12 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
12 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

So how do you judge competition anyway?

by mmsearch
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi all

Just a little background- I have market samarai as well as MNF and free version of Traffic Travis.

Ok - so have been doing quite a bit of keyword research lately and a little confused.

Each of these tools seem to have differing views/metrics for determining the competition (Top 10 results) levels of keywords. Moreover, on this forum, it is kind of the same (lots of differing opinions as to what to look for in regards to acceptable competition).

For all the keywords i look at, I always cross check them with the above tools. Often, they will contradict eachother. One of them will tell me that the competition is at a decent level, but when checking with one of the other ones it will tell me it is difficult or vice versa or whatever.

Now this is not always the case - sometimes they actually all agree- but it seems to happen more often than not.

Anyone else have similar experiences with keyword tools?

Can anyone offer some insight as to keyword research and how to decifer these results?

Much appreciated.
#competition #judge
  • Profile picture of the author mmsearch
    anyone have any recommendations?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3516054].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author llfleming
    action. just take action or you will never get anywhere! flip a coin or something, read the seo thread pinned to the top of this forum and develop a judgement of your own but do take action.
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3516077].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    I say go for it no matter what the competition is, unless you're building a mass amount of adsense sites. I check to see the amount of backlinks they have, how good their on page SEO is, and their domain name.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3516102].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author raviv
      Your major competition is the top ten sites on Page 1 of the SERPs. Analyze them and try to beat them. That is what you should focus on
      Best
      Raviv
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3516741].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author beyondyours
        yes take action.

        i am in the same boat - lots of tools and lots of info.

        your main concern is page one. if you use marketsamurai and see lots of green and a PR 0, 1, or even 2 on the first page, there is a good chance you can rank for that keyword.

        just take action. chances are you already know what to look for. jump in and just pick some stats to go by and see what happens!
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3516759].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mmsearch
    Ok guys- thanks for the input- I will heed your advice and just jump in and test things out - we will see how it goes
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3517002].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author webhostingrvw
      i don't care about the competition. what i check is potential of the niche.

      you can guess the competition by

      1. site age.
      2. links from different domains
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3517041].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author greatseoservice
    What I know for shure- Beating wikipedia is hard, sites with lots of on site backlinks (not necesarily url backs) are also hard to outranks.
    Site age- if the site is 5 years or older that is a bad sign if its between the first ones.
    In the first then you shouldn`t see PR 3+ pages.
    Amazon pages are a good sign.
    Check how many backlinks has the first domain (overall) less then 1000 you hit jackpot. Over 10k-if its not a blackhat site with low quality backlinks move to the next
    Simple guidelines
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3517100].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author mmsearch
      Originally Posted by greatseoservice View Post

      What I know for shure- Beating wikipedia is hard, sites with lots of on site backlinks (not necesarily url backs) are also hard to outranks.
      Site age- if the site is 5 years or older that is a bad sign if its between the first ones.
      In the first then you shouldn`t see PR 3+ pages.
      Amazon pages are a good sign.
      Check how many backlinks has the first domain (overall) less then 1000 you hit jackpot. Over 10k-if its not a BlueFart site with low quality backlinks move to the next
      Simple guidelines
      Thanks- looks like some solid, tangible advice
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3518515].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author junilerick
    I think that the best use of MS, MNF, or whatever is that they save time at giving you a ballpark but like everything else, it's still best to manually check things out through google and yahoo, if nothing else but to double check. MS is pretty solid in my opinion, although I find that their potential earning and daily clicks are a little bloated. Just my 2c.
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3523502].message }}

Trending Topics