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Keyword Research For Article Marketing...

by simmonsmike7
9 replies
I've read so much about article marketing, and...

I still have 1 question...

When doing keyword research, how do I know if its possible for my article to rank for that keyword?

- I am writing high quality articles with good titles, content, etc

- I am getting backlinks to my articles after posting them

But, how can I know BEFORE, when I am actually doing keyword research, if my article stands a chance of ranking?

Please be specific & detailed...

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!
#article #keyword #marketing #research
  • Profile picture of the author Harry Behrens
    Well, the topic is a bit complex but there are a few 'easy' ways to get a handle on it.

    Here's one: Go to Google and type in the keyword that you want to rank for. Look at the results.

    If any of the results are in an article directory, then chances are very good that you can get it ranked in another article directory (or even in the same).

    For example if I type in "dog hypnosis training" and one of the top results is an Ezinearticles.com article on dog hypnosis training, then I'm pretty sure I can get an article ranking with the same keyword on Goarticles, ArticlesBase, SearchWarp etc. and viceversa.

    Similarly, if the article you find is on Ezinearticles and has been very recently submitted, there's a good chance that it will be dropping off soon (as it drops off of the recently added lists and such) and you'll be able to replace it with your own.

    The topic is certainly a lot bigger than that, make no mistake... but these are a couple things to think about.
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    - Harry Behrens

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  • Profile picture of the author simmonsmike7
    Well, what if the top 10 results DON'T show a listing from any article directories?

    Wouldn't that mean there's a better chance to get ranked...

    Also, does the amount of pages that come up when you type in the keyword come into play at all?
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Franklin
      Originally Posted by simmonsmike7 View Post

      Well, what if the top 10 results DON'T show a listing from any article directories?

      Wouldn't that mean there's a better chance to get ranked...
      It depends on what the top 10 consists of....My suggestion would be to get a Google PageRank tool add-on for Firefox (I use SEOQuake) and look at what the PRs of the top 10 are. If they are low PR sites with few backlinks then you have a good chance to outrank them.


      Originally Posted by simmonsmike7 View Post

      Also, does the amount of pages that come up when you type in the keyword come into play at all?
      I like to use on Google intitle:"keyword phrase" and if the results are 1,000 or less then I know I have an excellent chance of beating the competition.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Everybody has their own theory on keyword research and many people
        disagree with mine, though my results speak for themselves. If I were to
        give you some of my keywords and niches and had you look them up at
        Google, you'd see that many of my articles not only appear on page 1 of
        Google but as the very first listing.

        Having said that, whatever advice you get from anybody, test it. Don't take
        it as gospel because it is just their opinion.

        Okay, here is my opinion.

        I strongly believe in KEI, which stands for Keyword Efficiency Index. Many
        hard core SEOers say it's hogwash. That's fine. I use it and it works for me.

        KEI is computed as follows:

        (monthly searches)/(competing sites) X monthly searches.

        So, for example, let's take the keyword phrase "how to get out of debt."

        I just pulled that out of thin air.

        If I go to the Google keyword tool, I find that this phrase gets 22,200
        monthly searches.

        Now, if I go to the actual Google search engine and type that phrase in,
        using quotes (I'll explain why soon) you come up with 278,000
        competing sites.

        If you plug these numbers into the formula you get

        (22 000 / 278 000) * 22 000 = 1 741.00719

        That's right off of Google's calculator.

        The theory is that any KEI over 100 is good. Naturally, 1700 plus is
        excellent.

        Now, having said that, yes, there are other factors.

        Debt relief is a VERY competitive niche and some of the top sites are SEO'd
        to the hilt. It's not going to be easy to rank high for this phrase, but
        miuch easier than it would be if there were millions of competing sites and
        the KEI was under 100.

        Plus, the demand is there. With article marketing and submitting to the
        right sites, you can get your fair share of visitors. Send them to a squeeze
        page to build a list (give them a free report on debt relief) and you can
        easily build a substantial list over time.

        The key is the demand. There is tons of it, especially today with the
        economy being in the tubes.

        I have tackled niches much harder than this one with articles and have
        still made a nice income. The IM niche itself is super competitive and yet
        I have no problem getting 20 plus opt ins each day to it.

        Like I said, a lot of people will call my theory a lot of hogwash, and that's
        fine. Let them nitpick their niches to death and leave me a ton of niches
        that they wouldn't touch because they're too competitive or have too
        many high PR sites to go against.

        Just makes it easier for me to get my share of whatever market I'm after.

        As I said, take this response with a grain of salt and test it for yourself.

        Also, listen to what others have to say on this subject, especially SEO
        experts. You might find that what they share works better for you. All I
        know is that this is what works or me.
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  • Profile picture of the author simmonsmike7
    Steven,

    I was kind of hoping you would respond to this thread and was even debating on sending you a PM, so thanks for responding.

    I'm going to go with your theory & test it out - I'm sure there's other ways of doing it but if your saying this works, and I do believe you, no need to try something else.

    I just have 2 quick questions for you, if you would answer these it just may change my life (marketing life at least!).

    1) Do you recommend submitting to Ezinearticles ONLY - or spreading out the submissions to a bunch of directories?

    2) Once the article is up, do you continuously throw backlinks at it from web 2.0 sites until it reaches the top 3 spots?

    Getting your input on these two questions would mean a lot to me, Steven
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  • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
    I'd have to roll along with Waggerz here...

    It really is THAT simple to crack your research open, then it is simply down to testing... there is no better numbers than the ones you create yourself..

    Follow a simple formula like the one Steve laid out and then tweak as you go along...

    Peace

    Jay
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    Bare Murkage.........

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  • Profile picture of the author MarkJ
    simmonsmike7, if you have some money to invest, I've found that Micro Niche Finder is an excellent tool for longtail keyword research.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gunter Eibl
    Hi

    you can't know it beforehand if you will rank well or not with your article but you can make some checks to get an idea if you have a chance or not. You can spend hours to find that out and narrow it down, here is a quick method though that gives you a first picture about the difficulty within SECONDS:

    You must install the Firefox plugin "SEO for Firefox" first. It will display you a lot of infos for each search result.

    1) Enter the keyword phrase without quotes into Google. For example: house keeping

    2) Check the results: 2009-06-27_1828

    3) How strong are your competitors? Check the first 5-10 listings. How high is the PR, how many Yahoo page and domains links (most important). How old is the site. How is the alexa ranking etc.

    It will be difficult to outrank an old high PR site that has many links. While you still can beat them even with just a few links, you got a first idea how difficult it will be. If you are not a SEO expert and don't know how to beat them I don't recommend to compete with them.

    Look for keywords where the search results show young sites with a maximum of PR3 and just a few backlinks.

    Gunter
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    I second the suggestion to get Micro Niche Finder, but with a caveat. I've used it for months now and have noticed some discrepancies every now and then. If you find a keyword that MNF shows very low competition for, always go to Google and verify.

    Also, always check the Top 10 results and see if there are top level domains in there. If all or almost all of the Top 10 are TLD's, it'll be harder to compete. But if you see some article directory links or lots of interior page URLs, you've got a green light to go for it.

    Finally, always always always use the same keyword phrase as anchor text in your backlinks. I'm with Angela Edwards on this one... I think the advice to vary your anchor text wording only hurts your cause. The theory is that it looks more "natural" to Google, but unless you're planning to get tens of thousands of backlinks in a very short timeframe, stick with the keyword you're targeting every single time you get a backlink.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author tdave
    use the same keyword phrase as anchor text in your backlinks.. I think the advice to vary your anchor text wording only hurts your cause. The theory is that it looks more "natural" to Google,
    Do you have any strong points to support your theory?I been "Google bomb"for this matter.
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