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Am I doing my niche competition research correctly?

by TekNite
6 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I have seen a load of tutorials and videos on niche competition research but everyone seems to have their own method or are using fancy research tools. For now I am using Google Search and Google Adwords and I am curious if I am doing it right. Rather, am I at least doing it in a way that is efficient and accurate. My research is for low competition long tail keywords. Here is how I am doing my research.

I use Google adwords to locate potential long tail keywords. (most have between 100 and 500 monthly searches)

I run those through Google in quotes: "long tail keyword goes here". If it has less than 50,000 - 90,000 results I go a bit further.

I then run another query using 'inurl' to tell me what the competition really is. inurl:"long tail keyword goes here". this will tell me how many pages are optimized for this keyword(s). I look for numbers/results under 500ish.

Any help or insight would be amazing, thanks!
#competition #competition research #correct #long tail keywords #niche #research
  • Profile picture of the author dreamtoreality
    Use inurl to see what the competition is like, and then check the first page of Google to see if ranking there is viable. You also need to know whether the keywords you are targeting are worth going after based on volume and users' intent. No point getting traffic if it doesn't convert.
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    • Profile picture of the author TekNite
      Originally Posted by dreamtoreality View Post

      Use inurl to see what the competition is like, and then check the first page of Google to see if ranking there is viable. You also need to know whether the keywords you are targeting are worth going after based on volume and users' intent. No point getting traffic if it doesn't convert.
      Thanks for the reply.

      When you say "check the first page of Google to see if ranking there is viable".. Do you mean the amount of results that are displayed using only the quotes? Meaning if there are to many results even if there is a low competition (as shown by inurl) i should move on the looking for another long tail? If so what would you suggest as being viable. I am also only finding long tails with a volume of about 100-500 monthly. Which I assume is fine for a smaller site I assume? Again, thanks for the reply.
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  • Profile picture of the author dreamtoreality
    When checking the first page of google search without quotes. Viable tends to mean not the big boys ranking, but there are exceptions. If you see other affiliates on page 1 then that's usually a good sign. Make sure to check your competitors' backlink profile though. 100-500 is fine as long as you will be able to rank and think that traffic will convert.
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    • Profile picture of the author TekNite
      Originally Posted by dreamtoreality View Post

      When checking the first page of google search without quotes. Viable tends to mean not the big boys ranking, but there are exceptions. If you see other affiliates on page 1 then that's usually a good sign. Make sure to check your competitors' backlink profile though. 100-500 is fine as long as you will be able to rank and think that traffic will convert.
      Awesome that explains a lot. One last question: I just did this as you suggested on some of the key words I saved in spreadsheet. Some of them have maybe 50,000 results when quoted and only 10-30 results with inurl and quoted. I tried them with no quottes or inurl and some have between 3 and 20 million results. Is this way to many results? also like you suggested I checked the backlink profiles of the top sites on the first page and some of them have 40k backlinks. That's intimidating. Do I still have a good chance of ranking for my keywords out of 20 million results being there is no competition for those words specifically? I may have to rethink my entire endeavor if so. Thanks!
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      • Profile picture of the author dreamtoreality
        Don't worry about the number of results. For example, a term like Deep vein thrombosis has 557,000 results, but you're not going to be ranking for that term anytime soon when competing against nhs, webmd, mayoclinic, wikipedia, emedicine etc. on page one. That's why pretty much only the first page matters - it's where all the traffic is.

        You say a site has 40k backlinks, but where those links are coming from matter. An authority site will have many, many links, but a blackhatter may have used churn and burn techniques to get to page 1, but it's doubtful his site will last.

        Shoot me a PM with a couple of keywords if you want, and I'll take a quick look. If not, just focus on everything I said above and think logically through what you're seeing on Google.
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        • Profile picture of the author TekNite
          Originally Posted by dreamtoreality View Post

          Don't worry about the number of results. For example, a term like Deep vein thrombosis has 557,000 results, but you're not going to be ranking for that term anytime soon when competing against nhs, webmd, mayoclinic, wikipedia, emedicine etc. on page one. That's why pretty much only the first page matters - it's where all the traffic is.

          You say a site has 40k backlinks, but where those links are coming from matter. An authority site will have many, many links, but a blackhatter may have used churn and burn techniques to get to page 1, but it's doubtful his site will last.

          Shoot me a PM with a couple of keywords if you want, and I'll take a quick look. If not, just focus on everything I said above and think logically through what you're seeing on Google.
          I really appreciate the help. Will throw you a PM.
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