Keyword research is tough isn’t it ?
-
I am only just realising that the Google Keyword Tool I use is aimed at Adwords customers and where competition is stated as low, they mean competition for adverts.
When I have a ridiculously low amount of links and an equally low Domain Authority finding keywords is not easy. I presume there is some correlation between the SEOMOZ Keyword Difficulty score and the amount of Adwords traffic, but even very low Adwords Traffic Search Terms still seem to be moderately competitive.
I guess its a case of plugging away with the Keyword Difficulty tool.
-
Barry, thanks for your help, my link building prgramme has begun.
-
Alas, links remain a big ranking factor and is often the hardest part of the job for a SEO.
Part 7 of the beginners guide gives some good advice on how to get started - http://guides.seomoz.org/chapter-7-growing-popularity-and-links
-
Its becoming obvious that I need to start getting some decent links to the site. I have spent a fair bit of time getting the SEO to a reasonable state, but with just 4 external domains linking I'm not going to increase traffic.
-
Page authority is determined by the number of links coming into that page (good on page SEO helps too), whereas domain authority is number of links into the whole domain (to simplify it).
If you have an outstanding page on an otherwise low authority site you can still rank, but bolstering your domain with a number of outside will help.
-
The Keyword Difficulty Tool used against a search term I do well from suggests that Page Authority is responsible for traffic as my Domain Authority is low.
So getting links to pages could be more useful than links to domains.
-
Don't look at the competitiveness score in the Google Adwords Keyword tool. Use it to check the traffic volumes and once you have the best keywords, check which are least competitive by measuring the strenght of websites competing for them - you can use Open Site Explorer for this.
-
KW research is indeed tough and the Google Keyword Tool is designed to get lots of people bidding on the same keyword
The difficulty score and adwords traffic aren't related (as far as I know) but instead the difficulty score analyses the strength of the top X site in the results for that term.
They are working on improving the tool to take into account more factors but for the time being just use it as one of several ways to determine how hard ranking for a term would be.
Here's a link from Richard Baxter on understanding the toll more - http://seogadget.co.uk/understanding-search-rankings-competitiveness/
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
-
How is it possible to rank first for a keyword, when the keyword isn't written on the page?
I noticed that one of our competitors is ranking in first position for a keyword but when looking on the page grader. The exact keyword is not used on the page at all (or in title, URL etc.). How is this possible, when other sites have content with those exact words?
Keyword Research | | Jesssherl3 -
Why do my keyword ranking differ from the results on Google ?
I've been working on a specific campaign for a couple of days, and been noticing that my keyword ranking is much different on my campaign than in reality. I tried my keyword on Google (with the same settings I have on my campaign) and my keyword ranks at #5 instead of not in 50, as indicated on my campaign. Can someone give me a hint on this issue ? Thank you !
Keyword Research | | marketingmedia.ca0 -
Semantic Keywords Research
Where is the best place or tool to research semantic keywords - any help would be greatly appreciated
Keyword Research | | Bossandy0 -
Keyword ranking tool?
I am looking for a tool that would show ranking keywords for my website - except Google Anlaytics and Webmaster. I don't want to enter the keywords to see if my website is ranking I'd like to see if there are any keywords that rank already Thanks!
Keyword Research | | Rubix0 -
How many times to use a keyword on a page?
Okay, so i have read around, and watched Matt Cutts' video on this and read rand's post about this. But, I still have questions; how many times should I use a keyword on a page? I have read for shorter pages 2-3X and 4-6X for longer pages. I know to put it in the url title h1, the first paragraph and sprinkle it around the page. Is it all realtive to how long the content is? or should I just be following the 2-3X and 4-6X rule? Thanks for your help. Peter
Keyword Research | | PeterRota0 -
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 -
Why is Adwords Keyword Tool showing zero search volume for popular keywords?
When I try to ascertain search volume for the the words "pills" "drugs" and "medicine" it is showing "-" for all types of search volume, including phrase, exact, and broad. Why is this?
Keyword Research | | nicole.healthline0 -
Keyword management - where do i start?
Hi all, i am a starting out SEO. I have recently been browsing our keyword rankings report and noticed that we are very low down on some quite key search terms. I therefor want to focus over the next few weeks, on bringing us up the rankings for these specific terms. Apologies if this is a very basic one, but**,.... I dont know where to start!** I would be very interested if anyone can give me some advice on a plan of action. What actions should be in my action plan? For example, if i wanted to improve our rankings on the following: English school in malta Learning english in malta English classes in malta
Keyword Research | | Exp0