Keyword Ranking Research Question
-
Hi Mozzers,This is probably a nooby question, but I was wondering how you guys end up deciding if a Keyword is too hard to rank for? Also vice versa, when do you decide that a keyword is too low volume to rank for so you try to rank for a harder keyword?
Eg.
Deciding that ranking for "Dell Computers" is too hard and then deciding to rank for "Dell Small Business Computers"Post-question: Do indirectly rank for Dell Computers if you try to rank for Dell Small Business Computers? If so, how much? Also, how many words inbetween Dell & Computers would there have to be to stop indirectly ranking for Dell Computers?
-
Very good question. It is ultimately a matter for yourself. I always take the primary keyword head on - even if there is no realistic chance of ranking for it in the short term. However I also make sure that I target keywords off the same branch that I can rank for. I usually start with 5-7.
I believe you should always have your eye on the ultimate prize. Ubersuggest is good I also like Semrush.com - as you also get to see what organic keywords your competitors are getting traffic from. Semrush may further fine tune the keywords you target.
On a nexus between primary and secondary - if you are targeting "dell computers" and words around that frame - once you get some traction with your other keywords then you may start to rank for "dell computers" but at 300 etc. . In fairness though it is impossible for anyone to suggest a true nexus as it will all depend on your seo optimization and the keywords you initially target and what you actually publish/do.
Hope that assists and good luck.
-
Hi Steven,
Maybe my view on this matter can help you a little.
First of all you need to analyse the playing field. So use a tool like ubersuggest.org to get all the relevant search queries and variations for your type of business. Check also some Google suggestions at the bottom of the search result page for some good / popular variations.
After you determined all the relevant keywords (including long tail keywords) for your business you can insert them into Google Adwords keyword planner. The output will give you the expected monthly search volume and, very important, the level of competition on a specific keyword.
Based on your domain and page authority compared to the top ranking competitors you can asses whether its possible to get some top rankings on high volume search queries. When the competition is modest, and comparable to the authority of your website, you can challenge them by creating some high quality landing pages. However if you find competitors to have more authority you can decide to try to rank for keywords with a lower level of competition.
If the difference between your site and the top competitors is not gigantic, I would try both. So try to rank between the big boys and go for the long tail search queries. Bear in mind it's all about the visitor. If your visitor finds your landing page useful, then the chances of a good / better ranking will improve. So try to write the page with the customer in mind, make it very relevant. But if your competitors have a lot more authority, I would start with long tail keywords.
It is possible to rank for "dell computers" if you try to rank for "Dell Small Business Computers". However if your competitor has a very relevant page on "Dell computers" he would probably rank higher.
Of course you'll need to analyse the performance of your pages with MOZ In order to make the necessary changes and improvements.
Good luck!
Kind regards,
Herman (from the Netherlands)
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Keyword Research, Feels like my head is about to explode in 1.2...
Hello fellow Mozzers! I've been reading quite a few books and forums on SEO for past few years. Finally a few weeks ago I decided to dive into SEO a lot more seriously and start building and optimizing our ecommerce site. We sell brand name servers, workstations, storage and related replacement and upgrade parts for them. I've read many articles, browsed all the popular SEO forums, watched SEO training videos religiously. I'm happy to say that I now (more or less) understand how to optimize a site/page for SEO (On page optimization, unique content/blogging, link building, social sharing, off page optimization, etc...) However the biggest challenge I'm have with is Keyword Research (which I think is the first and most crucial step). I can't seem to find a tool that will help me find good keywords/phrases that I can target in my business profile. Since its an ecommerce site, and we have about 2500 products which means about 2500 pages. the good thing about product pages is that there are part numbers which get searched quite often so I have no problem with selecting keywords for product pages, however for the home page its a NIGHTMARE. I searched the word "server" in Google keyword tool, and it shows that it has 40,000,000 monthly global searches with low competition. That's great news (right? high search volume, low competition) However when I google server or servers, the 1st page is filled with sites like: Dell, HP, IBM, Wikipedia, and a few more with a very high domain authority and thousands of links. So I'm assuming trying to target "servers" as my keyword for the homepage is probably a bad idea, correct? When I google "buy server" i get mostly irrelevant content like "how to start a calling card business, a few articles(also irrelavant). I guess my question is this: Can you please provide some advice or information on the keyword research articles and/or tools you use? Something that would provide relevant keywords based on a main keyword. Or am I not using the Google Keyword Tool properly I also checked out our main competitors site to see which keywords they use, to get an idea, but when trying to google the keywords they're targeting they're not being displayed on Google for those keywords on the first few pages. We are almost done building our new site which will have a few tools like online server configurator, Q&A section, Server Talk (Forum), Quick Product Finder(Suggests products based on entered criteria) and a few more Which most of our competitors don't have, and I pretty much have an idea on which keywords to use for those pages and sections of the site, but I am completely clueless on the keywords to use for the home page. Any help is greatly appreciated! Also forgot to add, should I just use the company name and a few simple keywords for the home page like servers, buy servers and then write weekly or biweekly article that are server related like Does a small business need a server? How do I choose a server for my business? Should I upgrade my server or buy a new one? Do I collocate or host in-house? Should I virtualize my server? Obviously adding links to products and services within these articles and try to create brand awareness that way?
Keyword Research | | igor.pinchevskiy0 -
Using city location in keywords?
Hi all, new to SEO MOZ and SEO in general. I'm trying to do some keyword research to choose keywords and keyphrases for on page SEO as well as an Adwords campaign for a real estate agency that focuses on luxury high rise condos and homes in the Dallas area. My question is, when choosing keywords do you need to include your location in the key phrase? For instance luxury real estate or dallas luxury real estate? Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!
Keyword Research | | strategit0 -
Search Engine Rankings Going Down
My google keywords has gone down from 100 per day to around 400 words in amonth. Did I get penalize for something. I remember making a local copy of my website on my serer to do a CMS upgrade. I didn't do the met=noindex until a week later. Now I have it passowrd protected. Do you think that could be the reason?
Keyword Research | | anoopbal0 -
Is there anyway to view the Keyword Ranking Report with the Google traffic estimator stats?
The Keyword Ranking Report currently shows site traffic and Google SERP. Is there anyway to also show google traffic estimator next to these numbers?
Keyword Research | | brianmeert0 -
Stop List and Keywords
I've came across a suggested list of words that google will ignore in your content, if this is correct and one of our main keywords is one of those words, will it lose effectiveness? We are trying to get #1 SERP for "Self Tan" and it seems "Self" is one of the words ignored - so should we just be focusing on Tan? Any tips / advice would be great!
Keyword Research | | ChrisMciIlroy0 -
Top Ranking sites for specific keywords
Is there a way to put in a list of targeted keywords and see what the top 5 sites on Google are? There are several competitor tools in SEOmoz but I can't find anything that would allow you to do that. I have a list of 40 or so keywords that I would like to check what sites are in the top 3 positions on Google for each of the keywords. Thanks in advance
Keyword Research | | summitliveevents0 -
What is the maximum lenght in url for keyword ?
Howdy, I was looking at the maximum lenght of url for ntfs and they told me it was 255 character for url and/or folder ect. Does that mean that i could use the full lenght of 255 filled whit keyword for the url on my site ? Thx.
Keyword Research | | Promoteam0 -
Keyword Targeting
If I am currently ranking well for "Lawn Mowers" and I also want to target "Cheap Lawn Mowers" will it affect my ranking for "Lawn Mowers" if I change my on page optimization by adding "Cheap" to the title, H1, etc. or will it effectively target both.
Keyword Research | | UK2Group0