subject: A Few Things You Should Consider Before Deciding To Target A Particular Keyword [print this page] Google is by far and away the worlds most popular search engine and has, according to latest estimates, trillions of pages contained in its index. With this much competitions its clear to see that looking at the exact match search volume around a particular keyword just isnt enough, you need to take a closer look at your competitors activity too, and get a better indication on whether it will be feasible to target certain terms you have been planning to target. So what do you need to look at and how can you find the information that will allow you to make the important decisions you need to make in terms of targeting the correct keywords?
The first thing you need to is head on over to the Google Keyword Tool and type in a few terms that would conceivably like to rank for. Look at the data returned and make a decision on whether or not to look at a keyword in more detail based on the search volume around that term. Once you have made a decision, download all of your preliminary target keywords into an excel document. One of the first things you should do is look at the trend line has the trend spiked over the last few months? Its worth applying an excel formula to get the average search volume for your particular terms over the course of one year. Its also important to look at the advertiser competition if the advertiser competition is high then its usually a good indication that the search volume can be relied on (to an extent) and that advertisers are actually getting a return on their investments.
Another thing you need to do before deciding on whether or not to target a particular keyword is have a quick look in the Search Engine Results Pages to get a gauge on just how many people have decided to target that particular term in their title tag. This will give you a very rough indication on how many websites you are competing against for position around this term and will allow you to make some strategic decision as to whether, based on the competition, its even worth targeting. For example, if Amazon or Wikipedia are ranking in position #1 for the term, the likelihood is you may struggle to gain that desired no. 1 spot.
