More I think, more I`m confused

emilex

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2009
Messages
243
Reaction score
98
Hi people,
I would like to hear your opinion regarded to searching for keywords, SEO, competition, back links and other stuff.

Lets start from begin, when I search for keywords for my site I`m using Market Samurai and Micro Niche Finder.
Now, lets say that I have found keyword:
canon photo printer | 5,400 monthly searches | MOB 11 | SOC 31

If you take a look at the competition:
No1: hxxp://www.usa.canon.com 33K backlinks
No2: hxxp://www.canonphotoprinter.org/ 916 backlins

That could be strong competition...

Now, if you take a look at some keyword with much more searches:
color laser printer | 33,100 monthly searches | MOB 37 | SOC 64,800

from this SOC number many would say... No way! But if you take a look at backlinks from top 5 searches:
No1: hxxp://www.pcworld.com/article/123839/top_10_color_laser_printers.html PR2 | BL43
No2: hxxp://www.consumersearch.com/color-laser-printers PR4 | BL30
No4: hxxp://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF02a/18972-236251-236268.html PR3 | BL24

Now, I dont know what to think... If I buy domain (for example) colorlaserprinter.com and get 50 back links to my site, then I need to be on top spot. Is that true?

I want to hear what you think about this. Please answer people ;)
 
Short answer... it's not that simple. Number of links counts, but the quality of links counts even more. Age of domain (first indexed) counts a lot these days also. Each one of the sites that you mentioned here are high authority websites that have strong inner pages even without much backlinks to them.
 
Yes, I know that those are high authority websites :) I didn't want to use my exact search. But, if your direct competition consists of inner pages with 20-30 back links and low PR than with exact domain name like keyword you should be on G first page relatively easy.
Or not ? :)
 
Yes, I know that those are high authority websites :) I didn't want to use my exact search. But, if your direct competition consists of inner pages with 20-30 back links and low PR than with exact domain name like keyword you should be on G first page relatively easy.
Or not ? :)

Probably yes, if you have done your on page optimization well.
 
When I see people talking about "canon photo copier" I'm guessing your Business Model is affiliate marketing (meaning you don't have your own product - you just want to make $ selling other people's products).

Nothing wrong with that.

But within the Affiliate Business Model there are a few high level approaches:

1.) You're going to create a big authority site for big $
2.) You're going to create mini sites for a little $ from each one

Either way is fine. But you need to decide what business approach you are taking.

Answer this question will help answer your other questions (like the one you posted here).

If you're looking to develop a big authority site over time then I'd say go after the big competitive situations (like canon photo copier) on some of your inner pages. And go after some smaller competition long-tail KWs on other inner pages. This will provide you balance.

If, however, you're looking to develop small sites for either churn & burn income or long-term little $ sites (aka the $1/day sites) then I would still do a few of the big competitive KWs but in much much smaller quantities.

Authority Model: 40% (competitive) / 60% (long-tail)
Mini Sites Model: 20% (competitive) / 80% (long-tail)

%s aren't exact but a representation that never shy completely away from the competitive - just do it in relation to your business model.

Especially since with the small mini sites you shouldn't put too much thought into it. Do the research but at the end of the day it's just about creating a template for yourself and making as many of them as you possibly can.

Too many people spend too much time on KW research up front and never actually create the site.

Here's the deal... the REAL KW research is done AFTER the site is in production.

It either gets traffic or it doesn't.

It either converts the visitors or it doesn't.

It either makes money or it doesn't.

You cannot tell any of that from up front KW research.

The best KW research upfront is worth $0 if you never put the site into production.


If it's your first site... go for a long-tail less competitive KW.

Why?

Because I don't want you to get frustrated - which you will if you try a competitive KW as your first site.

1.) Pick your thresholds (something like: 1,000 searches per month, less than 10,000 competing pages in quotes and a SOC score less than 25 if using MNF)
2.) Find a KW that meets those thresholds
3.) Create the site and put it into production
4.) Track the results while you're working on your next site

[If you're building an Authority Site rather than multiple mini sites then in the steps above replace "site" with "page".]

Hope this helps.

Mike
P.S. Sorry for rambling but I get SO frustrated by the broken dreams gurus are creating by selling their rehashed crap that wasn't any good the 1st time around. KW research is valuable to a degree but gurus have made it seem like the Holy Grail and people get so caught up in it that they never take action and put a site into production.

I promise you... the magic happens when you get into a pattern of putting sites (or pages) into production (with a way to track their results).
 
Last edited:
Brutus69, I want to thank you for really great post. You have answered so many questions :)
 
You'll have A LOT more luck if you actually registered your Keyword in a domain at Blogger. New Domains struggle, because Google have to determine whether you're temporary, quality, spamming etc - with a new Domain, you'll go through what they call a "Google Dance" where you'll go up and down the SERPS ... this is tactical and will tell Search Engines whether you're a decent site or not. You also may disappear from the SERPS altogether, which is known as a "Sandbox" ...

You really need to get more than one niche, and to experiment. In the end, you'll discover your own way. But, if you want faster results, go with Blogger, not a new domain. For long term, new domain wins!

But as the above posts mention, it's quality over quantity. On-site optimization, etc will all be a huge benefit.
 
When I see people talking about "canon photo copier" I'm guessing your Business Model is affiliate marketing (meaning you don't have your own product - you just want to make $ selling other people's products).

Nothing wrong with that.

But within the Affiliate Business Model there are a few high level approaches:

1.) You're going to create a big authority site for big $
2.) You're going to create mini sites for a little $ from each one

Either way is fine. But you need to decide what business approach you are taking.

Answer this question will help answer your other questions (like the one you posted here).

If you're looking to develop a big authority site over time then I'd say go after the big competitive situations (like canon photo copier) on some of your inner pages. And go after some smaller competition long-tail KWs on other inner pages. This will provide you balance.

If, however, you're looking to develop small sites for either churn & burn income or long-term little $ sites (aka the $1/day sites) then I would still do a few of the big competitive KWs but in much much smaller quantities.

Authority Model: 40% (competitive) / 60% (long-tail)
Mini Sites Model: 20% (competitive) / 80% (long-tail)

%s aren't exact but a representation that never shy completely away from the competitive - just do it in relation to your business model.

Especially since with the small mini sites you shouldn't put too much thought into it. Do the research but at the end of the day it's just about creating a template for yourself and making as many of them as you possibly can.

Too many people spend too much time on KW research up front and never actually create the site.

Here's the deal... the REAL KW research is done AFTER the site is in production.

It either gets traffic or it doesn't.

It either converts the visitors or it doesn't.

It either makes money or it doesn't.

You cannot tell any of that from up front KW research.

The best KW research upfront is worth $0 if you never put the site into production.


If it's your first site... go for a long-tail less competitive KW.

Why?

Because I don't want you to get frustrated - which you will if you try a competitive KW as your first site.

1.) Pick your thresholds (something like: 1,000 searches per month, less than 10,000 competing pages in quotes and a SOC score less than 25 if using MNF)
2.) Find a KW that meets those thresholds
3.) Create the site and put it into production
4.) Track the results while you're working on your next site

[If you're building an Authority Site rather than multiple mini sites then in the steps above replace "site" with "page".]

Hope this helps.

Mike
P.S. Sorry for rambling but I get SO frustrated by the broken dreams gurus are creating by selling their rehashed crap that wasn't any good the 1st time around. KW research is valuable to a degree but gurus have made it seem like the Holy Grail and people get so caught up in it that they never take action and put a site into production.

I promise you... the magic happens when you get into a pattern of putting sites (or pages) into production (with a way to track their results).

Brutu's post really hit the nail on the head, very descriptive and helpful. Nice!
 
less than 10,000 competing pages in quotes

This doesn't matter one bit. Why on earth would it matter? If you are going for top 5 or whatever, you need to look at the top 5 pages because these will be the ones you want to replace.

I have yet to see someone actually explain why I should care about pages that aren't in the first page, when I am going for the first page? It defies common sense!

I don't care if there are 30 trillion pages with the phrase, if something with 10 crap backlinks and mediocre onsite seo is top 3, I am going for it.

A site I started like 2 days ago had 500,000 search results on quotes match, yet it ranks 4. without any backlinks etc? It ranks 11. without quotes match.

Try to rationally explain why should you care about any other page than the page that you are trying to replace in SERP?
 
My method is to look at basically two number while taking into consideration one other thing. The numbers I look at are searches per month and number of backlinks to the page. The 3rd thing I take into consideration is whether or not the site has massive authority.

It's simple and does the job because I don't have much trouble getting sites onto the front page. Other things do count obviously, but there's only so much you can accomplish without years of work. If you pick a keyword without strong top 10 competition then you're golden.
 
Back
Top