Lesson Learned! A Time-Wasting & Money-Wasting Mistake On Keyword Research (I'm kicking myself...)

by Chris Sweeney

Posted: 14 years ago 25 replies

Ok, so right now I am kinda p****d off but kinda happy and laughing at myself at the same time. I'll explain why, and I'll try to make it as brief as possible.

So 2 months ago I purchased 6 new domains (using just the exact keyword I was going for in each domain, and either .com, .net, or .org). I used the Google Keyword Tool to do my keyword research and found some great keywords with 3000+ searches per month and less than 100,000 phrase-match competition in Google. And guess what? I'm now in the top 5 of Google for 3 of those 6 domains I bought. Woo hoo/Yippee/Yayyyy, right?! WRONG!

After having those top spots in Google and wondering why I was still getting minimal traffic and minimal clicks/sales, I decided to start over from square one - my keyword research phase (to see whether I had made a mistake or if people were really searching for the keywords I chose). And here's what I came up with.

Originally, one of the keywords got 3300 searches per month, and I am actually at number 2 in Google for it now. So at about 100 searches per day, I was expecting to get maybe 40 of those visitors, and for 10-20 of them to click on an AdSense ad.

NEVER HAPPENED. Wanna know why?

BECAUSE I FORGOT TO SWITCH THE GOOGLE KEYWORD TOOL TO EXACT MATCH/PHRASE MATCH - IT WAS STILL ON BROAD MATCH! Ahhhhh! That keyword actually gets......drumroll please......a whopping 26 exact searches per month! Wahoooo! I can feel that traffic coming from miles away! (can you sense the sarcasm?

)

So yeah I was mad, but at the same time, I'm pretty happy because now I think I've finally found an answer to the question "Why the heck aren't these sites making any darn money or getting any darn traffic?!" So lesson learned! I'm actually quite excited to begin my "new era" of keyword research and I hope you don't make the same mistake that I did!

Chris

P.S. I'd absolutely love to hear if you made that same mistake or one similar. It will make me feel like much less of a jack-wagon!

#keyword #kicking #learned #lesson #mistake #moneywasting #research #timewasting

Barry Unruh 14 years ago

Great reminder post for all of us!

I've made the same mistake, but thank goodness only on one blog and did not get too deep into the project before I ran it through Market Samurai and went "What the....."
- Thanks
Signature

Brain Drained...Signature Coming Soon!
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2755119].message }}

petelta

14 years ago

I think we have all done this in the beginning Chris lol. I think it was about 5 websites into my internet marketing career when I looked back and realized not one of them was for a good keyword.

You learn though and never make that mistake again lol.

Don't think your sites are a total loss though. If you have a decent amount of material on your site and have a good sales funnel to make money from it, don't hesitate to get other sources of traffic to it.

There are lots more ways to get traffic then search engines and you can still get that page ranked for good keywords without the domain being exact.

I can tell by the sound of your post that you are going mostly for search engine traffic right now and that's understandable. I was there at one point too....

You live and learn.

Travis

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

TEESPRING Student Rakes In Over $116k In Less Than 3 Months
Niche Pro Profits - How I raked in OVER $120k in 9 months with authority niche sites...

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2755136].message }}

JohnMcCabe

14 years ago

Chris, you have a healthy attitude. Good job...

At least you didn't do like one person I won't mention, but carries a fish around the forum with him, who set a nice Adwords campaign and linked it to his download page instead of his sales page...

[ 1 ] Thanks
1 reply

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2755171].message }}

Michael Mayo

14 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

Talk about going all out just to give something away...ROFLMAO
I think I remember that guy telling the story here on the WF a while back.

Chris, You have a good attitude.
Most of us have done things that weren't what we thought we were doing
in the past. Live and learn. I bet you won't do it again RIGHT?

Have a Great Day!
Michael

PS. John, You may not have made that mistake if you would put down the
fish and type with your hands for a change.

[ 1 ] Thanks

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2755228].message }}

Stephen Bray 14 years ago

I think keyword research is one
of those skills that needs practice.

Also you must be prepared to drop
some bloopers.

It seems like your keywords would
be OK as one of a number of posts
on your theme.

So, it's difficult to say, without
knowing your site, but most likely
you need to amend your front
page, and add more long-tail-kw
posts.

Or you could simply buy a new
domain and start again, which
can be the cheapest option.

Stephen
- Thanks
Signature
Send me a DM, or visit my support desk to contact me: http://support.stephenbray.com
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2755200].message }}
Superior Content Creation 14 years ago

Yep, for a long time I didn't even realize that was the way to go about it...LOL And then I did it on accident once as well. I've still got some domains I got that way and trying to figure out what to do with them. I always double check all my numbers before I purchase now.
- Thanks
Signature

[SALES COPYWRITING] "$80,000 in Just One Email!"
REVIEWS & LOTS OF EXAMPLES!
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2755210].message }}
King Shiloh Banned 14 years ago

Thanks for the heads up. It's better to learn from someone else's experience.
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2755217].message }}
ELVISTHEPELVIS 14 years ago

Every time I see a good volume of searches I always double check to see if it is broad or exact. Yeah, that has got to stink but at least you will never make the mistake again.

Brian
- Thanks
- 1 reply
Signature
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2755248].message }}
- Tom L 14 years ago
  
  Oh boy... do I understand the feeling. I have done the same with my first two sites... lol... I thought wow they have around a 100 people coming in per day. The additional mistake I made was that I did not know how to rate the competition very well and it was not that easy for a small niche. After a month and a half I looked back and found out they only get about 37 visitors per day and now after google updated their keyword tool it is 7. The lesson was great and imagine that... I managed to get to position 3 on google with my first site.
  
  Live and learn
  
  Thanks
  
  Signature
  Get my list of 25,260 article directories for Article Marketing Robot
  
  5,000 auto-approve blogs, perfect for Scrapebox, updated weekly
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2756121].message }}
deloriagod 14 years ago

Man I did that on my first couple of websites. It all looked too good to be true, and it was. We all make silly mistakes, but what matters is that we learn from them. These days I'm a bit on the fence about even using keywords in title. It's starting to look really spammy to me, so I can only imagine how normal internet users feel.
- Thanks
Signature

Mustang Guides
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2756170].message }}
cagliostro 14 years ago

Exact is not what it is needed, Phrase is more likely.
- Thanks
- 2 replies
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2756275].message }}
- Benguy 14 years ago
  
  I actually did the exact same thing for my first four blogs lol, you're in good company. And yes, it is rather exciting when you find out you did everything right except for one very important part :rolleyes:
  
  Thanks
  
  Signature
  
  Skepticism is a hindrance to ignorance; learn what is right not what is learned.
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2757152].message }}
- terryd 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by cagliostro
  
  Exact is not what it is needed, Phrase is more likely.
  
  No you are wrong, exact is what was needed in this situation......
  
  Thanks
  
  Signature
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2757345].message }}
Jacob Martus 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Chris Sweeney

I was expecting to get maybe 40 of those visitors, and for 10-20 of them to click on an AdSense ad.

Just a heads up so you don't get your hopes up...expecting a 25-50% CTR is being very very optimistic. It will of course depend on your niche, but I would say shoot for between 5 and 10%. So out of 40 visitors/day, expect 2 to 4 clicks per day. You may very well get more, but going in with that kind of assumption is going to set you up for a disappointment.
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2757585].message }}
Mike Anthony 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Chris Sweeney

P.S. I'd absolutely love to hear if you made that same mistake or one similar. It will make me feel like much less of a jack-wagon!

Well be prepared to feel better then. I've been doing this for quite some time but I did that in a rush about two weeks ago. Only thing is I caught it before committing to the keyword phrase. Easily could have gone through . Just went in checking something else and realized what I had done.
- Thanks
Signature
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2757619].message }}
seoindiaforu 14 years ago

I do not think you have done a very big mistake.You should focus on promoting your website and you can rank well for all those keywords you are targeting.Although getting a exact domain helps but even a broad phrase keyword domain can get you good results.
- Thanks
- 1 reply
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2758725].message }}
- thebitbotdotcom 14 years ago
  
  Google Keyword Tool claims another victim! Don't feel bad. It has happened to all of us.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
  Signature
  
  Do Your Copywriting Skills Suck?
  
  Let Us Help You Develop Your Writing Skills!
  
  Submit Guest Posts With [ TheBitBot.Com ]
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2758792].message }}
  
  rinor81 14 years ago
  
  Oh man, great post - thank you!
  I bought some domains and it showed me 12,000 searches a month, now I see in EXACT it's only 70 a month!!! What a difference oh my god!
  I bought about 20 domains, well....I will be using and building them but thank you for sharing, now we all know we need to search for Exact...
  Good Luck all.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
  Signature
  Soda Maker
  Kindle 3G
  Forex trading strategies
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2758888].message }}
  
  F1SEO 14 years ago
  
  A timely reminder of the importance of good, and relevant keyword research. Because the default setting on GAKT are broad match a lot of people still see those values as accurate not realising that exact match is a lot more accurate.
  
  Thanks
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2758952].message }}
brettb 14 years ago

Yeah, The Keyword Academy teaches the importance of the EXACT matching.

We've also found out there are just massive differences between the old and new Google keyword tool search volumes.

On top of that, my highest paying new keyword actually says it has $0.04 bids in the keyword tool, so it's all completely meaningless really!
- Thanks
Signature
ÖŽ FindABlog: Find blogs to comment on, guest posting opportunities and more ÖŽ
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2759207].message }}
diamondman 14 years ago

I actually came here to ask question but the discussion has already answered my question
- Thanks
- 1 reply
Signature
Home business work opportunity
no credit check loans
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2759696].message }}
- theleathercollection 14 years ago
  
  Yes, the google keyword tool has changed alot just in the past few months. I just re-did all of my keyword research because I also didn't do exact. I got lucky and a lot of my keywords weren't that far off.
  
  Thanks
  
  Signature
  
  Get the Best Leather Hides, Cowhide and Upholstery Leather
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2760038].message }}
spyoftheworld 14 years ago

Oh That's gonna drive me crazy man
but that's really a lesson you won't forget
Thanks for sharing
- Thanks
- 1 reply
Signature

Coming Soon
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2759783].message }}
- Dan Weaver 14 years ago
  
  One of my clients got stung by this... (How bad is this)...
  
  There a site call RankPay... that is a 'performance based SEO' firm ... Google it and have a look... when you enter a keyword, it returns a load of prices for reaching the 30 to 20 spot, 19 to 10, 9 to 4 and the top 3. It also displays the estimated number of global searches for that term. Compare it to the Google Suggestion Tool and you'll see they're displaying the broad search!! Totally misleading!!
  
  Thanks
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2760198].message }}
jhonsean 14 years ago

We've always learn for what we've done the only good thing here is you may lessen the worst scenario that will come into your sites.
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2760058].message }}

Lesson Learned! A Time-Wasting & Money-Wasting Mistake On Keyword Research (I'm kicking myself...)

Trending Topics

How do you stay consistent?

Thank you, Kay King

SEO or AEO?

What's the fastest way to update Amazon affiliate links after buying a website?

Affiliate marketing