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[ColinBlackmore]

I have some questions after yesterday’s webinar.

1) Is Word tracker the best tool for keyword research? Have you compared this to others such as Wordstream?

2) Do you have a preference between Keyword spy or Spyfu for finding out what our competition are using for keywords?

3) Is it worth subscribing to any of these when you can use the google free tool for keyword research also you can type in a competitors URL in the Google keyword tool and find out what keywords they are using?

Response from Paul Stradling

1. No, I haven't compared Word Tracker to Wordstream, but I've had some good results from using Word Tracker as the basis for SEO on many sites that I actually work / have worked on, so I really think it's a good program.

2. I've used Keyowrd Spy more than I've used Spyfu. Although it can be useful to see what keywords competitiors are using (in PPC), it's only really of value if you're likley to get any reasonable numbers of visitors from those key phrases, if your adverts and landing / squeeze pages / web pages are highly relevant to eachother, and if you've paid adequate attention to how pages are set up for conversion.

3. The Google Free keyword Tool is good too, but I think for me that it's deffinitely been worth subscribing to Word Tracker. It's reletively easy to control and understand, and fits in well with my type of work which is based around improving the situation of web pages in the natural listings.

Do anyone else have any thoughts and suggestions?

Thanks
Colin

[MikeStarr]

I also have used Wordtracker very effectively on my own and websites that I have created for other people. I pick the key phrase with the highest KEI, avoiding any phrases which are too long or where common sense tells me that there may be a glitch in the system.

So for example I would target "garage doors fitted " rather than "garage fitted doors" even though the stats may tell me that the 2nd phrase has a slightly higher KEI .... Bare in mind that you are going to have to repeat this phrase quite a few times on a web page to get good SERPS and if it is gobblydigook then your body text is going to sound ridiculous.

I then buy the domain with that phrase e.g. www.garagedoorsfitted.co.uk and optimise the phrase in question.

IMO It is far easier to start from scratch and get a microsite or sites to number 1 in Google (from which you can link to your main site) than to bash your head against a brick wall trying to optimise a huge and unwieldy main site with a domain name which has bugger all to do with the phrase you are targeting eg "ABC Enterprises".

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I do have a couple of question for Mike, Paul and the team ....

On Wordtracker, I have always used the "KEI 1" figure but note that there is now a "KEI 3" as well. Have you (or any other forum members) used "KEI 3" - If so, have you any comments.

My second question relates to Wordtracker's estimate of the number of monthly searches which a key phrase may get. I am aware that we should view this info in a relative way, ie if phrase A gets twice as many searches than phrase B, then A is the one to go for.

However, let us say that a phrase has a very high KEI and is supposed to have 100 searches a month and no competition. You have a well optimised webpage at number 1 in Google. Is it not reasonable to suppose that you should get something approaching that number of monthly visits to your page ? This has not been my experience. I would say 25-35 visits a month would be nearer the figure.

I wonder what I am doing wrong. Do you think I am placing too much emphasis and expectation on the figures Wordtracker comes up with.

If somebody puts their faith in me to design them a microsite, I would like to be able to give them a fairly accurate estimation of the number of visitors their new site is likely to get. Then of course the hard part is converting those visitors into customers.

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Lastly, as I have not posted in a while, can I take this opportunity to thank Mike and the team for everything they have come up with to inform and educate me and set me on the path to righteousness as far as websites are concerned.

Before I came across MKLink, I was spending £23,000 a year on Yellow Page and Yell etc. This year my paid-for advertising bill is a big fat ZERO !
_________________
Mike Starr
Stargazer Discos and Equipment Hire
Website : http://www.stargazerdiscos.co.uk
Blog : http://www.mklink.co.uk/MikeStarr/
Tel : 020-8594 1320
Tel : 020-8594 2150
Fax : 020-8220 9060
Mob : 07967 044282

[admin]

KEI3 is a somewhat experimental metric - it can be useful to show keywords with good potential, but it can also flag keywords with quite low search volume, so it's best to approach that metric with a degree of caution and and a healthy portion of common sense.

In regards to your second question, it's hard to give a conclusive answer without being aware of the specifics, but a couple of thoughts come to mind. Firstly, Wordtracker's US database consists of just under 1% of US search. This doesn't mean that the database contains an even spread of all keywords across all niches - we may hold 5% of searches for one keyword, and 0.2% of searches for another. This kind of potential disparity will appear for pretty much any keyword research tool - it's because any tool's datasource is going to be a sample rather than a complete set of all searches.

It's not always safe to assume that one will get X number of visits from Y amount of searches - there are other factors involved in attracting traffic - for example, if you're ranking #1 for the term 'home security systems' and your site is a sales site, it may be that searchers using that term are looking more for information than to buy at that point - it's a slightly clunky example, but you might want to look at the snippet Google uses to describe your site and perhaps amend some of the wording there.

Any keyword research tool is only going to be able to provide a guide to search rather than definitive answers, and it's worth remembering that the only real measure of a keyword's effectiveness is going to be live testing.

I hope this is of some help, but plase let us know if you have any other questions.

Mike Knight