Hi, I am targetting a niche long-tail keyword and when I looked at the competition on Google, I noticed that an Ezine Article held the number 1 position for my niche keyword. Generally speaking, would this be an easier keyword to target or a harder one...simply based on the fact that an EzineArticle is currently holding the top position in Google. I know if the top spot is a wikipedia page than its easier to do good SEO and outrank...but does this apply to an ezinearticle as well?
Have you checked how new the article is? Google will frequently show fresh content in the top spot(s) for a few days or weeks before burying it in the SERPs. Also, if the article is more than a few weeks old you may want to take a look at its backlinks at Yahoo! by searching for link:TheURLofTheArticel. Lots of people will submit articles and then build backlinks to them.
Thanks for your comment. No the article is from 2005 and has less than 10 backlinks. Do you think generally speaking it would be an easy keyword term to beat out Ezinearticles for?
You could try submitting an ezine article yourself with that keyword, and then building more backlinks to it. Otherwise, pick another web 2.0 property, like squidoo, build backlinks to it and update it regularly. In a few weeks time you will undoubtedly rank higher than it.
I think you should consider to use another way how to make a research regarding keyword competition. E. g. wikipedia ranks very well for "web hosting service" which is very competitive phrase.
Yes, you have to submit to EZA, once approved, you have to add some more backlinks to your articles on EZA, that will help your article to be ranked on top and get more traffic too.
Do you want to post article on your website or ezinearticles? I think if you post it on your site and then create back links, you should be able to reach the top.