Keyword Research Question

I have a few sites that are now doing ok. Apparently I got lucky in doing my keyword search so I am trying to figure everything out this way it is no longer luck.

When doing research I have found a keyword with around 3400 local searches. When checking out the rankings the number one site has a PR of 3 and has 4 backlinks with pr of 5,4,3, and 1 respectively. From my very novice perspective this looks like it can easily be overcome.

My question is what is the next step in research or have I pretty much covered all the bases? All of my searching and guides that I have found seem to drop off from this point and start getting the site set up. I just wanted to see if there are any additional steps that I could take.

Is it an authority site? Just because it doesn't have a lot of backlinks the domain itself can many times carry a lot of weight.

Without knowing more I would say it probably wouldn't be too difficult to beat out.

No it is not an authority site. Infact the #1 spot isn't even about the keyword. EX. search for computer speakers and it comes up with big screen tv's. lol That is about the relevancy.
The others on the first page are at least relevant, but there backlinks are either not existent or a couple PR 1's and 2's.

Everyone has their own system of kw research. It's all about testing so i say go ahead and go for the keyword and see if u can rank then come back later to double check keyword research to try and analyze patterns. That's what i do.

Competition evaluation checklist in no particular order:

1. PageRank. Anything below PR4 is relatively easy to outrank.
2. Domain age. 1-2 years old domains are relatively easy to outrank.
3. Backlinks. Not only their number but their quality matters too.
4. Competitors. 20-30-40 domains trying to rank for your keywords = prepare to fight.

Keep in mind it's not always as hard as it looks. Luck plays a role too. You might end ranking high for difficult keywords and rank nowhere for keywords you considered easy. If your strongest competitor has PR3 and few backlinks then don'twaste more time. Buy a domain with your main keyword in it and you're ready to go

Thanks everyone for your responses. I already have the domain and setting up the hosting now. Once that is all done site should be up and running in about 3-4 hours. Then comes my least favorite part of all of this. Promotion :sick:

I am a newbie in this domain but from what I learned last week from this forum, I believe that the number of search results for your keyword is important, if it has more than 10,000 exact results, it will be harder to rank for it.

Tenshisendo said:

Then comes my least favorite part of all of this. Promotion :sick:

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That's my favorite part! Prepare your linkbuilding tools, let them run for hours and go watch Top Gear on YouTube

webmast said:

That's my favorite part! Prepare your linkbuilding tools, let them run for hours and go watch Top Gear on YouTube

Click to expand...

I'm waiting before investing in any tools as of yet.
I'm kinda treating this like a self supporting hobby at first. Then if it takes off who knows.
Besides as of right now I have more time than money on my hands.