Niche Finding - Monthly Searches Vs. Competition

A week ago I launched a major niche finding operation on Google AdWords. My rules for selecting a niche were as follows:

Monthly search volume > 5,000
Competition < 50,000 sites

I was having a blast, finding lots of nice little niches. Then, after reading around a bit more on BHW, I was brutally informed of the existence of Google AdWords "exact mode", and that my previous research had not given me the true number of searches in "broad mode".

Is broad mode on AdWords completely misleading?

And if exact mode is compulsory for good keyword research, what new rules should people follow to find a decent niche? (i.e. minimum monthly searches, maximim competition)

With the research I've been doing in "exact mode", finding a marketable niche with >5000 search and <50,000 competition seems like a pipe dream

Your problem is quite a real problem, my friend.

I was number 2 on big g for a term that had 400k competition and had 40k searches a month... 40k BROAD searches a month...

fail


and then i wondered why i was not getting shit for leads

that is until i realized the "exact" dropdown on the keyword tool... lol

my advice would be to just keep searching... they are out there but its hella work to find them.. at least thats been my experience.

Bump. I would like to have more info on this and experiences.

Go for exact, yes it may take time to get a good keyword, but its better spending 2 weeks in preparation that just sticking up a website which will get you no traffic.

Was it "exact" matches. I thought it was "phrase" matches that did the google "search this sentence" thing...

You have to look at all the Google operators to understand what the true compeition is

I've found a niche for a marketable product in exact mode. Searches = 6,600. Competition = 44,000. Good odds?

Just keep on searching.

locating the niches is a killer...
I have a copy of Market samurai, and I have to say that they have nailed much of this process into the tool. you should give it a try, although it cost $$
On the selection process, don't get too centered on the number of competing pages.
most of the time, just look on how much SEO have they:
1. Backlinks?
2. Web20 properties
If the top contenders are not heavy on this, then you can with a reasonable affort rank better than them.

I used to focus hard on phrase competition numbers, trying to stay under 30,000 or close to it, until I realized one day that it's almost a useless number unless you also look at the AllInTitle matches for your phrase too.

For example, even if a phrase only has 30,000 competing pages, if 29,000 of those are highly optimized then there might as well be a million competing pages. In other words, that phrase is going to be hell to rank high for.

On the other hand, a phrase may have 200,000 competing pages, but only a few hundred of those are highly optimized, meaning you could still rank on the first page fairly easy for that phrase.

So for me, there are no hard numbers for competing pages. I usually look for under 100,000 and with an AllInTitle of 4,000 or less. But, if I find something with 150,000 competition and under 2,000 AllInTitle I'll still go after it. You sort of have to look at both competition and AllInTitle and then weigh them for yourself.

On search traffic, I only go by the G's keyword tool exact volumes and obviously the higher the better, but I'll chase anything with 2,400 (exact) average monthly searches. That's a little low for most people, but if your phrase is "buyer" targeted then it can be lucrative, plus if you create lots of content for any phrase you're going to inevitably rank for plenty of related longtails that will bring traffic too.

This is where Micro*Ni*cheFind*er comes in handy as that tool will give you the "Strength of Competition" of those who already rank well for the keyword.

I am using scb335's method to find niches that are worth entering. Piece of cake.

scb335's method? Can you elaborate? I did a search of members but did not see anybody by that name.

boozie said:

scb335's method? Can you elaborate? I did a search of members but did not see anybody by that name.

Click to expand...

He he he is just 2 posts above your post in this very thread. Just see above. Or read the whole thread.

Yeah, I was made aware of that. Funny though, I looked him up in the user search and he was nowhere to be found. At least for me anyway. Thanks for the help.

number of competitors is not a reliable factor for analysing your competition. This is your first mistake.

Was it "exact" matches. I thought it was "phrase" matches that did the google "search this sentence"

For niche research I find that its best to look for something with aroun 3k searches per month according to google adwords. I also plug the keyword into SEnuke and check the competition. Seriously, SEnuke is a great tool when finding niches, because it shows very clearly whether or not you can compete. Sometimes there may not be a lot of competition, but its strong competition that you wont be able to compete with. SEnuke tells you this. I can find a new niche in practically 5 minutes just using these tools.

scb335 was spot on in his response. You start your search with phrase match e.g. "blackhat seo tactics". If you get less than 30,000 results from google SERP, you the use allintitle:"blackhat seo tactics" and you might be lucky to find less than 2,000 optimised pages. If the pagerank of the website on the first page is low, the you can easily rank high on the first page with good and well-planned seo tactics

Micro*Ni*cheFind*er is a good tool as is Market samurai Senuke works as well

it really doesn't matter which tool you use...set some parameters and put your site up...check the results. If it was easy to rank for then you can try a little more competitive keyword....if you couldn't rank for it pick one a little less competitive.

The parameters I use wont work for you because we promote our sites different than you do.

I like keywords that have a lot of web 2.0 properties ranking well....I can just steal those spots...that's easy and I can get my sites up past those.

testing is where it's at

j

My first thought when it comes to niche finding is that one should consider a profession, hobby, etc. that is somewhat specialized and by no means universal. Then brainstorm what someone interested in that particular topic would use. Of course, this is most easily done with a niche that you yourself have some knowledge about. I'll just throw one out there for example, since I'm into audio and recording, please feel free to profit from it greatly if you wish:

Brainstorm: audio, recording, microphones, different types, condenser microphones, computer based recording, USB, buyer keywords, AHA!

Best USB Condenser Microphone

Big G says it only gets 73 exact phrase searches a month, which probably sucks. Not much competition though. The G also revealed additional keywords that get upwards of 100,000 searches a month. So it does illustrate my point, that starting your keyword research with something most people would never think of could actually pay off.

Cheers.