A practical question for KW research experts here- What does this screenshot say?

[somedevil]

Finally convinced that tens of hours spent doing in-depth manual KW competition analysis are worth it, I set about on this task only to realize that I don't feel confident in reaching any sort of conclusion at all. It definitely seems a lot more achievable when someone else talks about it. Nonetheless i shall not give up.

Here are the stats from SEO Quake and MOZ for a KW that has around 1k searches a month.

1. Would you say it's a low-competition KW?
2. The first two links are only ranking coz of DA, since there are no BL to the page or any PA. Right ?
3. Is the 3rd result above the 4th one only coz of a higher PA? Since the latter def has more BLs and DA?
4. The bottom two have good PA/DA but no BLs. Is this why they are bottom?

I am trying to gain a 'feel' for how to judge competition via effective reading of these stats. Is there something else i should be reading here?

Thanks for your help folks.

 

[xjapan]

There's something not shown like CTR and user engagement, am i right to say that? Its part of the ranking factor we are not able to see

 

[Zwielicht]

From what I can see here it, looks like you might be able to compete for it assuming you feel your website is more competitive than the weakest website on the first page, although I would need more information to determine this. A few other things you should look for include:

• Are there any popular websites in the SERPs?
• Are there any exact-match domains?
• Are any of the websites targeting the exact keyword?
• Are there any image, video, news, or Google Maps results in the SERPs (I almost always avoid these keywords).

 

[DiscoDax]

If the serps aren't only filled with e-commerce sites for this KW I'd say go for it! But I never jump in before checking top 10 competitors in ahrefs and/or majestic

 

[somedevil]

• Are any of the websites targeting the exact keyword?

I am guessing you determine that by studying the on-page SEO of the site?

 

[somedevil]

If the serps aren't only filled with e-commerce sites for this KW I'd say go for it! But I never jump in before checking top 10 competitors in ahrefs and/or majestic

What if a Serp has Ebay/Amazon etc on top?

 

[Zwielicht]

I am guessing you determine that by studying the on-page SEO of the site?

An even easier way to check is to see if the keyword appears in the meta description snippet underneath the title in each result. If you see that the exact keyword (meaning no variations) is being targeted by every website that appears, this means (in my experience) you may have a more difficult time ranking that keyword.

 

[somedevil]

An even easier way to check is to see if the keyword appears in the meta description snippet underneath the title in each result. If you see that the exact keyword (meaning no variations) is being targeted by every website that appears, this means (in my experience) you may have a more difficult time ranking that keyword.

This is great. I never thought about this. I think combine this with On page SEO and we can get a fair idea of whether the competition is targeting a particular KW.

Then perhaps it's suffice to say that this analysis when combined with data analysis of SEOQuake stats/MOZ, is the ultimate indicator of competition? Am i right?

And perhaps to double check it we could run it through LTP and check KC. Since we have already done the manual work beforehand.

 

[Zwielicht]

This is great. I never thought about this. I think combine this with On page SEO and we can get a fair idea of whether the competition is targeting a particular KW.

Then perhaps it's suffice to say that this analysis when combined with data analysis of SEOQuake stats/MOZ, is the ultimate indicator of competition? Am i right?

And perhaps to double check it we could run it through LTP and check KC. Since we have already done the manual work beforehand.

When I find a keyword that I really want to rank for, I run an analysis on all of the pages that appear on the first page. I'll check their backlinks, Moz stats, TF, CF, keyword density, keyword type, website popularity, social signals, and more just to see if I can compete for that keyword. If I think I can, then I optimise one of my pages for that keyword. I did all of this fairly recently for a good keyword I found and now I'm ranking in position 8 for that keyword. In fact, I could've ranked higher if it weren't for the fact that half of the websites that are outranking me are also targeting that keyword, but my domain and website are also only a year old (the actual content is even newer) and doesn't have the most impressive stats.

 

[somedevil]

Now in theory it makes perfect sense to me. However i struggle with the confident decision making. The ability to take a final call after analyzing..... I am guessing this 'instinct' will come with time.

Surprisingly there's not enough good content on this around the Internet.

 

[Zwielicht]

Now in theory it makes perfect sense to me. However i struggle with the confident decision making. The ability to take a final call after analyzing..... I am guessing this 'instinct' will come with time.

Surprisingly there's not enough good content on this around the Internet.

I know what you mean. Despite there being many Internet-marketing websites, many of them have failed to create detailed articles about this stuff (or the articles they do have are vague and outdated).

Even if you notice that you aren't ranking for a keyword because you made the wrong decision, you can always go back and either target a variation of that keyword or create a new article. At least, that's what I do.

 

[DiscoDax]

I am guessing you determine that by studying the on-page SEO of the site?

Like i said.. if it's only e-commerce sites i would stay away from it. But if it's like 50/50 niche and ecommerce site you've got good proof that niche sites can rank for this keyword.

 

[Techxan]

Now in theory it makes perfect sense to me. However i struggle with the confident decision making. The ability to take a final call after analyzing..... I am guessing this 'instinct' will come with time.

Surprisingly there's not enough good content on this around the Internet.

The final call is yours because people go about ranking websites differently. The question is not "is this competitive keyword". The question is "is this a keyword you can rank".

Time and upward pressure will rank anything.

The only way to learn this is to try. You might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[somedevil]

The final call is yours because people go about ranking websites differently. The question is not "is this competitive keyword". The question is "is this a keyword you can rank".

Time and upward pressure will rank anything.

The only way to learn this is to try. You might be pleasantly supprized.

You are right.

My main tool is content combined with manual web 2.0/ small PBN. I see a lot of people here ranking websites using all sorts of fancy tools. Perhaps that's why it makes me wonder if i can rank for KWs on my own without spending on comment blasts, 100s of automated web 2.0. GSA sers etc.

For now I am just trying to read into these stats + analyze on body attributes of the competition manually to fish out 'easily rankable' KWs.

 

[Techxan]

You can analyze til the cows come home, build the damn thing.

Not every site is a home run, but they all teach you something.

 

[somedevil]

You can analyze til the cows come home, build the damn thing.

Not every site is a home run, but they all teach you something.

Yes that's what I think too now Clearly, there's no ending to Analysis.

 

[FutureProofSeo]

Is it a long tail keyword or a more general term?

If it's general are the competitors targeting it exact match in the title?

If it's long tail, are the pages ranking targeting the long tail or the general topic?

 

[lowfeelingz]

Although it would appear to be an easy keyword, I do not really feel tools and plugins are a sure fire way of identifying the competitiveness of a keyword.

 

[somedevil]

Is it a long tail keyword or a more general term?

It's a 2 word KW. Not a long tail.

If it's general are the competitors targeting it exact match in the title?

Nope. No one is and since yesterday i have learnt that its a good thing.

If it's long tail, are the pages ranking targeting the long tail or the general topic?

Pages are ranking for the general topic.