, after which the Keyword Research Module remains free but the Competition Module is disabled. Still, you have almost 2 weeks to test this feature and easily analyze your competition.

        All the best,
        Derek
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  • Profile picture of the author Boadicea
    Originally Posted by cbondcarolina View Post

    Derek, you make a great point. It's not just the number of competitor's, but the quality of their sites. I still haven't used market samurai, but I'm going to have to see how powerful this tool really is
    You've hit the nail on the head there cbondcarolina.

    The intitle is only part of what you want to look at when it comes to the competition, and if you follow Derek's recommendation of using Market Samurai (which I agree with) then you can watch the training videos alongside using Market Samurai and you'll get to learn a lot about which metrics are important and why, and the sort of ranges that would be useful for you.

    Isha
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