Two most common mistake new Keyword Researchers make.

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   QuestionMasterposted 12 years ago

   I keep seeing people making these mistakes so I thought I'd just point them out:
   
   1. When doing a search for keywords make sure you select "exact" not "broad." Broad brings in any keyword searches that feature your keywords ANYWHERE in the search sentence. Exact will match how many searches are made for those exact keywords on their own.
   
   2. Ignore the "competition" bar. This shows competition for ADVERTISERS not PUBLISHERS. To check accurately how many websites are competing for a certain keyword term, you are best off searching it in either Chrome Incognito or Scroogle  so your results are not effected by Google tracking. Plugins like SEOquake will help you track the page rank - and you can look at the pages and see whether the keywords are featured in the URL and title.

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      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Oh i always thought its publishers and not advertisers. Thanks for this info

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      sofsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Well done question master.. hadn't someone pointed that out to me a long time ago I would have given up and gone.. Great work.. I appreciate your effort

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      SimeyCposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Questionmaster: I actually use Broad and Exact - sometimes using 'broad' I'll come up with a nice longtail I hadn't thought about - while it won't be my primary keyword or keyphrase, it never hurts adding variances especially if they fit the content well!

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         wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Me too. "broad" can be good for coming up with ideas, then switch to "exact" and check them or variations on them.
         
         In fact keywords for a hub I wrote yesterday I found by doing just that; I couldn't come up with anything showing more than 50 searches per month and was ready to give up, but ended up with something decent by trying "broad" and getting ideas.

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         QuestionMasterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Very true Simey. However I named the thread "for New Keyword Researchers" as many use broad only, then don't understand why they don't get thousands of hits.
         
         Of course once people are more familiar with keyword research, there are plenty of basic beginner rules that can be broken - but doing so without knowing exactly how it works can often result in angst for beginners.

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            SimeyCposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            LOL fair point! I didn't see the 'new' bit!

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               QuestionMasterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               

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      Richieb799posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I pointed the 1st out in a forum thread about 4 months ago. So many people do that, its surprising.

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      Mike Bigioniposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Your post was a rude awakening for me, but so glad to learn. Thanks.

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      writingfroshposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I also thought that the competition is for publishers, but now I know better.. Thanks to you!

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   2uesdayposted 12 years ago

   This info is useful, thank you.

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   Rosie2010posted 12 years ago

   Thanks, QuestionMaster.  I've been doing #1, but I had also misunderstood "competition" and I thank you for pointing this out.  I've noticed lately that competition now shows "low", "medium" or "high" instead of a graph.  This makes more sense for me now.

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      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Rosie i preferred the graph :-) it used to also state low med and high

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         QuestionMasterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I personally use the drop down to turn the competition off when possible... I find it distracting and something I don't really need. If you  have an Adwords account, you can view the average payout for clicks which I find works better.

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   Topnewhottoysposted 12 years ago

   @questionmaster - uhh... just one note, re: writing for monetization.
   
   Competition IS an important factor to consider IF you are involved with adsense income.
   
   Low competition means fewer advertisers are bidding on that search term - which means that term will have lower value clicks. So I believe it IS an important keyword search factor if you are monetizing your work with adsense.
   
   I guess it's all about the purpose of your writing.
   
   GA

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      QuestionMasterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Good point. Although it does add extra backup to my own point - most people would assume that "low competition" is what they're aiming for. According to what you're saying (which I agree with), to earn the best money you need that graph to say "high competition" or at least "medium competition."

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         kmackey32posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yes I am guilty of thinking low competition was what we where aiming for.

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            HikeGuyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for the tips. I'm still new to using the keyword tools. Last time I was active on HP the Wonder Wheel still existed...
            
            I knew the AdSense keyword tool was directed at advertisers, and I'm picking up pointers from hubs and throughout the forum, but I still don't think I'm getting the best use out of it. I look for long-tail keywords that don't have extreme numbers of searches, in hopes of hitting zones that aren't saturated.
            
            If this isn't off-topic, what do you think of using Traffic Travis or Market Samurai? Or InboundWriter -- now advertised on the HP page that comes up after logout?
            
            Thanks for taking time to help with the basics!
            
            -- Trent

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               QuestionMasterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I guess it depends how serious you are about keyword research - Market Samurai is complicated and slow I've found. Micro Niche Finder doesn't give as many details but it is a lot faster and easier to use in my experience.
               
               However they really do the same thing you can do with the free Google Adwords tool, just in a bit more depth. So you have to decide if it's worth the money.

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