WordTracker Methodoligies

[Blue]

Hi All!

OK. We're all the time saying "research your keywords with wordtracker (http://www.wordtracker.com/)" in these forums. Which is great advice.

BUT, for the benefit of newbies and others that may need this info (myself included), I think that since there are quite a few routes one could take in using this excellent tool, leading to greatly varying results, it would be a good idea to lay out the specific methodologies which some of the experts or some that are more familiar with the tool would and do use to feret out the best keywords/phrases.

What I would like to propose, if you experts would kindly care to partake, is that we target three seperate website themes, one that is highly saturated, one in the middle, and one that is obscure, and have you experts present detailed steps you would use for finding the best keywords/phrases for each theme.

I'm guessing this will result in many different approaches, and that is good as it will give those of us not "in the know" different viewpoints and a great head start in using wordtracker.

So, if you experts would kindly pick up and run with this ball by deciding amongst yourselves which three themes to use, and then presenting your methodoligies, the rest of us just getting into wordtracker will, I'm sure, be waiting with baited breath.

Thanks In Advance,

[Mel]

Hi Blue - Great Idea.

Not sure what themes or keywords one might use, but I would suggest that we stay away from the obvious (search engine optimization et al) since this is the bread and butter of many of the members and they might not wish to discuss how they do their optimization for these keywords.

I will leave it to others to work up what keywords to use, but would like to offer one bit of advice as regards the final results of any methodology using Wordtracker.

Wordtracker makes a basic assumption that is not always correct - that the keyword searches on the major SEs will be the same as the searches on the engines which Wordtracker uses for its database. For competitive keywords I always do a manual check directly with the engine in question (Google, etd) and recaluculate the KEI using that data. This often gives insights that are very useful.

[Blue]

Well??? Anyone else???

[Kal]

How about a fictional florist, located in Miami, Florida? I only suggest this one because I use it in my own articles or in examples when explaining to clients.

I will post a sample method for this one shortly...

[ihelpyou]

One thing I will always do is check a keyword phrases against a few different engines in the compeition mode. I will check MSN, because of a Looksmart listing, check Google, because it is Google. :) Check AltaVista just because. Check AOL because of a DMOZ listing.

You are always amazed at the difference between both the number of searches and the competition between each search engine. I do this so when submitting to Looksmart, I know, or have a good idea what phrases to make most important in Looksmart. I do the same thing with AOL. I also compare the 4 engines and determine which targeted phrases for the site should be most important by gettting an overall average of numbers of searches compared with competition, to find the best phrases to target.

I do agree with Mel also. I will go directly to the engine to check things out.

[Kal]

Ok, here's my WordTracker strategy:

1) I ask my client to provide a list of 10 search terms/ phrases that they would imagine their potential customers type in to the engines.

2) I check the terms for relevancy relating to site content.

3) I take the terms and run them through the WordTracker keyword universe, (WordTracker database only), clicking on the relevant results, doing a "dig" and adding extra relevant terms as I come across them.

4) I take my resulting list (never more than 100 terms) and do a competitive search on 6 engines/directories (which ones depend on the client's market).

5) I then export the list to a Word file and hand analyse them. I highlight the terms with a KEI of 100 or more (ignoring the rest).

6) I then highlight terms that have both a high KEI (less competitive) and are in the top 10 most popular terms (of sample) on each engine used. (sometimes it is easiest to use the alphabetical sort option in Word to locate terms in a huge list)

7) I label the top 10 terms as Primary Target Terms and the next 10-20 (depending on the client) as Secondary Target Terms, with the remaining terms labelled as "Not Worth Targeting".

8 ) Finally, I send the client the list for approval, asking them to choose a maximum of 4 or 5 terms per page being optimised from both lists (for clients only having one page optimised, I recommend they take terms from the Primary list only).

9) I optimise the site for final approved terms.

That's about it! :) No need to go into specific examples after all, as I don't think it would aid the explanation any. Hope this helps!

[Blue]

Hi Kal! :hi:

Yes. Quite helpful! :cheers:

I have a question though. I do fine until I get to your step 6. When you say "and are in the top 10 most popular terms (of sample) on each engine used", are you refering to the list (sample) from step 4? And is that information obtained through the WT "Count" and "24Hrs" fields? Or is it obtained through another process? In other words, how do you get your list of "10 most popular terms"?

On another note, I was sticking my results into an Access database and applying multiple filters (KEI, Competing, and Count, in that order). Do you think this is a good method? And why or why not?

*****************

I'm still hopeful that more of you will be as forthright and gracious as the ever lovely Kal with this topic??? :)

[Mel]

HI Blue:

In general I agree with Kals methods but would add:

I like to advocate that a brainstorming session among customers, family and friends regarding the intial list of keywords be used as you tend get some great additions this way.

I also find, depending on the kewyords, I can sometimes find heaps of keywords with good KEI, and sometimes there don't seem to be any. This makes choosing a particular number of kewyords difficult

The use of a spreadsheet or DB is fine but since KEI is derived from competing and count it is somewhat redundant. I do the same thing with a spreadsheet (easy to manipulate) but I recalcualte the KEI based on direct searches on major engines I want to target.

[Blue]

Thanks very much Mel, Kal and Doug!!! Excellent info! :thumb:

Now.....how about the rest of you??? :confused:

[Mel]

Perhaps this is too obvious to mention but ....

No matter what the KEI your prime objective is to get traffic, and so you must also pay attention to Wordtrackers count figure. Two keywords might have essentially the same KEI but one has acount of 250 and the other a count of 1500. obviously you would prefer the higher amount of potential traffic.

[Kal]

Originally posted by Blue
I have a question though. I do fine until I get to your step 6. When you say "and are in the top 10 most popular terms (of sample) on each engine used", are you refering to the list (sample) from step 4? And is that information obtained through the WT "Count" and "24Hrs" fields?

Yes, that is exactly right Blue :thumb: I think a spreadsheet is a good idea, especially for clients that are interested in the process used, because you can send it to them to demonstrate how scientific your SEO methodology is :p

I also love Mel's idea about brainstorming with family and friends. I generally do this with the client via email, but the more unbiased the brainstorming participants, the better!

[The Ney]

great points....

just to add, that i never stop at the Wordtracker, after i do the research on the wordtracker, i do the same at the Overture word suggestion tool (although i know how wrong can they be sometimes) and in the Google AdWords tool. Then i compare those 3 and sort out the most popular ones. If i find big contradictions on some popular terms on those three, i check the competition sites on google and yahoo for those terms...

[Mel]

I also find that often I have to lead the customer by the nose to get him to adopt keywords that are workable, but which may not fit his perceptions of how people search.

Sooooo many times they think that their companies name should be one of the primary terms, and/or they like to use some acroynm used only by people in the trade.

[markymark]

Mel,

Yeah, that is always a problem - having to educate your client on how people search. However, if there are intra-industry terms and acronyms, I always make sure these get included as these are the most highly targeted of potential visitors.