Need help with SEO numbers - KeyWord Popularity vs Competing Pages?

[Klaas Koopman]

Hi All,

I found a few keywords that with some programs say it gets searched 50,000 a month and google gives 4,000,000 search results.

Is this something I could target or is it being targetted by to many already?

Kind Regards,

K. Koopman

[Linda Buquet]

The total # of competing pages is not the best way to evaluate KW volume, as those are pages that just happen to mention the KW anywhere on the page and may not be pages that are actually very hard to compete with. It also may include lots of pages that arent even about your niche directly.

So once you think you have a good key phrase search for Key phrase

Then check for "Key phrase" in quotes which will only show pages with that specific phrase

then check allintitle: "key phrase" which only shows pages that have the keywords in the title of the page which gives you a better idea of actual competition.

Example: trip to france 79,200,000 competing

"trip to france" 439,000 looks a little better huh?

allintitle: "trip to france" only 727 serious competing pages
allintitle: "trip to france" - Google Search

Now you can look at the top listings in the allintitle search to see what they are doing to get up high and see if it would be hard to beat them. Check to see if the top listing are dominated by big authority sites or smart small marketers and affiliates that have lots of links or what. Sometimes you can find a niche that appears to have some competition but once you drill down and look you can see that there really isn't very stiff competition.

HERE'S a great example of a key phrase someone used as an example in a marketing video I watched for some product they were trying to sell.

canon G7 camera (broad match) 1.4 million competing pages (looks too competitive at 1st glance.)
canon G7 camera - Google Search

He drilled down with his KW tool to find "canon G7 price" (in quotes) only 145 competing pages. HE WAS ABLE TO GET IN THE #2 SPOT with a little SQUIDOO PAGE!

Here's the search page:
"canon G7 price" - Google Search

Here's his little Squidoo page which comes up #2 for me.
Canon G7 Price on Squidoo

[Klaas Koopman]

Fantastic help, thanks alot linda, never heard about this!

Fantastic once again! I will let you know if this has ( probably will ) increased my stats!

So how many competing pages is actually to much? a thousand or?

[Linda Buquet]

Meant to say on the numbers, I have no idea. Someone out there may have published a benchmark on the right number to target, but I don't know what it is. It depends on so many factors. If you are a n00b 1,000 may be very tough, if you are an SEO pro 100,000 competing may be a piece of cake.

So how many competing pages is too much, is relative to how good you are, how you plan to market, how many backlinks you have, possibly how old the domain is and lots of other factors.

When I used to do SEO for a living I got a client #1 for New Cars out of 1.6 million competing pages.
I was new at SEO, so was quite proud of myself!
But that was back when it was easier.

[Linda Buquet]

Since you are so hugry for knowledge, I wanted to share some videos I just watched. One of these videos was the one I referred to in the Canon example.

Its trying to sell a fairly new product called Micro Niche Finder.
I'm not suggesting you buy it, although I have read pretty good reviews.

Just watch the videos because it will give you some great insight and most of
what it shows could be done manually, it would just take more elbow grease.

Micro Niche Finder. Watch the very top video just to get an idea,
then if you learn something from that and want to learn more watch the others.

[Klaas Koopman]

Thanks alot Linda, I appreciate your help. Though it's still hard to find any good free/available domain names haha!

[Klaas Koopman]

Okay people I found a certain set of keywords that do look nice, how are these numbers?

just the keywords give in google: 19,400,000 results
if I use "keywords" it gives: 131,000 results
and if I use allintitle: "keywords" it gives: 10,400

and link:adres of the first site gives: 109 linking to the site
and link:adres of the second site gives: 18 linking to the site
and link:adres of the third site gives: 361 linking to the site

Would this be something I could go for? Or would it still be to competitive?

(btw all these results were only in google)

[Linda Buquet]

Klaas not sure anyone can tell you what the magic number is as far as being too competitive or if it's a good niche to target. It depends on so many things. Maybe someone will give you their opinion but those numbers may seem like a piece of cake for one person and too tough for another.

Reading about KEI may help you somewhat, but I've yet to see anyone say "look for a phrase that has "this many" competing pages.
KEi Keyword Effectiveness Index - Google Search

[StephenR]

As a rule of thumb for me anything with a total search volume of 10 million results or less on Google can be dominated with a little SEO.

[Linda Buquet]

Ya but you're a pro Stephen!

Klaas I finally found a definitive number for you. Not saying it's the RIGHT number, but it's a number.

The guys over at the 30 Day Challenge that are teaching newbies how to make just a little money for starters in their 1st 30 days are saying to find a niche with less than 30,000 competing in "quotes".

Check out this video - exactly the info you need!


Again these concepts are for newbies and just to start off so you can get a little success. Pros like Stephen (and yours truly) can target and dominate much more competitive phrases.