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Biggest Mistake Made When Doing Keyword Research

by Rough Outline
6 replies
No, this isn't about selecting broad match instead of exact match. But we've all been there.

This is specifically about traffic trends and not using them properly. Before I think about targeting a keyword, I take a number of steps to analyse from a few different perspectives.

One of those things is use Google Analytics to look at traffic trends and where traffic is coming from. When it comes to keywords, I will not think about spending time, money and effort targeting a keyword unless the traffic trends are at least steady or preferably rising.

Why?

Because I don't want to invest in a keyword with decreasing traffic, as my returns will get smaller and smaller over time. On the flips side, it is much better to target keywords which will yield you greater traffic over time or will stay steady.

Before says "what about seasonal niches?", they're fine too, just as long as they're growing or staying steady season on season.

So the take away from this thread is - Don't target keywords that have decreasing traffic trends, you're making a huge mistake if you want long term success.
#biggest #keyword #made #mistake #research
  • Profile picture of the author RyanJohnson
    A huge mistake that I see from people over and over again is the keywords they target... finally hit the front page or even position 1 and still aren't making sales. They aren't choosing good keywords.

    It all depends on your site type and what you are doing with it but I think about 80% of "site builders" should do more research on keyword research.

    If you are trying to sell something, your own or affiliate, you don't want to target traffic that isn't going to buy. I don't care if you get 5 billion visitors a day from a keyword, if it is an "information" keyword... guess what?.... you get my point.

    Same thing goes the other way around, if you have an info site targeting buying keywords, you do nothing but get on your visitors nerves... they want info... they don't like you... they like that keyword they just punched into G. If they liked you, they would have went TO YOU instead of to Google. Give them what they want and then you may be able to convert them.

    BTW, I agree, pay attention to traffic trends as stated in the OP.
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  • Profile picture of the author braincandy7
    I agree. If you are selling volume of traffic is not always the best way.

    A smaller number of highly targeted traffic is better. Often longer keywords with more specific requests. Keywords which actually show that the searcher is ready to buy rather than just doing research.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kal Sallam
    Originally Posted by Rough Outline View Post

    No, this isn't about selecting broad match instead of exact match. But we've all been there.

    This is specifically about traffic trends and not using them properly. Before I think about targeting a keyword, I take a number of steps to analyse from a few different perspectives.

    One of those things is use Google Analytics to look at traffic trends and where traffic is coming from. When it comes to keywords, I will not think about spending time, money and effort targeting a keyword unless the traffic trends are at least steady or preferably rising.

    Why?

    Because I don't want to invest in a keyword with decreasing traffic, as my returns will get smaller and smaller over time. On the flips side, it is much better to target keywords which will yield you greater traffic over time or will stay steady.

    Before says "what about seasonal niches?", they're fine too, just as long as they're growing or staying steady season on season.

    So the take away from this thread is - Don't target keywords that have decreasing traffic trends, you're making a huge mistake if you want long term success.
    What you are referring to is called an " Evergreen Niche" in IM terminology.

    Nice tip though.
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  • Profile picture of the author UMS
    Definitely a good point and certainly something I always look at when selecting a keyword.

    There will be times when there is something very new on the market that hasn't had a chance to gain any search history, so in those cases, you need to use a bit of luck, intuition and marketing knowledge to figure out if its going to be a flash in the pan or a long term prospect.

    The other related mistake I see people make is targeting the wrong region.

    I recently found a really good set of keywords that had a good rising trend, but virtually no search traffic in the USA. Over 90% of the searches were from the UK, so I've built my site on a .co.uk domain and will be specifically targeting the UK market.
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    • Profile picture of the author Rough Outline
      Originally Posted by UMS View Post

      Definitely a good point and certainly something I always look at when selecting a keyword.

      There will be times when there is something very new on the market that hasn't had a chance to gain any search history, so in those cases, you need to use a bit of luck, intuition and marketing knowledge to figure out if its going to be a flash in the pan or a long term prospect.

      The other related mistake I see people make is targeting the wrong region.

      I recently found a really good set of keywords that had a good rising trend, but virtually no search traffic in the USA. Over 90% of the searches were from the UK, so I've built my site on a .co.uk domain and will be specifically targeting the UK market.
      Targeting keywords that have only started to gain traffic is a risky strategy but it can massively pay off, allows you to get ahead of everyone in terms of page authority too.
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