im just starting a new project and im researching keywords, 1 method i used to use was looking at my top competitor and using their company name as a keyword. i know its rather sneeky, but for this new project it would work well, could i get penalised or sued ?
You might be better off putting this question in the legal forum under business - http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=44 You may get more of a response there
Penalized or sued? I'm no attorney, but I would like to think that using same/similar key words isn't an issue unless you are copying copywriter text from the competition. If you are and even if the content is copy written, search engines won't like it.
you can use whatever keyword you want. there is no penalty for using the same keyword that your competitors are using. no one has any keywords patented unles its a trademark of a certain company. but no harm using generic keyword. dont think its sneaky as your competitors will be doing the same. this is how this game works where competitors track high ranking sites to get ideas on how they are promoted and copy the same method. nothing much yuo or anyone can do about this. so use whatever keyword you want and you will be fine. you can also use the adwords external keyword tool (just google it, they just changed the link i think) for keyword ideas including monthly searches
I did the same thing as a mistake (anchor text of a company name that I didn't know that existed) - they sent me an e-mail asking me to change the anchor text or the will pursue legal action. So don't do it!
You might get some flak from your competitor if you use their company name. Esp. if it is trademarked. Why don't you instead find out what keywords your competitor is using and copy them? Search their backlinks, and do the same thing... and then slowly build up? Can't hurt... if you are more consistent and efficient than your competitor you can outrank them!