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What's The Magic Formula (Keyword Research)

by aerionmiles
4 replies
I've read alot of different answers so I thought I would ask the forum for direct advice from people who actually are seeing results.

What is the magic formula when doing your keyword research that you use to determine if a niche is good enough to enter?

When you are looking in quotes in google what number makes you say this is possibly a good niche and to dig deeper?

When you search with the google keyword tool what amount of searches do you consider good and where does it begin to be bad?

Do you also look at backlink competition from the top 10 in the search engine?

What other steps do you take when you are digging for your keywords?

Just trying to get an approximate figure on what works for people that are actually making money with their affiliate marketing.

Thanks Warriors.
#formula #keyword #magic #research
  • Profile picture of the author Midas3 Consulting
    There's no magic number on search volume, let me tell you why I personally
    pay zero attention to it, it's very niche specific.

    If I want to sell some high value manual on nuclear fissionable isotopic reactors
    for $10k a pop, I'm pretty sure the search volume is small, but it could
    easily be more profitable than some fat loss niche with 50,000 per day
    searches.

    As far as competition, I pay zero attention to in quotes, out of quotes,
    I look at one thing and one thing only... who are in the top 5 positions
    and can I get past them.

    Past that everything is moot, if you can't get in the top you're getting
    naff all clicks.
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    • Profile picture of the author -Jericho-
      Originally Posted by SimonHarrison View Post

      As far as competition, I pay zero attention to in quotes, out of quotes,
      I look at one thing and one thing only... who are in the top 5 positions
      and can I get past them.
      This is my primary method initially. First I determine the competition in the top 10. Are they big authority sites, are they really old sites with lots of links, are they newly created pages, etc.

      You need to look at each one and figure out if it's a site dedicated to that particular keyword and what kind of authority it has.

      I wouldn't go after a keyword if it was something like WebMD dominating the top search with a PR of 6. Unless all the sites under it were low PR domains with very few backlinks.

      Before I even get to that point I want to make sure that I have a good list of keywords that I want to check. I want to make sure that they're in a niche where people buy stuff and that they have a decent amount of searches each day. I would say 50 per day as a bare minimum.

      I then check the first page without quotes and look at the competition. After that I check with quotes just to get an idea of how many pages are using the keyword. Then I check allintitle:keywords to see if many sites are specifically targeting it.

      If I see a big number in the first search but extremely small numbers in the last two I know that it can be dominated if the sites on the first page aren't too tough to beat. (How do you know what's small? Experience)

      If you're serious you will use every tool available not just one tool for measuring competition. That's why I use all three search methods. It gives you a better understanding of the competition.

      I like to make my sites niche targeted with the keywords in the domain that I'm targeting. I now make smaller sites that are laser targeted instead of bigger sites with a keyword theme. I find I can dominate the keyword much easier that way since my SEO is so targeted.
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      • Profile picture of the author aerionmiles
        Originally Posted by -Jericho- View Post

        This is my primary method initially. First I determine the competition in the top 10. Are they big authority sites, are they really old sites with lots of links, are they newly created pages, etc.

        You need to look at each one and figure out if it's a site dedicated to that particular keyword and what kind of authority it has.

        I wouldn't go after a keyword if it was something like WebMD dominating the top search with a PR of 6. Unless all the sites under it were low PR domains with very few backlinks.

        Before I even get to that point I want to make sure that I have a good list of keywords that I want to check. I want to make sure that they're in a niche where people buy stuff and that they have a decent amount of searches each day. I would say 50 per day as a bare minimum.

        I then check the first page without quotes and look at the competition. After that I check with quotes just to get an idea of how many pages are using the keyword. Then I check allintitle:keywords to see if many sites are specifically targeting it.

        If I see a big number in the first search but extremely small numbers in the last two I know that it can be dominated if the sites on the first page aren't too tough to beat. (How do you know what's small? Experience)

        If you're serious you will use every tool available not just one tool for measuring competition. That's why I use all three search methods. It gives you a better understanding of the competition.

        I like to make my sites niche targeted with the keywords in the domain that I'm targeting. I now make smaller sites that are laser targeted instead of bigger sites with a keyword theme. I find I can dominate the keyword much easier that way since my SEO is so targeted.
        Thanks, youre right I did forget about allintitle. Thanks for your input.

        So it seems rule number one is check out who is already ranking and see if it's worth it and possible to try and outrank them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    I always start my sites with very easy keywords. These are words that I am very confident I know I can get onto the front page for. They aren't always the most rewarding in terms of search traffic but a #1 spot for a keyword that only gets 100 searches / day is better than a #10 spot for a word that gets searched 1500 times a day.

    I have set values. I want a top 10 Page PR average of less than 2 and a Backlink to Page average of less than 20. With basic bookmarking and low level linking I can get these words on the front page in a couple of weeks.
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