Not Sure I understand Keyword Competition?

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So I'm confused I was checking up on some competition to see whether or not it would be easy to outrank them for a particular keyword and I'm not sure whether I just don't understand how to analyze the competition or if these competitors would be that easy to beat?

The keyword is "premium E cig review"

It's the top 2 sites. The first one is PR 1 for that particular page, it's pretty good content and a good review, but they have 2 backlinks from unrelevant sites and that's it. The other site #2 has 0 backlinks and no PR for his site.

Does this just mean these 2 sites would be easy to dominate with content just as good and a few high PR backlinks from relevant sites, or am I missing something as why these 2 sites are ranking well other than they are decent sized?
#competition #keyword #understand
  • Profile picture of the author reaboss
    i just check on market samurui, that keyword has low competition, for example the second domain only has 6 backlinks pointing to the domain, u just need a few backlinks nd u will rank in no time. i hope this helps
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    • Profile picture of the author damongreene
      First thing I would do is go to google and type this in: intitle:"premium E cig review"

      It's oldschool but doesnt require tools and it always works for me. THis is the amount of sites that are actually targeting that phrase in the title of their page. It looks low. I will usually go after anything under 6k. So looks like you can crush it if you have the right link building campaign.

      You can get 2 listings on the front page, one for your website and one for a youtube review. You just need diversified text and PR4-5 Links (2 or 3) and you will get on the first page with little issue. The high PR links (from my experience) don't even need to be extremely targeted.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by damongreene View Post

        First thing I would do is go to google and type this in: intitle:"premium E cig review"

        It's oldschool but doesnt require tools and it always works for me. THis is the amount of sites that are actually targeting that phrase in the title of their page. It looks low. I will usually go after anything under 6k. So looks like you can crush it if you have the right link building campaign..
        That is horrible advice. I do not understand why people still use this method. The number of listings in the index has NOTHING to do with the level of competition.

        To see any significant traffic, you need to be able to get into the top 3. As long as you can beat the page at #3, that is all that matters. #4-6000 don't matter.
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        • Profile picture of the author damongreene
          Using this method works for guaging low competition. Focusing on High demand ( many searches) and low supply (not many ranking for the keyword) this simple and easy to understand strategy works. There are more advance methods and to your point, YES getting in the top 3 is what matters. Getting into the top 3 of a low competition keyword is easier for a beginner. I am not sure of the level of expertise of the thread poster but this is useful information for lesser experiences SEOS.

          If it works, I'll share it. Let's understand there are multiple ways to get to the same desination, point is get there. Take the advice received, process it and use it. Take action!

          Once you consume the info, your way may work, his way may work, their way may work, doesnt matter as long as it works.
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          • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
            Originally Posted by damongreene View Post

            Using this method works for guaging low competition. Focusing on High demand ( many searches) and low supply (not many ranking for the keyword) this simple and easy to understand strategy works. There are more advance methods and to your point, YES getting in the top 3 is what matters. Getting into the top 3 of a low competition keyword is easier for a beginner. I am not sure of the level of expertise of the thread poster but this is useful information for lesser experiences SEOS.

            If it works, I'll share it. Let's understand there are multiple ways to get to the same desination, point is get there. Take the advice received, process it and use it. Take action!

            Once you consume the info, your way may work, his way may work, their way may work, doesnt matter as long as it works.
            It does not matter what someone's experience level is. In fact this is even worse advice for newbies because it can lead them down a path of trying to target something that is way out of their league.

            It does not matter HOW MANY pages are targeting a keyword. It matters WHO is targeting the keyword. That's why your suggestion is a terrible idea to follow. I can find plenty of keywords that would fit your criteria and be extremely difficult to rank for. I can also find plenty of keywords that do not fit into your criteria, but would be a piece of cake to rank for.
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            • Profile picture of the author BillyBacklinks
              Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

              It does not matter what someone's experience level is. In fact this is even worse advice for newbies because it can lead them down a path of trying to target something that is way out of their league.

              It does not matter HOW MANY pages are targeting a keyword. It matters WHO is targeting the keyword. That's why your suggestion is a terrible idea to follow. I can find plenty of keywords that would fit your criteria and be extremely difficult to rank for. I can also find plenty of keywords that do not fit into your criteria, but would be a piece of cake to rank for.
              Out of curiosity, what would you advise ?
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              • Profile picture of the author damongreene
                Originally Posted by BillyBacklinks View Post

                Out of curiosity, what would you advise ?
                Lol.. it is easier to cause drama on a forum and tear down what isn't as opposed to simply answering the question asked. IJS.
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                • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
                  Originally Posted by BillyBacklinks View Post

                  Out of curiosity, what would you advise ?
                  Originally Posted by damongreene View Post

                  Lol.. it is easier to cause drama on a forum and tear down what isn't as opposed to simply answering the question asked. IJS.
                  I'm not causing drama. You are rehashing garbage that wannabe 'gurus' have been spouting for the past 10 years. If you want to use that method to choose a keyword, fine. My point was it tells you absolutely NOTHING about the level of SEO competition for a keyword. Not one damn thing.

                  Billy, the best thing to do is tear apart the first three sites. Check out things like their site structure, internal linking patterns, content, etc. These are things that no tool is going to provide you answers to.

                  After that, you need a good backlink checker to analyze the backlinks for the sites. I like to use Ahrefs and import those links into SpyGlass.

                  Market Samurai is crap. Traffic Travis is crap. I have yet to see a keyword tool that is any good at analyzing competition. MOZ actually has one that is ok, only because it is the only one that utilizes any kind of useful backlink data. However, their backlink database is pretty limited, so even that one is not that great.
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                  • Profile picture of the author burton4550
                    Thanks for the tips everyone. I analyzed the top 2 sites and their backlink profiles according to Hrefs were pretty much 2 links for the # 1 site and 0 for the #2 . Neither of them decent PR. Only thing I see is their internal linking structure and valuable content.
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                  • Profile picture of the author BillyBacklinks
                    Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

                    I'm not causing drama. You are rehashing garbage that wannabe 'gurus' have been spouting for the past 10 years. If you want to use that method to choose a keyword, fine. My point was it tells you absolutely NOTHING about the level of SEO competition for a keyword. Not one damn thing.

                    Billy, the best thing to do is tear apart the first three sites. Check out things like their site structure, internal linking patterns, content, etc. These are things that no tool is going to provide you answers to.

                    After that, you need a good backlink checker to analyze the backlinks for the sites. I like to use Ahrefs and import those links into SpyGlass.

                    Market Samurai is crap. Traffic Travis is crap. I have yet to see a keyword tool that is any good at analyzing competition. MOZ actually has one that is ok, only because it is the only one that utilizes any kind of useful backlink data. However, their backlink database is pretty limited, so even that one is not that great.
                    Good stuff mike

                    Thanks
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                    • Profile picture of the author burton4550
                      The only downfall is doing it manually can be quite time consuming. Assuming you have 20-30+ keywords your trying to rank for, going through the top 3 sites for everyone one of those keywords can take up quite a lot of time.

                      Is there any software that can help speed things up? I've heard the Market Samurai and Traffic Traffis aren't very good so I'm looking alternatives
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            • Profile picture of the author damongreene
              Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

              It does not matter what someone's experience level is. In fact this is even worse advice for newbies because it can lead them down a path of trying to target something that is way out of their league.

              It does not matter HOW MANY pages are targeting a keyword. It matters WHO is targeting the keyword. That's why your suggestion is a terrible idea to follow. I can find plenty of keywords that would fit your criteria and be extremely difficult to rank for. I can also find plenty of keywords that do not fit into your criteria, but would be a piece of cake to rank for.

              Your point about the first 3 competitors is tru. However again, your method is what works great. This is what has worked for me and individuals I have showed this method. Im not here to challenge anyone's method, if it works it works. This is a method that you may want to try if you are unable to acquire tools that help with competition
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  • Profile picture of the author RizeAcademy
    Check to see if the top 10 results have optimized URL and TITle for the keyword. Then check to see if they are actively trying to rank for that term based on their anchor text.
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