Niche keywords -ideal traffic level?

by s3alax
9 replies
  • SEO
  • |
HI all,

First time poster here. I'm really struggling to find a niche keyword to target and wanted to gauge from forum members what you'd recommend as the ballpark SEO traffic figure I should be aiming at with my keywords.

I've found a couple but they're in the low 1500s to 2000s exact searches per month and I've read elsewhere I should be aiming for around 5000/month.

I'm just getting started in the business, have invested in a copy of Market Samurai and am now getting increasingly frustrated that I can't seem to find the right niche.

Apart from the above the only keywords I've found so far with desirable traffic levels are for products I wouldn't be interested in promoting.

The other factors I'm using to determine if a keyword is desirable are low page ranks, and at least two domains that have zero backlinks on them.

Can someone give me some pointers? I understand this part of the process is really important and as such want to make sure I make a strong start.

Thanks
#ideal #keywords #level #niche #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author lostcyclist
    You are starting with the correct questions. Keyword = market research.

    Getting this part right is 95% of the challenge in SEO.

    One thing to keep in mind is that the Google Keyword Planner seems to be off. In real life, my sites receive about 3x the traffic GKP says that they should. I've observed this effect across multiple niches.

    With that in mind, I like to see at least 300 searches for each of my main keywords... and I work in as many longtail variations on each page as I can to make sure I thoroughly cover the topic.

    The only other thing is PR hasn't been updated in awhile. So I look at the DA instead.

    Good luck. It's a beautiful game!
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    • Profile picture of the author s3alax
      Thanks for the really useful reply. Can I just ask one thing, you say you like to see 300 searches for your keywords - is that per day or per month???
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    As lostcyclist said, you're certainly starting with in the right area with your research.

    The problem though is there's not really any one range that'll cover all the variables. You need to consider traffic compared to competition compared to profit potential (and it helps to also consider the life and seasonality of the product you're going to promote).

    If there's major profit potential and low competition you can make a living with pretty low volume keywords. If there's major competition and low profits then even a huge search volume isn't likely to do much for you.

    When I'm doing research I generally consider Competition>Search Volume>Profitability>Seasonality. (Which is pretty exhausting, so I ended up putting together a tool to do it for me).

    I'm not entirely sure what you mean when you say "The other factors I'm using to determine if a keyword is desirable are low page ranks, and at least two domains that have zero backlinks on them."

    PageRank isn't a measure that really has any remaining authority. Backlinks are a fairly good indicator, but you don't need a competitor to have zero to be able to outrank them. On the subject of domains - how far down are you going in the SERPs? If I'm looking to rank I want to find several first page competitors that have poor onsite SEO, few (or bad) backlinks, and high traffic. Or some combination of that.

    I hope some of this helps. I'm always happy to see folks doing their research before jumping in head first.
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    • Profile picture of the author s3alax
      HI Dave, If by SERPs you mean ranking pages, then I'm focusing on page 1 and the top 10 hits.

      Mike, I thought Market Samurai provided a good insight into traffic and competition, and had also been looking at Long Tail Pro. I've also been using Google Trends and the Google 'allintitle:' search.

      What would you recommend for research?

      I definitely feel there's a risk getting too bogged down in the research - I know it's necessary but in one sense it almost kills off the passion behind my ideas.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by s3alax View Post

        HI Dave, If by SERPs you mean ranking pages, then I'm focusing on page 1 and the top 10 hits.

        Mike, I thought Market Samurai provided a good insight into traffic and competition, and had also been looking at Long Tail Pro. I've also been using Google Trends and the Google 'allintitle:' search.

        What would you recommend for research?

        I definitely feel there's a risk getting too bogged down in the research - I know it's necessary but in one sense it almost kills off the passion behind my ideas.
        "allintitle" searches are totally useless for competition. More BS floated about daily in the IM world. It does not matter how many webpages are in the Google index. Your competition is the same for EVERY SINGLE KEYWORD. You competition is the top 3. The page ranking #23,482 does not matter.

        None of the tools out there analyze site structure or link quality. Moz's attempts to analyze link quality, but it is based on their link database which is lacking in my opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    First, get a refund on Market Samurai. It is useless.

    Second, the search volume you are after really depends on what you are selling. If I am running a site relying on AdSense where I make pennies per click, I need a metric shit-ton of traffic to make any serious money off of it.

    On the other hand, if I am selling something that pays me a commission of $2,000 per sale, I'm going after any relevant keyword pretty much regardless of search volume. I don't care if it gets searched only 10 times a month. I just need to make 1 sale each month to make some decent money off the site.

    So search volume is all relative to what you are doing.
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    • Profile picture of the author inxie
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      First, get a refund on Market Samurai. It is useless.

      Second, the search volume you are after really depends on what you are selling. If I am running a site relying on AdSense where I make pennies per click, I need a metric shit-ton of traffic to make any serious money off of it.

      On the other hand, if I am selling something that pays me a commission of $2,000 per sale, I'm going after any relevant keyword pretty much regardless of search volume. I don't care if it gets searched only 10 times a month. I just need to make 1 sale each month to make some decent money off the site.

      So search volume is all relative to what you are doing.
      I agree 100%

      There is no one size fits all for this type of thing.
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  • Profile picture of the author MiaCOO
    I usually use Keywordspy to have a quick overview on my competitors and then I examine their sites and links. It usually takes me a week to do a deep analysis, but as far as I've understood for now it is very important what you sell and even more important how and to what channel. As for keywords I try to create several lists - long-tailed keywords are great, but they have a small amount of searches comparing to short ones. I also have an app with an algorithm to create keyword lists based on advertisers data about a product. If you don't have access to it, try to analyze competitors ways to promote the same type of offer. It is a long and hard way, but it is lots of fun too. Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author mscarlett
    This depends hugely on the aim of your website. If you want to build a website for short term profit, because you've read it in some ebook, then I can't help.

    I build sites around my hobbies and interests, and I look to the long term. But here's is where I do things the opposite way around. Instead of finding keywords of a certain ranking, I create content around the subject at hand. Hybrid Audio I6SW subwofoer for example. If you enter that into a search, you can't go for without tripping on one of my sites.

    I create content first, then monitor to see how people are finding my site, then I create another few posts based on those keywords, then monitor to see how people find my site. Then I create another few posts based on ... those keywords, etc, etc.
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