I see a lot of people who think measuring the number of competing sites for a keyword is a good way to measure how competitive a term is.
All that matters is the top 10, maybe 20 sites that are ranking for your keywords.
Look at this dumb search below, 1.57 millions results.
NOT indicative of a competitive term
competing pages don't mean jack
Read this post here on Analyzing SEO competition to get a better grasp on things
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Daniel, I have found a reasonable correlation between intitle competition on Google for a term and where it initially lands in the index. If the sites are not updated they start to drop but can be pushed higher with some link building.
I have not found any correlation between raw competition and initial rankings. But searching in quotes gives a slightly better indication than raw results but nowhere near as high as intitle.
I feel very confident on dominating the dog mistletoe party market. I just don’t know how much money is in it, but you never know
Haha, good one Luke. Like I mentioned in this, and other posts, all that matters is
1- is there traffic in the niche,
2- If yes, can I rank for the traffic keywords
AllinTitle, Allin Quotes, lol none of that stuff really matters man.
simplify it,
page 1 ist 10 spots,
page 2 first 5 spots
there’s your competition nobody else
Certainly the competiting pages are not showing the real true competition. Thank you for the example!
it seems that there’s ZERO competition!
(proof: http://content.screencast.com/users/hightrust/folders/Jing/media/6f03b9bf-75f8-42c8-a82e-3e4a973ef4bc/2010-09-23_0736.png)
Sadly, there isnt much searches for that term too.
(proof: http://content.screencast.com/users/hightrust/folders/Jing/media/824d483f-9340-47f0-8ec7-947f8049e9b0/2010-09-23_0734.png)
Daniel,
You are so right about looking at competition because in the end it really doesn’t mean anything. What really matters are the first 10-20 sites, backlinks, and are you providing value to the searcher once they get to your site. For example, I have a keyword ranking on page 1(highest #2 and lowest #10) and I get a boat load of traffic because every other site on that page is focusing on that keyword and not to the customer. So out of 10 listings, almost every title is listed like this : ie(Blue Widget|Blue Widgets|Buy Blue Widgets. However, my site has the keyword in the title, but the title makes sense to viewer.
Also, learning from you I did some testing and changed Title to look like the others, and my traffic went down about 20% in a month.
Hey Daniel,
I just recently discovered your site, I don’t have time to really write how much I really like all of the stuff you write, but I’ll just put it short and sweet – you absolutely rock.
Anyway, regarding this post – what do you think about Wordtracker “inanchor and intitle” competition data? I’ve been using that as an initial basis for my KW research.
Peter, hi and thanks for the feedback and for chiming in here.
allinanchor and allinititle are better representations of the niche competition, but I still maintain that with even a modicum of tools and skills, getting into the top 15 is easy, therefore it’s the top 15-20 that’s your real competition.
So, if kw research tool only showed 15 urls competing for this term, then you’d think it was super easy term to rank for, but what if those 15 urls were all PR8 sites, with exact match domains?
Then KW tool would be MIS representing…. in that scenario.
Yes, that is a valid point. I do still think there is a merit to using anchor&title competition data – simply due to probability theory. If there are 5000 sites ranking for a keyword, then there are bound to be many authority sites. If there are only 15, the chances of those being authority sites go down significantly. One would assume that it’s the small sites that have a need to seek out low-competition keywords.
Are you serious?
I’d search for dog mistletoe parties! It should beat the one I was at on Friday and would be a lot cheaper too!
Hey J, I heard you were kissing some dogs Friday night, so maybe this niche could be like, you know.. a personal blog for you?
Haha I actually do kiss cute cuddly dogs.
Maybe I’ll have a blog http://www.howtokissdogs.com
First, let me congratulate you Daniel for your great site. What a tremendous resource! There’s so much hype and hoopla out there in the realm of links, backlinks, traffic generation and such like, it’s a great relief to find somebody who takes the same approach I do (and the only ethical one, I might add). To wit: not recommending a product or service UNTIL YOU HAVE USED IT YOURSELF!!! Admittedly, this doesn’t leave much room for JVing… but so be it.
Now, onto the subject at hand.
Google is smart. Google is getting smarter all the time. If you’re using Google Analytics (and many folks are these days), Google knows more about your website than you do. Keywords are important, of course. And what’s said above is, IMHO, absolutely right. Only the top 5, 10 or 15 results are your true competition. And quite often, it’s “default” competition that got there by accident. It can be dislodged.
Personally, I love Market Samurai’s many tools for getting a good overall picture on what the competition is like.
The main point I wanted to make is this: whereas once upon a time you could “fool” Google with lots of “relevant keywords” (i.e. “keyword stuffing” in one form or another), those days are long gone. I personally believe that the single most important factor to Google, when somebody finally does hit your page, is their BEHAVIOR on the page.
Do they stick? Do they click to view more material? Do they seem to be interested in what you have to say/show? If so, Google knows this. It sees all. And this is how, increasingly, Google is separating the wheat from the chaff. It goes back to the old “content is king” concept.
• If you’re putting good content out there that people really like, appreciate and use, you’ll be rewarded for that.
• If you put out crap, you’ll be penalized (even if that’s nothing more than not be rewarded).
The “fix” is in, ladies and gentleman. The fast, loose and easy days of “getting away with murder” are no more. You’d better adapt, or get used to being marginalized by The Big G.
Them’s my two cents.
Good points there pardner!
RE. your first point about reviewing and testing things before promoting it….
Kinda like the people promoting Link Liberation 2 because it has an affiliate program, yet MAYBE only 1% of those people have seen the product, and of that 1% maybe 10% bought Link Liberation 1….which I got access to and thought it was just a bunch of non-actionable high end fluffery, but it came with Q & A audios, some video sand other stuff to fill the gills and keep the fish happy
Hey man!
That was an insanely fast approval. You must spend all your days and nights at your desk, like me. Sigh.
Anyway, I’m glad you liked my comments and I’m really glad to have found your site. I will be reading it regularly from now on, I can assure you. Not least of which because I’ve got clients that I need to be able to generate backlinks for…
I don’t know anything about Link Liberation, but it sounds like much of the the same online these days. Lotsa promises, little substance.
Further, I am SO sick and tired of all these guys (many of whom i USED TO respect) shilling for the latest big Clickbank launch… Nine times outta ten the thing turns out to be a steaming pile of crapola. I mean, really, really BAD stuff. Shockingly bad at times.
I guess CB makes so much bank from these launches, they just don’t care. But it goes to the point I was making about trying things out before recommending. They clearly don’t vet anything at all, in the least. And more’s the pity…
CB isn’t doing their brand any good (IMHO) — particularly in the IM/MMO realm — by allowing the HUGE number of garbage products to be released thru them. As a buyer, you can’t trust CB anymore, at all. At least that’s the way I feel about it. It seems they’ll release anything.
And then all these JVers put their own reputations on the line promoting something sight unseen. Yikes! Penny wise and pound foolish, methinks. But then again, nobody is asking me…
If CB were MY company, I wouldn’t want it to become associated with garbage. But then again, it’s not my company.
I’d like to think greed would not get the best of me. But who knows? I mean, some of these launches generate tens of thousands of dollars for CB in a single day. Sometimes within HOURS. It’s obscene and appalling. But I guess it’s hard to turn away from, too…
I think CB just plays dumb and looks the other way. Sleazy? Yes. But whadda ya gonna do?
I buy A LOT of IM products — mainly to see what’s going on and look for that occasional hidden jem of useful information — but recently I’ve SENT BACK just about as many of them as I’ve bought!
So it goes…
Fortunately, your lil site here has saved me some serious bank (not to mention TIME) that would have been lost on more over-hyped, half-baked crap.
Keep up the good work, my friend. THANKS!!!
Hey man glad you like the site, understand your points about the crapola stuff out there.
Now let it go! Ranting about it only draws negative people to your blog, and to you personally.
No use closing the barn door after the horse ran away pardner! Yee haw, you found me this site, and I you, so let’s roll.
If I sound excited, it’s because I’m headed to go see this guy play tonight.
Stop buying stuff there’s enough seo tips on this site to make your clients happy. You can Skype me if you have questions about how to run a local seo service hands free
Oh my. I guess that did turn into a rant, didn’t it? Ooops. Sorry about that.
Thanks for the offer, man.
You rock!