How Many Search Results Are Too Many?

Joined
Dec 14, 2014
Messages
32
Reaction score
2
When doing keyword research, how many search results is considered too many? Meaning it'll be too hard to rank for it. I've always thought anything under 1 million results I can give it a try..what do you guys think?
 
Well when considering a keyword is there an amount of search results that you say "damn thats too many, I'm not gonna go after this keyword"?
 
I'd like to know too !
Also, I check the first, second and third page to see who's on them
 
I take a look and go "Damn that is a lot, there is money to be made!" and then I go for that keyword.
 
Just because there's a lot of results doesn't mean anything, you should do analysis into your competitors via Ahrefs and do a quick SEO report from any free site.
 
In terms of ranking, it's many factors, including 1) the quantity of search results from site pages that have basic SEO elements in them (keyword in the url, and/or text title), 2) the quality of the links of this kind competing with your own page for the same keyword, 3) the number of outbound links (OBLs) on those competing pages, compared to your page, 4) the resulting authority of the competing pages, compared to yours, based on onpage SEO factors, established branding, social signals, non-search engine based visitor traffic, etc. Using free tools, as per these factors, in general:

1) Do a phrase search (keyword put "in quotes"). If the results coming back are under 100,000, it's an okay keyword to rank for (ideally, the results should be under 30,000). This is a rough indicator, as it's only a snapshot check of the number of pages you are competing against. For a rough snapshot of the quality, you can also check the MOZ or Keyword Revealer Difficulty Indicator for the keyword, which will tell you if the term has low or moderate competition.

2) A visual check of Google page 1 results for the keyword using the MOZ toolbar will immediately show you what you're up against in terms of PA/DA and other factors. If you also use the Majestic or RDS toolbar you can get the TF/CF as well for the top placing pages. If most of page 1 is Wikipedia, Anazon, big brand or government links, it's a difficult keyword to rank for.

3) If the competing pages have high or junky outbound links, you can outrank them if your link profile is overall lower in OBLs. Use an add-on or tool showing you the OBL of any page you browse, and check the stats of your main rivals: 1-10 OBL is excellent, 11-50 very good, 51-100 good or OK, 101-150 and higher is borderline or worse (but may still be useful depending on your plan). If your competition pages are averaging 100 OBL, averaging much less than that can help you outrank them.

4) If the above is taken care of, in the direction of choosing low SEO comp keywords, quality linking and optimizing your site pages will result in stable high rankings for your site.
 
Last edited:
In terms of ranking, it's many factors, including 1) the quantity of search results from site pages that have basic SEO elements in them (keyword in the url, and/or text title), 2) the quality of the links of this kind competing with your own page for the same keyword, 3) the number of outbound links (OBLs) on those competing pages, compared to your page, 4) the resulting authority of the competing pages, compared to yours, based on onpage SEO factors, established branding, social signals, non-search engine based visitor traffic, etc. Using free tools, as per these factors, in general:

1) Do a phrase search (keyword put "in quotes"). If the results coming back are under 100,000, it's an okay keyword to rank for (ideally, the results should be under 30,000). This is a rough indicator, as it's only a snapshot check of the number of pages you are competing against. For a snapshot of the quality, you can also check the MOZ or Keyword Revealer Difficulty Indicator for the keyword, which will tell you if the term has low or moderate competition.

2) A visual check of Google page 1 results for the keyword using the MOZ toolbar will immediatesly show you what you're up against in terms of PA/DA and other factors. If you also use the Majestic or RDS toolbar you can get the TF/CF as well for the top placing pages. If most of page 1 is Wikipedia, Anazon, big brand or government links, it's a difficult keyword to rank for.

3) If the competing links have high or junky outbound links, you can outrank them if your link profile is overall lower OBLs. Use an add-on showing you the OBL of any page you browse, and check the stats of your main rivals: 1-10 OBL is excellent, 11-50 very good, 51-100 good or OK, 101-150 and higher borderline or worse (but may be useful depending on your plan). If your competition pages are averaging 100 OBL, averaging much less than that can help you outrank them.

4) If the above is taken care of, in the direction of choosing low SEO comp keywords, quality linking and optimizing your site pages will result in stable high rankings for your

This is what I was looking for. Thanks!
 
If there are a million results but with low seo competition you can still rank your site with on-page, off page seo and zebrahat has explained nicely
 
Back
Top