Regardless of which keyword
research tool is your favorite, they all have their own
strengths and weaknesses and some of these recent questions and
answers may help you get to the bottom of your keyword research
challenges.
I'd like to start with a few of the most common
questions that I get asked from the Free
SEO Tip of the Day readers and then we can expand on things
from there.
QUESTION:
Dear John,
Can you tell me how a phrase that has no competing pages can
have such a low KEI like the one above.
I have found many phrases that have a low KEI and little or no
competing pages.
"how
to turn a photo into a scroll saw pattern"
KEI 16.0 Competing
pages 0
ANSWER:
Each keyword phrase performs
differently against its own search landscape depending on the
competitiveness of the industry. So, use KEI as a quick method
to bring the best windows of opportunity to the top, but that's
all. Then forget about KEI and start focusing on how competitive
the phrase is and how useful the phrase is.
Can the phrases you are considering actually be used
intelligently and relevantly in your content?
KEI is just a mathematical equation that you can use to quickly
sort results so (which can save you hours of sifting.)
As a rule the higher the KEI, the easier your job will be.
QUESTION:
John,
Does KEI give you a true indication of how competitive a
specific keyword phrase is? Can I depend 100% on the KEI value
as the best way to tell how competitive a phrase is?
ANSWER:
It is one way to help you sort results, but it is not the only
way that should be considered.
How many results returned for a specific phrase is not a
dead accurate number to determine how competitive a keyword
phrase is for SEO. Results will vary from keyword phrase to
keyword phrase AND depending on the specific industry and
search landscape for that search industry.
QUESTION:
I have enjoyed reading your
series of teachings on Wordtracker and especially appreciate the
aspect of researching the user "search behaviors" as
opposed to the traditional keyword research approach. From time
to time though, I get stumped on finding certain keyword phrases
because of Wordtrackers smaller sized data base that pulls from
the Meta Crawlers such as Dogpile.
Is there anything I can do to replicate the keyword forensics
aspect using some other tool?
ANSWER:
Not at this time, that I am
aware of. Wordtracker still rules for "keyword
forensics" or exploring the hidden user behavior that
most people miss entirely.
Remember that the goal of keyword forensics goes beyond
researching just the higher traffic related terms. Keyword
forensics also helps you in finding those phrases that
"tell a story" about the circumstances that exist in
the users life that cause them to search the Internet in the way
that they do.
Most of the time the challenge is in the way we think about
"keyword research."
However, in cases where you
really feel stumped, another very cool way to expand on those
phrases (in certain cases) where you feel like Meta crawler
results just don't meet the need, is to consider searching for
your phrases from actual Google data (which currently has 67% of
the market share.) There are inexpensive tools that will allow
you to apply much more accuracy to that massive data from Google
which will often reveal many more new phrases that you did not
know even existed because they simply are not searched within
Meta Crawler data. Watch
this short video demonstrating
SEO Sniper which is a powerful new tool by Michael Marshall
that requires no monthly membership.
If
you want to learn more about how this tool works check out this
page
You Can Check Out Wordtracker's Free Keyword Tool Now
QUESTION:
John, is Keyword Discovery is the
best tool you recommend for researching keywords in other
languages?
ANSWER:
Absolutely. Keyword Discovery is an excellent tool for keyword
research in English plus Dutch,
French, German, Italian, Spanish and several other
languages. While I have written multiple
articles on how to use Wordtracker effectively, you need to
be aware of some of the powerful features that Keyword Discovery
offers too.
Here is a previous Wordtracker
- Keyword Discovery Comparison Matrix which many have found
helpful.
The purpose of this article is not to say one is
better than the other. But depending on your specific needs, you
should be aware of all of the available options that there are out
there and choose what works best for you. I highly recommend
both of these tools and services to all SEO professionals and
Webmasters who want access to great data. You can expect to see
the introduction of many new exciting features from both of
these tools in the future and
I will share more
information on these subjects in the future too.
John Alexander is Director of Search
Engine Academy with SEO training centers located across
North America and Asia. Together with his partner Robin Nobles,
John is also Co-Director of Training for Search
Engine Workshops. John and Robin teach stress free formulas for obtaining top visibility on
major search engines to workshop students from all around the
world since 2002. John and Robin also operate an online
community for professional search engine marketers called the SEO
Workshop Resource Center. John is the author of the Wordtracker
Magic E-books Volumes 1 and 2 and author of hundreds of
Free SEO
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