Recently a member at
EzArticleLink have some doubts on using Google Keyword tool for keyword research. I think some of you may have the same doubts. I hope this my answers will be useful to you….
Qn: 1. When I try to find a best keyword for my website or blog, I will use Google keyword tools to look for the keyword that has enough searches per month, so which type of keyword to use: broad, [exact] or “phrase”?
Technically you should use either “phrase” or [exact] search. This is because broad search may give misleading result.
For example, under broad search, ‘cure yeast infection’, ‘yeast cure infection’ and ‘yeast infection cure’ will all give the same result. But common sense tells us that no one in their right mind will search for ‘yeast cure infection’.
Having said that, in most cases, I simply use broad search, just for convenience since the default is broad search. But I use my common sense when doing the search!
Practically it doesn’t really matter which one you use. This is because your objective of using Google Keyword Tool is to find keywords with
more demand and
less competition. The absolute value of the number of searches is just an indication. Rightfully, you should check the competition of the keywords from the highest demand to the lowest demand, hopefully to find a good keyword will low competition as soon as possible!
Qn: 2. What is the global or local search volume that we are looking for in order to get significant traffic, using the keyword obtained in Qn1?
If you want significant traffic (more than 100 traffic a month) from one particular search term, the search volume (global or local) has to be more than 10k, using “phrase” match type. But in many cases, such search terms are pretty competitive.
Many people dream of getting top rank for a competitive search term and hence getting lots of traffic from it. But the practical truth is you are more likely to get lots of ‘negligible’ traffic from hundreds of non-competitive keywords. For example, if you get 20 traffic a month from 100 keyword phrases and that translate into 2000 traffic to your website. Such a scenario is more likely to happen, rather than 2000 traffic from 1 highly competitive keyword phrase.
Also, for competitive keywords, you are not likely to shoot down the top spot without first dominating the longer-tail keywords. For example, if you want to target ‘yeast infection’, you will need to first rank well for longer-tail phrases such as ‘yeast infection symptoms’, ‘yeast infection treatment’ etc. Similarly, to rank well for the longer-tail phrase such as ‘yeast infection treatment’, you will need to first rank well for even-longer-tail phrases such as ‘natural yeast infection treatment’ and ‘best yeast infection treatment’. And the list just goes on….. That’s why some websites seem to dominate the entire niche.
My purpose of telling you all these is to let you understand the fact that search engine optimization is not just looking at a specific keyword phrase. You need to target a group of keywords. Same thing to link building. You should build links through a group of anchor texts from longer-tail to long-tail to short keyword phrases.
Qn: 3. When I found the keyword with reasonable search in Qn1 and 2, I will place the keyword in Google search bar and search for the competition. Which type of keyword to use: broad, [exact] or “phrase”?
I use broad search. Some marketers like to use “Phrase” search. Very few marketers I know use [Exact] search.
Again, it’s a matter of preference. If you use broad search, you will get more search results. Your criteria will be different as compared to “Phrase” search results.
Practically, I believe most web surfers will not add ” ” or [ ] when they search for something. ” ” and [ ] are more for advanced users or internet marketers. If you want to study the competition under typical scenario, it’s more logical to use broad search.
Qn: 4. What is the amount of competition in Qn3 that is considered low or good to use?
For broad search, any search term with less than 50,000 competing sites is a good keyword. But besides the number of competing sites, you should also study the PR and nature of the top 10 listing.
If you see articles from ezinearticles.com or other article directories being listed on the first page, regardless of the number of competing sites, go for that keywords!!
Or if all the top 10 listings have PR 1 or 0, regardless of the number of competing sites, go for it!!
Conversely, if a search term has less than 50,000 competing sites, but the top 10 listings are dominated by webpages with PR 4 and 5, your chance of getting to the first page is very slim, at least in the short-term.
Lastly, you should also consider whether the keyword phrase you plan to target is for the homepage or internal page. If it’s for the homepage, and the keywords are found in the domain name, you can be a bit more daring. For example, you can try to compete for search terms where the top 10 listings have PR 2 or 3. For internal pages, it’s better to start with less competitive keywords.
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