How accurate TrafficTravis "Difficulty ratings" are?
- Thread starter ygg
- Start date
Getwhatchuwant
Elite Member
- Jul 25, 2011
- 1,998
- 1,336
I would like to know the same thing!
chipmunk951
Supreme Member
- May 10, 2010
- 1,218
- 543
Eh, I wouldn't say they're that accurate
I haven't had a term that as like, "SPOT ON". IE
Some terms which when I looked at the data were extremely easy to rank for yet it would display "Medium or Extremely"
Another is when there would be an extremely hard term to rank for and it would show as "Easy"
Anyways, pretty much learn to not just look at the Star rating, look at the data of the top 10 and judge for yourself.
I haven't had a term that as like, "SPOT ON". IE
Some terms which when I looked at the data were extremely easy to rank for yet it would display "Medium or Extremely"
Another is when there would be an extremely hard term to rank for and it would show as "Easy"
Anyways, pretty much learn to not just look at the Star rating, look at the data of the top 10 and judge for yourself.
ygg
Senior Member
- Feb 8, 2011
- 1,097
- 587
Yeah I was doing my judgement myself, then I noticed there are star rankings and it was pretty amazing at the first.
A deeper research almost prooved it's not really accurate:
A keyword that has
#1 wikipedia
#2 exact match .com
#3 youtube
#4 youtube
#5-9 PR4+ sites with high authority and lots of backlinks (Some of them with keyword in domain). Almost all of them with title,desc and h1
TrafficTravis said it's "relatively easy"
Ok, TrafficTravis, good luck
A deeper research almost prooved it's not really accurate:
A keyword that has
#1 wikipedia
#2 exact match .com
#3 youtube
#4 youtube
#5-9 PR4+ sites with high authority and lots of backlinks (Some of them with keyword in domain). Almost all of them with title,desc and h1
TrafficTravis said it's "relatively easy"
Ok, TrafficTravis, good luck
TwistedSEO
Regular Member
- Sep 30, 2011
- 303
- 192
How many direct backlinks were there to those PR4 domains and the exact match domain? Usually when I see a lot of youtube videos in the top, its a relatively easy keyword to target (Not always).
Some youtube videos have very few direct page backlinks and rank mainly due to its high authority. You want to look at how strong each of the page is rather than the domains they are on cuz often times they are not directly targeting the keyword your looking at.
But you are right though, traffic travis is sometimes not accurate at all. I only use it to bring up the top 10 competitors to analyze what I would be going up against.
Some youtube videos have very few direct page backlinks and rank mainly due to its high authority. You want to look at how strong each of the page is rather than the domains they are on cuz often times they are not directly targeting the keyword your looking at.
But you are right though, traffic travis is sometimes not accurate at all. I only use it to bring up the top 10 competitors to analyze what I would be going up against.
TwistedSEO
Regular Member
- Sep 30, 2011
- 303
- 192
I also use micro niche finder and love their rating system. The way I do my keyword research when I'm planning to build a big site is I'll run keywords through both micro niche finder AND traffic travis. The keywords that show up "easy" on both tools will be an instant addition to my keyword list.
Those that do not, I'll go and analyze the top 10 to see if it is a keyword worth targeting. Sometimes I will add it to my keyword list even if it's not the easiest to rank as long as the traffic is decent enough. I'll tackle those keywords last once my site is themed and has some authority.
Those that do not, I'll go and analyze the top 10 to see if it is a keyword worth targeting. Sometimes I will add it to my keyword list even if it's not the easiest to rank as long as the traffic is decent enough. I'll tackle those keywords last once my site is themed and has some authority.
cyberzilla
Elite Member
- Nov 15, 2009
- 2,467
- 3,599
Don't trust the difficulty rating shown by TT. It is not accurate in my view. For example, I come across many keywords where the 0ff-site SEO is very weak. I mean the sites which are ranking in the first page hardly have any backlinks, but they are all pretty good in on-site SEO. Keywords is there in Title, desc, H1 tag and URL. In this case, TT shows the difficulty rating as difficult and above, but in reality I can reach the first page pretty easily. Keyword research is something which needs to be done manually for higher success rate. If you rely on tools completely which lacks human intelligence, you will be mis-guided for sure!
cyberzilla
Elite Member
- Nov 15, 2009
- 2,467
- 3,599
You can get a free copy of TT v3 from here. You need to register for the same
Code:
http://www.traffictravis.com/register
AtomSmasher
Registered Member
- Aug 7, 2014
- 54
- 5
I don't trust difficulty from sources like these more than I trust myself looking at what's ranking for the keyword. Always double check what a site or program tells you and don't go all in until you check multiple sources.